Furious followers are a force to be reckoned with.
- Lesson learned by South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol.
- Lesson learned by Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze.
- Lesson learned by United States President Donald Trump?
For suddenly declaring martial law in a country recently grown accustomed to democracy, Yoon was faced with riots in the streets and in the National Assembly. Moreover, within hours his own People Power Party voted unanimously to strike down his infuriating imposition of martial law. Now Yoon is hearing calls, loud calls, for his impeachment. The rapidity with which he was forced to pay the piper was as if his followers had read Leadership from Bad to Worse. As I write in the book, the sooner bad leadership is stopped not only the better to do, but the easier to do.
For his draconian crackdown Kobakhidze plunged his country into chaos. The flash point was his government’s decision to delay any attempt to join the European Union. But the real issue is a far larger one – the tension between autocracy and democracy. Georgia’s scant acquaintance with the latter makes it hard to resist the former, promulgated by its neighbor, Powerhouse Putin. But Kobakhidze’s Putinesque tactics will continue to face resistance – which will continue to require he use force to shut his followers up.
For some of his outrageous nominees to Cabinet posts and other top jobs, Donald Trump is facing blowback. Polite blowback. Cautious blowback. Blowback behind closed doors. But blowback, even resistance, nevertheless. Trump has become accustomed to getting his way. Specifically, with members of his Republican Party who have been nearly entirely supine for nearly a decade. Almost without exception they have been willing to do his bidding. But if I were him, I would not assume that past is prologue. If I were him, I would watch my back and clutch my crown.
Added note: Silly me. I did not foresee – this happened just a few hours ago – that in keeping with the point of this post, France’s Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, would be ousted from his post barely three months after taking office.