I do not, I deliberately do not, often post about the president. Opinions differ. And precisely because there is so much to be said, usually someone somewhere is saying it.
But every now and then I decide to weigh in – and today is such a day. Today is an exception to my usual rule because it’s becoming blindingly clear that the president is weakening the Unites States not just at home but abroad. Imagine how much it takes for an already decimated military – during Trump’s second term some 20 top-ranking generals have been fired or forced out – to take issue with orders given by Trump’s Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth. Safe to say, a lot.
But that’s what just happened. In response to a command from the Pentagon indicating that the administration was planning to extend the war with Iran, several top military leaders responded with, “non-concur.” This meant they would carry out the orders they were given – but they disagreed with them. They disagreed because they were persuaded that they would further weaken U.S. military operations in the rest of the world. Given the U.S. has also been depleting its munitions while additionally alienating its allies, it’s clear that America’s national security is weaker than in decades.
Trump is slated to be chief executive for another two years and four months. I can tell you, with certainty, that if he is not stopped he, like other bad leaders, will go from bad to worse.
In my book, Leadership from Bad to Worse, I wrote this: “The process of going from bad to worse tends to be steady, not sudden or hasty. But once bad has burrowed in, it digs deep and then deeper, making it finally very difficult to extract or excise.”*
I also make the point that when a leader goes from bad to worse, it is in four stages. The first is “Onward and Upward.” It’s when the leader paints a picture of a future fantastically brighter than the past – as in “Make American Great Again.” The last stage is “Bad to Worse.” When the leader and their followers extend and expand being bad because they were at no previous point interrupted or impeded. “In which case the outcome is as inevitable as predictable. It is dismal.”
I am not a seer, psychic, or soothsayer. But you can take this to the bank. Trump will not stand still. Unless we the American people stop or at least slow him, he will go from bad to worse.
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*Oxford University Press, 2024.