Jane Goodall says Donald Trump reminds her of 'male chimpanzees and their dominance rituals'


Here's something Republican Donald Trump can add to his list of personal superlatives: He's the most dominant presidential candidate ever! Well, he would be if he were a chimpanzee running for president of the jungle.
In comments shared in an article from the October issue of The Atlantic, famed chimpanzee expert and anthropologist Jane Goodall said she sees something familiar in the GOP nominee. "In many ways the performances of Donald Trump remind me of male chimpanzees and their dominance rituals," Goodall remarked.
"In order to impress rivals, males seeking to rise in the dominance hierarchy perform spectacular displays: stamping, slapping the ground, dragging branches, throwing rocks," she continued. "The more vigorous and imaginative the display, the faster the individual is likely to rise in the hierarchy, and the longer he is likely to maintain that position."
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Goodall added that she expects to remember one particular high-energy chimp named Mike while watching the upcoming presidential debates. Mike liked to kick kerosene cans as he walked so the noise would unsettle his enemies.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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