Is Donald Trump a secret Stoic?

He builds golden temples in his own name, posts on social media like a filter-less teenager and has a tendency to run the United States of America like a personal fiefdom.

But look again - through the lens not of X outrage or political tribalism, but of ancient resilience - and you’ll spot something unexpected. A man who, in his autumn years, appears to be applying Stoic strategy to his personal playbook.

The bearded gang of Seneca, Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus advocated accepting what you cannot control, mastering what you can, and staying steady in the storm.

Two thousand years later and Donald Trump appears to be picking up the mantle.

When BBC interviewer Gary O’Donoghue asked if the attempt made on his life a year ago in Pennsylvania had changed him, President Trump said: “Well, I like to think about it as little as possible, to be honest. I don't like to think about ‘did it change me?’, because it could have changed a lot of people. It's like the power of positive thinking or the power of positive non-thinking. So, I don't like dwelling on it, because if I did, it might be life-changing. I don't want it to be that. It was a crazy moment.”

Marcus, I suspect, would be nodding in agreement at Trump’s acceptance of what happened, his refusal to be trapped by it and his ability to put something so life-threatening in the ‘crazy moment’ box.

There are other clues that President Trump has been on a quiet journey towards a more stoic style of leadership.

When asked by a reporter in 2016 whether he regretted anything during the campaign, Trump’s answer was characteristically blunt: “I like to be unpredictable”. Not the humility the Stoics might have advised—but certainly an embrace of chaos on your own terms.

During his three-hour sit-down with Joe Rogan last year, which ultimately rewired American political communications, President Trump said of his meandering interview style: “I like to give the weave... you have to be very smart to do the weave. We’re talking about little pieces all over here, but it always ends at home”.

Strip away the bombast, and what you have is someone describing a deliberate method to disorder. Seneca wrote that a wise man adapts himself to circumstances, as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it. President Trump, who has switched parties five times, has made adaptation his signature move.

Another key Stoic lesson is not to be swayed by other people’s opinions. Trump doesn’t just ignore criticism, he metabolises it into energy.

Marcus Aurelius told himself, “You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength.” Trump would rephrase that less poetically as: “When somebody punches you, punch back harder.’  Not subtle. But rooted in the same refusal to be emotionally governed by external noise.

The Stoics placed enormous value on self-mastery and composure under pressure. The modern Stoic community will bristle at that connection. But consider this: for a man sued, sued again, impeached twice, indicted, and laughed at by world leaders, his capacity to return -unbowed and more determined - is, if nothing else, a masterclass in psychological control.

President Trump’s approach to crisis, seen through a Stoic prism, reveals a man who refuses to be dictated to by events, who reframes humiliation as opportunity, and who sees in every setback the possibility of reinvention.

And with his most recent interview he has shown himself capable, possibly for the first time, of self-analysis that isn’t entirely cloaked in narcissism.

No toga. No sandals. Just a red cap, fake tan and a refusal to be beaten by life and whatever it throws at him.

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Andy Coulson is the Founder of Coulson Partners and the host of the podcast Crisis What Crisis.

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