Donald Trump's inner chimpanzee

"In many ways we are just apes, dressed up in clothes."

         Hogan Sherrow

Trump dominates women. Some he bosses around; some he insults; some he ogles; some he gropes and has sex with. He is open about his male chauvinism. It is part of his brand: a tycoon in business, the alpha male deal-maker, a Lothario.

I asked Hogan Sherrow, an evolutionary anthropologist, why he thought Trump was the way he is, and then a more perplexing question: Why do American women tolerate Trump's behavior? He is so rude and demeaning to women. And yet a majority of White women voted for Trump; a larger majority of married women voted for Trump; and an even greater majority of Christian-identified women voted for Trump. Why aren't women repulsed by Trump? Do they see something they like in his behavior?

Sherrow graduated from Rogue River High School in Southern Oregon. He earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Yale. He studied primates, especially chimpanzees. He told me that male chimps beat up female chimps. They also mate with the ones they beat, and the females stick around in the group and receive future beatings. Sherrow said his observations about primate behavior help him understand politics in America. He does a variety of consulting work on behalf of climate politics and election campaigns. 

Guest Post by Hogan Sherrow

Donald Trump's inner chimp

When Donald Trump spat “Quiet, piggy” at Bloomberg White House correspondent Catherine Lucey for simply doing her job, he insulted not only her but every female journalist who has stood up to power and asked tough questions. While one of Trump’s allies tried to downplay the remark (“No one is perfect…”) and the White House claimed that attacking reporters is somehow “respectful,” most Americans found his behavior disturbing. As one reporter put it, “There is simply no excuse for it. The President…should be able to stomach a question he doesn’t like without flying off the handle. He’s not six years old.”

It's true, Donald Trump is not six years old, but he is a developmentally stunted bully, and his outbursts resemble primitive behaviors we share with our primate relatives. When he hurled his insult at Lucey, he displayed what could be called his “inner chimp.” Chimpanzees and bonobo, our closest living relative, shared a common ancestor with humans only six to 10 million years ago, a blink in evolutionary time. As a result, we share many behaviors with them.

Chimpanzees live in multi-male, multi-female, territorial communities. Males remain in their birth groups for life, and groups of males bond together to actively patrol and defend territories against other communities. Male chimpanzees also form dominance relationships with each other and an alpha male typically sits at the top. Every adult male chimpanzee is dominant to every female, and males regularly harass and attack females, often without provocation, to reinforce their dominance.

I once observed 12 male chimpanzees travel more than a mile through the forest when they came upon a female and her offspring feeding in a tree. After a dramatic display—hair bristling, bodies exaggerated—they charged up the tree and beat, kicked, and bit the female until she fell to the ground, screaming with her young. When the attack ended, she sat bleeding while the males calmly wandered off to groom each other.

This behavior is disturbingly familiar. The same dynamic that drives male chimpanzees to target females, asserting dominance over those they see as lower-ranking, parallels Trump’s pattern of disproportionately targeting female reporters. For both, females become convenient outlets for aggression and frustration. In Trump’s case, dehumanizing and belittling women of all ages has been a lifelong pattern.

Chimpanzee males are not inherently bad, or evil; they are acting out deeply ingrained evolutionary strategies. Female chimpanzees overwhelmingly prefer large, aggressive males as mates because these males defend territories effectively, increasing safety for mothers and offspring. Those same males then sire sons likely to grow into large, aggressive adults preferred by future females. This creates a feedback loop reinforcing male aggression and dominance as a successful reproductive strategy.

But chimpanzee behavior is only part of the story. Our other closest relatives, bonobos, live in multi-male, multi-female, territorial communities, like chimpanzees. Males remain in their birth groups for life, like chimpanzees. But bonobo social behavior dynamics differ dramatically from chimpanzees. Male bonobos do not form the strong bonds seen in chimpanzees. Instead, it is bonobo females who develop strong bonds with one another and with their sons. Female alliances hold significant social power; males do not dominate females universally, and overly aggressive males are socially controlled and sometimes injured by united groups of females.

These contrasting primate societies illustrate that behavior is not destiny. Chimpanzees show how aggression can be rewarded and perpetuated across generations. Bonobos show how cooperation, social bonds, and female solidarity can inhibit aggression and reshape group dynamics. In both species, female choice and collective action have the power to reinforce or transform social patterns.

The lesson for us is clear: harmful behavior persists when it is rewarded. Trump has spent his life benefiting from bullying and misogyny, facing few meaningful consequences for attacking women or other groups. If we want to break that cycle, we must refuse to tolerate or normalize such conduct. Like the bonobo females who stand together against aggression, we must stand together and deny bullies the social rewards they seek.

When Trump lashes out, he is not displaying strength or “manliness.” He is falling back on primitive tactics that thrive only when they are rewarded by the larger group. Undoing that pattern requires collective resolve—and a commitment to rejecting behaviors that demean, intimidate, or devalue anyone.

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