Today’s column is based on a request by one of our readers who asked what our new leader, President-Elect Donald J. Trump might do to “drain the swamp.” From words and actions of the past, it is highly probable that one of the first actions of our new President will be to pronounce an administration of accountability.
Accountability is a feature of government leadership that we have seen dissipate like the burning of a fireplace log over the past eight years. Mr. Obama and other officials lied about subjects large and small with virtually no consequences. This fact bears out the truth that there are different standards of rejection and approval for government elites. Hillary never paid a measurable penalty for destroying thousands of E-mails of special consequence. She lost the election but didn’t suffer indictment, a courtroom trial or the embarrassment of a fine or incarceration. Evading accountability was a hallmark of the Obama government.
Another element that is almost certain to be set straight by Mr. Trump is a “results orientation.” Let’s consider a major example of what results orientation means. Starting on August 18th, 2011, Mr. Obama said that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria should step down. While this was repeated several times over the years, Assad never stepped down. Suggesting this is not a plan; the desirable result was to have a reorganized government with more freedoms for citizens of Syria, a nation of more than 20 million people in 2010.
But Mr. Obama had no concept of bringing together coalitions of like-minded leaders, and he was intellectually incapable of leading an alliance of world leaders in the arena of verbal debate and common sense logic regarding the end game.
Such leading from behind is the antithesis of leadership. By comparison, Mr. Trump has mobilized leaders and workers and built a successful business and mounted a campaign that has placed the presidential burden on his shoulders. He is capable of doing the same regarding creating coalitions to mould words and actions into a united front for conflict settlements, trade negotiations and territorial disputes.
The President has a long list of key executives who report directly to the POTUS. These include the Secretaries of State, Agriculture, Interior, Defense, Education, Veteran’s Affairs, Attorney General, Justice and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to his conduct over the years, I assume he will meet department leaders, set goals for achievement and discuss performance with time-related results. After discussion, agency heads will return to their offices to upend the bad policies of the past and set a course for achievement. When an agency head does not measure up, I suppose he/she will find themselves with Mr. Trump in the woodshed, aka The Oval Office.
One of the ways that President Trump may develop problem solutions is to ask questions when he doesn’t know the answers. He will also ask some questions of situations when he does have answers. It is highly probable that Trump will demand a balanced fiscal budget by his second submission in February 2018 with debt reduction each year of his term(s). An important element of the Trump administration is anticipated to be transparency regarding legislation, forecasts and information that has been withheld or distorted in the past.
Mr. Trump attended Wharton (University of Pennsylvania) and has been a businessman for many years; his success is certainly more attributable to focused hard work than good luck and political infighting. In his trek to success, he has made mistakes and learned from them. He has had specific accomplishments that he repeated. He has been coarse in comment and character but has also been humble and generous.
It is said that if it quacks like a duck, waddles like a duck, flies like a duck and swims like a duck, it is probably a duck. The bird we had for eight years turned out to be a loon impersonating a duck. This time around, I think we have a real duck.
As the great entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser once said, “I make progress by having people around me who are smarter than I am and listening to them. And I assume that everyone is smarter about something than I am.”
