Although many fail to take Trump seriously, his rise is simply a consequence of a global tendency following Putin, Rachman believes.
He predicts that future historians will agree that 2012 was a crucial year, marked with Putin's return to power in May. Shortly after, Xi Jinping became the General Secretary of the Communist Party in China, and these two leaders made sharp turns toward a brand new style of leadership prompting popularization of the personality cult.
The next year Recep Tayyip Erdogan was elected president of Turkey. Erdogan reinforced the president's power, pushing aside the country's other top politicians.
Rachman also mentioned the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, who during the election campaign demonstrated his power and vowed to stop inaction in India's politics, and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who also displayed a dominant approach.
"And then there is Mr Trump," the article reads. "Mr Trump — who looks certain to secure the Republican presidential nomination — exhibits many of the characteristics of the current crop of strongman leaders, including Messrs Putin, Xi, Erdogan, Sisi, Modi, Orban and Duterte."
Rachman believes that the politicians on his list win by promising a revival of the nation while at the same time demonstrating straightforwardness and the power of their personalities.
Thus, Trump and Putin "have formed something of a mutual admiration society", based on "a shared style and swagger, rather than underlying principle", the columnist wrote. And that principle, he warned, may not let close relationships last long.
