Trump Is A Terrible Leader
He epitomizes the antithesis of all I espouse. But maybe, just maybe, we can learn something from what not to do.
A NOTE TO MY READERS: This is not a political newsletter nor do I want it to become one. Yet, as a person who writes (and speaks) of how to be a better leader, I feel compelled to chime in on someone who, I believe, is a truly crappy leader. This article is long. Longer than most1. I don’t really like to prattle on in one post, but I didn’t want to cut this into multiples and force you, my lovely readers, to get a bunch of emails about this subject. I am sure you’ll get enough in the coming months.
For my international readers who do not care for American politics (I don’t blame you), here is an older article about how to give the Ultimate Hug. It’s fun - although it does involve Thanksgiving, a very American holiday.
Let’s get to it.
TRUMP FAILS ALL OF MY CRITERIA
In case you haven’t noticed, I write a weekly newsletter about happiness. Not only how to find it in your personal life, but how to use it as a leader (be it in your community, as a boss, or as an entrepreneur). If you were to pick any random article out of my pile and apply it to Donald Trump to see if he follows my advice or goes against it, you would find he fails. Spectacularly.
He epitomizes the antithesis of all I espouse. But maybe, just maybe, we can learn something from what not to do.
I have created a list of reasons why I think Trump is such a horseshit leader - each (save one) with references to a “rule” that he breaks. I will try to avoid talking about his policies (although I am not a fan) and concentrate on his “leadership skills” alone. If I refer to a policy it will only be used to illustrate the outcome of his applying those “skills”.
All of this assumes, of course, that I am a leader whose advice is worth emulating. Maybe I’m not. Maybe I’m deluded and should consider doing the opposite of the ideology I have created for myself which has served me so well for so long. But I doubt that’s the case. I am sure you will let me know.
Here is why he should NOT be considered for the position of leader of the free world (or any leadership position, for that matter).
TRUMP DOES NOT SEEK GOOD INFORMATION (AKA: THE TRUTH)
As I oft note, you can only make good decisions with good information. Good information is invariably the truth. Thus it is imperative to find the truth (even if it hurts), so you can make good decisions. The truth is a good starting point because if you make decisions based on truth and you are wrong, you can always go back to the truth and start again.
Trump does not start his decision making with the truth. He makes shit up all the time. Take, for example, his stance on abortion. He has claimed that abortions are conducted “up to and even past birth.” This is infuriatingly untrue. I believe what Trump is referencing is the palliative care given to babies that have conditions so severe that the newborn will die soon after death (which is awful).
Think of how wildly different these two scenarios are.
One (Trump’s truth) involves an uncaring mother and a psychopathic doctor callously murdering a perfectly healthy baby on its birthday.
The other (The real truth) involves the heartbreaking moments a family must go through to provide a newborn at least some level of comfort for the few precious heartbeats it will have with its parents.
It is easy to see how starting from the wrong “truth” can lead to some pretty bad decisions. The real truth demands some compassion. Worse than anything is that the policy decisions Trump makes because he is not starting with good information exacerbates what is already a terrible situation.
Trump does the same thing with decisions large and small. He begins with bad information and so his decisions invariably end up being at best stupid and at worst horrifying.
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TRUMP CANNOT ADMIT HE IS WRONG
Once Trump latches onto whatever “truth” he decides serves his purpose he does not let go. He’s a dog with a bone. Even when the real truth smacks him upside the face, he won’t concede. He doubles down. It’s almost more maddening than him not starting with the real truth to begin with.
The most… humorous… example of this is the infamous Hurricane Sharpie incident of 2019. A quick recap: Trump accidentally (maybe) said Hurricane Dorian was going to hit Alabama. It was, in fact, not. Rather than correct himself, he crudely altered an official National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hurricane map with a Sharpie to make it “look” like he was, indeed, right.
Imagine your boss pulling a stunt like this: Your company is going to lose the Johnson account. You have an all-hands-on-deck meeting to figure out how to keep the Johnsons from leaving. Your boss says “Pull the Hanson account files!”
You’re all like, “No, we need to look at the Johnson files.”
And your boss says, “I said pull the Hanson files, so we’re going to look at the Hanson files!”
You spend the entire meeting going over the Hanson files to solve the Johnson account problem. You lose the Johnson account.
Having the ability to say, “Woah, shit, I was wrong” and adjust on the fly is a huge part of being a good leader. It shows those you lead that not only are you capable of admitting you’re human and fallible, but also teaches everyone how to handle a situation when you start with bad info. The most important thing is to get it right - not to look like you are always right.
Trump always needs to look like he is right - regardless of whether he actually is or not. The Johnson account be damned.
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TRUMP IS NOT CURIOUS
Trump often claims to know more about whatever subject happens to be before him than anybody else. He has proclaimed to know more about building walls, banking, social media, lawsuits, trade, renewable energy, taxes, infrastructure, the economy, technology, drones, wind, words (etc. etc. etc.) than experts in each respective field. This is, of course, bullshit - but that’s beside the point.
What Trump means when he says “I know more about blank than anyone else” is that he is unwilling to learn any more about that particular subject matter. He has capped his input limit. Reaching out to anyone who might actually be an expert is unnecessary because Trump doesn’t want to know any more about it. Period.
Hubris is the frippery of a moron.
A good leader understands the limitations of their own knowledge and will consult with experts when faced with a situation outside those limitations. A great leader will consult with experts even if they themselves are already an expert - just to uncover blind spots, or double check their conclusions. Why? Because a healthy dose of curiosity can and will uncover previously hidden or unknown truths that can positively impact potential outcomes.
No one should ever willingly stop learning. As soon as you do, you’re dead. Every time Trump says he knows more about something than everyone else (and, dammit, he does it a lot) he is admitting that he doesn’t care enough about it to learn any more. It scares me.
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TRUMP MICROMANAGES ( AND POORLY, AT THAT)
During the Covid response Trump revealed a micromanagement style that even proponents of micromanaging would dislike. Like getting a clear view up a dude’s shorts, once I saw it I couldn’t not see it. It works thusly:
Claim state’s rights supersede federal oversight.
Offers zero by way of direction or assistance.
Criticizes anyone who acts or performs differently than his expectation.
Repeat.
Trump doesn’t micromanage by being overly helpful. He micromanages by being overly critical. It is maddening. He needs to be slapped.
Let’s say you’re working on that Johnson file again and your boss says, “however you want to handle it. I trust you.” You start working on the account and your boss swings by to say, “that is an incredibly stupid way of doing it. I wouldn’t do it that way.”
Confused, you ask, “Well, how do you want me to do it?”
“It’s your account,” he responds, “do it anyway you want. But the way you’re doing it is dumb,” and then walks out of the room. What a douche.
This is the Trump-style method of micromanagement. A potato could do a better job of leading. It would stay out of your way, and wouldn’t criticize you for getting the job done as you see fit.
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Amazingly, I haven’t written one about this. Yet.
EDIT: I wrote one: Micromanaging Is Megastupid
TRUMP DOESN’T HAVE A PLAN
Trump can point out a problem, but rarely offers solutions. He’ll point and exclaim “I will solve this problem like no one has ever solved a problem before.” But he won’t let in on how he plans to get it done. Da fuck? His rallies and interviews are strewn with promises: “Only I can do this”, “Only I can solve that.” But it is all papier mâché: pretty decoration on a hollow core.
Then there is MAGA. Make America Great Again is the most backward ass slogan in the history of backward ass slogans. “Great Again” implies that America once had serious mojo, but has since lost its mojo, so now must regain the mojo. No one can pinpoint when it was that America had all the mojo. Was it a specific date: 50s, 60s, the aughts? Is it more a collection of mojo-tastic moments: The moon landing? Cars with fins? Funk? What is very clear in the messaging is that America’s greatness is behind it and to go forward we must go backward. It relies on the very human trait of looking at the past with rose colored glasses - which is wildly disingenuous.
To be fair the Republican party has presented project 2025, a 900+ page document detailing their strategy for moving the country “forward” by stripping it of almost every gain it has made in the last 100 years. It is most definitely a backwards-is-better kind of plan.
Maybe MAGA is exactly what Trump means: he is not a forward looking leader.
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TRUMP IS A JACKWAGON
A jackwagon is a person who believes their hopes and dreams are more important and their hardships more difficult than everyone else’s. Trump is the walking, talking embodiment of a jackwagon. His stump speeches are littered with grievances and imagined injustices. He talks rarely of what he can do for the country but what the country should be doing for him.
He often talks about his immense struggles and how no other person in the history of the planet has had to endure more suffering than he. That conceit has the dual repugnancy of being self-aggrandizing while simultaneously being dismissive as fuck.
“Nobody’s been treated like Trump in terms of badly.3”
-Donald Trump (03/13/24)
At the same time he claims that he, and he alone, can solve the problems of the country that he is so swept up in. Wait now, what? He is the only person who can solve his own problems? Well, that’s true. But he doesn’t need to be president to do that.
On the flip side of that coin is how he treats others who point out their own sufferings. Trump calls them “snowflakes4”, “crybabies”, or “losers”. And therein lies the big Catch 22 of Trump’s jackwagonry: his problems are paramount, other people’s… not so much.
A true leader will shoulder responsibility without bitching about its weight. A true leader understands that each person carries their own burden without needing to compare it to their own.
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TRUMP IS NOT A HAPPY GUY
This may be the most egregious problem I have with the dude: he is just not a happy guy. His scowl seems permanently etched on his face. When and if his face betrays him and he does crack a smile, his brain quickly overrides the instinct and flips the circuit breaker back to frown mode. He must appear serious to be taken seriously. It's as if he isn’t aware that humans appreciate humor.
Some people claim that Trump does have a sense of humor. All I have ever seen of Trump trying to be funny is when he is dragging on people. I don’t find that funny. Also, I have never seen him laugh at himself, be self-deprecating, or handle an innocent joke about himself well. He has some translucently thin skin.
For the life of me I cannot picture the man throwing his head back and holding his sides in laughter.
I am a guy who preaches about finding happiness in the happiness of others; that that concept is the foundation of freedom itself. I define happiness as an amused sense of wonderment at what you are experiencing. Trump never seems amused. And having a sense of wonderment? Oh, hell no.
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WHO WOULD HIRE THIS GUY?
The conservative counterpoint is an important voice to have in the conversation5, but I am disheartened by the Republican party. Usually when someone loses as spectacularly as Trump has done multiple times (lost the house, the senate, the white house, a coup) they scrape the stinking bits off the bottom of their shoe and try something altogether different. Going back for more and expecting something different is the definition of insanity - or stupidity - or MAGA.
I, for one, would never hire Donald Trump to work for me. I would not place him in any sort of managerial position. I wouldn’t even put him in an entry level position because I wouldn’t want him infecting others on the team with his brand of toxic stupidity (I’ve fired people for this). Similarly, I would not want to work for Donald Trump. It sucks to work for a bad boss. Trump is a really bad boss.
When I hold him up to my own personal values, he doesn't come even remotely close to what I want to see more of in this world.
I wish more people would do the same.
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This article is something that has been stewing in my head for quite some time and I just really needed to get it out of me.
This is less a “rule” and more an explanation of my opinion but, hey, my Substack, my rules.
What the hell kind of sentence is this?
A snowflake (look at me having to define all these terms) is a person with an unwarranted sense of entitlement who is overly emotional, easily offended, and unable to deal with opposing opinions. Holy snowflake calling someone else a snowflake!
Opposing views are are an important component of getting to the truth.