Watching political figures lately feels like being trapped in a never-ending high school drama. The swagger, the posturing, the desperate need for attention – it’s all painfully familiar. But what’s more revealing is the underlying psychology: these aren’t just surface-level similarities to teenage behaviour, they’re symptoms of the same deep-seated insecurities and fears.
The constant need to put others down, the obsession with loyalty, the performative aggression – these aren’t the actions of secure, mature adults who’ve found their place in the world. They’re the behaviours of people still wrestling with the same demons that haunted them in high school hallways. Still trying to prove themselves. Still seeking validation through dominance rather than genuine achievement.
And that’s the charitable interpretation. Because the alternative is more chilling: that they understand exactly what they’re doing – deliberately weaponizing insecurity and fear, consciously choosing cruelty as a strategy. That they’re not stuck in high school mentality, but rather cynically exploiting it.
Either way – whether they’re perpetual teenagers unable to grow up, or calculating actors choosing to behave this way – the impact on our society is the same. Complex challenges are reduced to playground taunts. Critical decisions are made based on who’s the loudest, not who’s the wisest. The future of millions is shaped by the dynamics of a high school cafeteria.
