Looking Authoratative

Donald Trump was right to tell Sean Spicer to change clothes.

Dark blue and black suits project power and authoritativeness.  Green and brown suits project service to power and inquiry.  Tan suits project casual accommodation to power.

This is real.  Humans may not notice how they react, but it is how we react.  Trump understands this.

Sean Spicer is the press secretary for Donald Trump.  There was news this week that Trump was unhappy with his clothes.  Some media commented negatively that Trump had better things to do than critique his press secretary's clothes. 

Trump understands very well how to project power with unspoken body language, starting with clothes.   

Sean Spicer went out on stage after the inauguration with two agendas that were overt and acknowledged, and one that was the bigger but unspoken:

Goal #1:  Assert that Donald Trump had the biggest crowds ever, period, and sell it.

Goal #2:  Blast the media for being wrong, for lying, for fake news.

Unspoken, but actual goal:  To define from day one that Trump is more authoritative than the media in all things.

You demand: "Let me talk to your manager."

Sean Spicer failed on all three goals in part because he did not look and sound authoritative.  He wore a light colored suit and it didn't fit.  His tie was not fully snug.  He looked harried and weak.

Take a second and look at the photo in the grey suit:  Doesn't he look like the overworked man in middle management you talk to who tells you unwelcome news.  You can see him saying, "I'm sorry, but that is our policy."  You tell this man that you want to speak to his manager.

Trump apparently told him he looked weak and to get new clothes.  He did.

Sean Spicer came the next day wearing a very dark blue suit against a white shirt and reddish tie pulled up snug.  

He says: "I am the manager.  Can I help you?"

Our perception of power in others is drawn more or less unconsciously, and our instinct is to deny its importance because it seems so irrational.  But look at these two photographs.   Which one looks like the manager and which one looks like the assistant manager?

It is irrational, but it is real.

Donald Trump understands body language and nonverbal communication.  Sometimes he was transparent in his use of it.   His arriving at events with booming music.  His descent into venues by helicopter.  His standing behind lecterns wearing dark blue suits.  His walking over to Hillary in a debate and looming over her.  His criticizing her stamina, his criticizing Rubio's stature, his criticism of Jeb Bush as weak.  

Mistake

Donald Trump looked presidential.  His quick trip to Mexico and back to Arizona, where he met with the Mexican president and got photographed then came back to the US and blasted Mexico, projected Donald Trump as a fearless and cruel leader, willing to be rude and dismissive of someone he had just visited. It showed domination.

Still in power

Barrack Obama understood the dress code of power.   Briefly, in mid summer, he wore light colored suits for a few days and was criticized for it. Congressman Peter King blasted him for discussing the American response to ISIS while wearing a light tan suit.

Obama's final press conference he joked about it.  In the closing moments of his presidency he said he considered wearing a tan suit but Michelle talked him out of it because it was mid-winter.  But Obamas reference was clear. He knew what a light colored suit implied and projected.  His time of power was nearly gone.  But since he still had it, he dressed the part of presidential power, in a deeply dark suit.

Sean Spicer is now dressing the part.  Trump is attempting a fundamental change in the relationship between the president and the media.   Trump wants what he says and his assertions of facts to be more reliable than the facts presented by the media.  Kellyanne Conway's mention of "alternative facts" was not a joke or example of mis-speaking.   It was an open acknowledgement of a new regime in presidential news. The lying media will say what they think is true and Donald Trump will say what he thinks is true. The media will do it with mixed voices and with some effort, real or pretend, to sound fair minded.  Donald Trump will speak his truth loud and clear and with certainty.

Then let the people decide.