Donald Trump’s comeback: The triumph of economic self-interest over morality

There are two views of human behaviour. One is that people are primarily motivated by self-interest—what’s in it for me? The other is that people are primarily influenced by deeply ingrained moral values—what’s right and wrong? The first view comes from the rational choice or game-theoretic school; the second belongs to what scholars call constructivism. Now, the common belief is that Europeans tend to privilege high principles over narrow self-interest. By contrast, Americans have long been seen as mostly self-interested, individualistic pe