The key to Trump’s authenticity is that he actually enjoys all of this, and it’s obvious on his face. Take his performance before a massive crowd in an Alabama football stadium last month. In a bit he’s repeated dozens of times, Trump says, “Who cares if it rains, right? You know if it rains I’ll take off my hat and prove—” And he stops talking, and dramatically takes off his hat and runs his hand over his hair with great satisfaction, twice. “—I’ll prove once and for all that it’s mine.” The crowd goes crazy. All his emotions are clear right there on his face—he seems to actually enjoy the physical sensation of running his hands through his hair on stage. He pauses to savor the moment. Letting himself feel and express real emotions is one of Trump’s greatest gifts, because he seems like a real person, not a pre-taped personality. He shows joy and rage and contempt and even irony—irony while posing for photos with the American flag…

his is what makes Trump unique. The other candidates struggle to be real. Hillary Clinton’s campaign is trying, for the millionth time, to find a away to make her appear more authentic by showing “more humor and heart,” The New York Times reported last week. In the subsequent days, she apologized for her email scandal and then danced idiotically on The Ellen Show. She has tried to seem more human by doing the things that regular people do (“I’m just chillin in Cedar Rapids”), but fails because her enthusiasm is forced. Trump, by contrast, does things that regular people never do, like take kids on a ride in his helicopter near the Iowa State Fair, and he looks like he likes it. The entire point of the Iowa State Fair in a pre-presidential year seems to be to create opportunities for candidates to be photographed eating humiliating food and pretending to love it (see photo at right). Trump bit into a pork chop on a stick with relish.