Charismatic Leaders

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Religious or political

Who is the most charismatic leader (in your opinion)

Would you ever vote for a person based on personality alone

Or, have you ever

I would never vote for someone on personality alone and I never have.

I would never vote for someone on personality alone and I never have.

Vladimir Lenin
Charles Manson
Hasan al-Sabbah (the man, not the band)
Karl Lueger
T Diddy

No, charismatic leaders aren't for me. I'm suspicious of any kind of leaders but I'm even more suspicious of that lot. Anyway when I vote at all (and that's rare), I vote to keep somebody out who I think is even worse.

I suppose who the most charismatic one is depends on the people who have been charismatised, and I don't know much about those. As far as I'm concerned they're just falling for another kind of marketing hype. I like to think that the only way to persuade me of anything is to give me the facts, not the ruddy poetry.

I was going to say Jesus was the most charismatic leader, but I doubt that he pulled very big crowds till after he'd died, compared with some of them. I like some of the tales of Jesus but they don't portray him as having much time for clear reasoning. Still, he didn't seem to do any harm while he was around, so I'm not going to judge him.

I wonder how much of Trump is this charisma thing and how much is his policies that the Southern farmers have long wanted to see happening. I've known people who voted for him say that they know he's a jerk but they think he's the only one who's serious about booting the foreigners out. Why anybody would want to attend a political rally is beyond me, unless for some daft reason they believe in the leader and want to go and worship him. But as far as I can see it's only how you vote that counts, if even that counts for anything more than putting a drop into the ocean.

We've got our own version of Trump in the UK now called Nigel Farage. God help us if he gets in next election.

^
The notion of Farage having anything like a charisma seems really weird to me, seeing as how he's so hideous to look at, but then I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Maybe I'm confusing charismatic with sexy? I mean what is charismatic exactly anyway? I've read about it on Wikipedia but even the popularity of football makes more sense to me than the notion of charismatic leaders.

He's certainly a right-wing populist, and a dangerous one to my political wishes for the UK. Oh well, I've long resigned myself to the fact that the world is going to hell in a handcart. I just hope my friends and I don't have to suffer too much for it personally.

I'd rather hoped the UK's experiment with right-wing populism was over when they kicked Boris out after Partygate, and that we were lighting the way for Americans. I should have known better.

when I think of all politicians across history in the Anglosphere. charisma (or integrity for that matter) isn't the first word that comes to mind

But in terms of leaders, if I am being entirely objective only Malcolm X comes close to being charismatic. African leader Patrice Lubamba and South American folk hero Che Guevara also had reputations for being charismatic. All three men died relatively young.

In the US, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were both more charismatic in their day than people remember, although they are both being canceled in today's political culture.

JD Vance has the potential to be charismatic and he could become POTUS at any time.

I'd say the most charismatic leader I can name off in my lifetime is Barack Obama, especially as he never used that charisma for evil of personal gain.