How a fictitious Hollywood diva shaped Trump’s persona

The president’s favorite film, ‘Sunset Boulevard,’ dramatizes the ways narcissistic delusions can lead to madness

- DAVID M. LUBIN

Bettmann Archive / Getty Images

GLORIA SWANSON as faded screen star Norma Desmond in the 1950 Golden Age classic.

A WEEK AFTER Joe Biden clinched the 2020 presidential election, Maureen Dowd published a New York Times piece that compared the delusional thinking of outgoing President Trump, who refused to accept defeat, to Norma Desmond descending her staircase in the final scene of “Sunset Boulevard.”

Dowd noted that Trump had frequently identified “Sunset Boulevard” as his favorite film. Released 75 years ago this month, Billy Wilder’s caustic Hollywood satire features a fictitious diva of the silent film era who deludes herself into believing she can make a glorious return to the silver screen. The film cautions against delusional thinking, which, left unchecked, as in Norma’s case, results in mayhem and madness.

Former Trump White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, now repudiated by him, recalled how thrilled the then-first-term president was to introduce the film to her in a private screening at Camp David: “I must admit, 1 loved it and was shocked at all of the similarities between President Trump and Norma Desmond.”

Grisham was surprised by Trump’s naive interpretation of the film as a rousing comeback story: “Here was a woman who was convinced that everyone loved her and lived in a fantasy world of her own making. I'm sure that Trump had no clue—like none — how similar to him she was.”