Portrait of an Alpha

President Donald Trump shows how its done

You’ve just had someone try to shoot you. You’re actually wounded, however slightly. The Secret Service has piled on top of you and is now telling you to move while they protect you with their bodies.

Do you:

1. Immediately comply, hiding behind them and using them as cover.

2. Refuse to move, stay in a fetal position, and cry.

3. Tell the agents to wait while you put your shoes back on.

If you’re a Mega Alpha like Trump, you obviously go with option three.

Another archetypical Alpha action exhibited by Trump was how he refused to leave the scene without first reassuring all of his supporters that he was okay. He not only reassured them, but he actually inspired them, as can be seen in this immediately iconic image of the wounded President holding up a defiant fist to the sky.

That is not a man who is beaten or frightened. That is a man who makes other man want to follow him. It is a literal portrait of an Alpha in action, as Body Language Ghost commented in her analysis of the event.

There's no fear mentality there. He's just like, ‘Hey, wait wait wait! I'm going to get my shoes on, I'm going to give a fist pump, and then I'm gonna tell them to fight fight fight!’ I stick my arm out, cuz you know, there's not enough of me sticking out where I can be shot. I'm not going to hide my head, that's just loser mentality. Man, that is not loser mentality! Right there, that's Alpha!

Listen to how the crowd roars in response to his gesture. In a flash, they go from being terrified to being ready to go into battle for him. Only seconds after diving for cover, they’re back on their feet chanting “USA! USA!”

And that is why Alphas matter. That is Alphas make the difference between success and failure. It’s far less about what they can do, than what they can inspire others to do in response.

But only a fool dreams of becoming an Alpha when he isn’t made of Alpha material. Because not only is being an Alpha a serious burden and a responsibility, but it comes at a price. No one, after all, is shooting at Gammas.