Last year I came out with a book titled, Leadership from Bad to Worse: What Happens When Bad Festers. The book was a warning. It warned that without exception – unless and until they are stopped or at least slowed by something(s) or someone(s) – bad leaders become worse leaders.
This progression is universal. This progression is inevitable. This progression is inexorable. This progression is ubiquitous. Always and everywhere bad leadership – like every other malignancy – starts small and then it gets larger. It grows, then grows more, and keeps on growing unless and until finally it is excised. If, on the other hand, it is never removed, it will transform what was original into what is unrecognizable.
The term “tipping point” seem at odds with this process. Because it implies change that is major not minor, tipping point further implies change that is sudden. But when “tipping points” are defined as a series of small changes that in time become larger and more significant, they can be seen as integral to the progression in which bad leadership becomes worse.
The United States is, then, at a tipping point. For just six months into his second term, President Donald Trump has let loose force. He has let loose force not abroad – about which he is skittish. He has let loose force at home – about which he is decidedly not skittish.
The most obvious evidence of this is of course in California. Though you and I might differ about the specifics of the situation in Los Angeles, we might nevertheless agree that federalizing the national guard and sending in 700 marines to maintain order in one square mile of the city is overkill. But I refer not to California. I refer instead to Washington DC where this weekend a an imposing military parade will take place, ostensibly to celebrate the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army and, oh yes, the 79th birthday of the commander in chief.
I don’t like the idea of showy military parades under any circumstances – they are associated with autocracies not democracies. However, my objection is not to the parade per se. Rather it is to what Trump said in connection with the occasion. Yesterday he threatened that anyone who protests his parade will be punished. “People that want to protest will be met with big force,” the president said. These are people “that hate our country. They will be met with heavy force.”
Which is precisely why the United States is at a tipping point. Twice in one week Trump has made clear that he sees the American military as his military. To be used when and how sees fit, no matter the law, no matter the Constitution.
If you think this is the end of it, think again. If you think, for example, American elections will be exempt from Trump’s infractions, think again. If the president gets away with using the miliary for his purposes this week, think what will happen next. Think leadership from bad to worse.