Reflections on Trump
When I first started this blog (in late January), my intent was to post a blog each day of Donald Trump's presidency. I wanted to speak truth to what I observed. If that meant criticizing what he did, I would criticize it. If he did something I agreed with, I would mention that. However after just a couple of weeks, I discovered that I was getting exhausted by my endeavor. First, there were so many things happening each day that pained me, I had difficulty keeping up with all the things that I might include in the blog. Second, I realized pretty quickly that I was only seeing a fraction of the things that were going on in the Trump administration. And finally, I realized that my secret hope that he would actually prove me wrong in my original dislike of him became less and less likely to ever be realized.
My first encounter with Donald Trump (not in person, but as a concept) was in a management class I was teaching. One of my students asked me what I thought of Donald Trump's management style. At that time, I had not read the art of the deal (I personally think there is more to management than deal making), and my only knowledge of his management style came from his role on the Apprentice. I told my student that I thought his management style was theatrical and designed to entertain people watching television and was not a viable style for running a company.
In fact, I think I was being polite and restrained in my comments on Trump's management style. I thought that how he treated people was 100% contrary to everything I tried to teach young supervisors and managers. I thought that if Trump ever tried to run a "real" company (not one privately owned by himself), he would have been fired rather quickly. I have encountered managers who emulate his management style, and they are universally lousy managers. They can accomplish one thing: the destruction of whatever enterprise they are managing.
Many people have told me that they agree with some of the goals that Trump espouses. It is possible that in an abstract way, I also agree with those goals. I do want more economic opportunities for people in this country; I do want more jobs done in America. I do want ISIS contained and even destroyed. There are probably other things that Trump wants that I might agree with.
But one thing I will never agree with is the means by which Trump tries to achieve his ends. He will lie, cheat, steal and betray everyone, so long as it helps augment his objectives. Unfortunately, it turns out that his objectives were never those things that he mentioned during the campaign. His objective has only been to aggrandize himself.
Not one of his objectives has truly been to benefit the people of the United States. They all have been to benefit Donald Trump.
My first encounter with Donald Trump (not in person, but as a concept) was in a management class I was teaching. One of my students asked me what I thought of Donald Trump's management style. At that time, I had not read the art of the deal (I personally think there is more to management than deal making), and my only knowledge of his management style came from his role on the Apprentice. I told my student that I thought his management style was theatrical and designed to entertain people watching television and was not a viable style for running a company.
In fact, I think I was being polite and restrained in my comments on Trump's management style. I thought that how he treated people was 100% contrary to everything I tried to teach young supervisors and managers. I thought that if Trump ever tried to run a "real" company (not one privately owned by himself), he would have been fired rather quickly. I have encountered managers who emulate his management style, and they are universally lousy managers. They can accomplish one thing: the destruction of whatever enterprise they are managing.
Many people have told me that they agree with some of the goals that Trump espouses. It is possible that in an abstract way, I also agree with those goals. I do want more economic opportunities for people in this country; I do want more jobs done in America. I do want ISIS contained and even destroyed. There are probably other things that Trump wants that I might agree with.
But one thing I will never agree with is the means by which Trump tries to achieve his ends. He will lie, cheat, steal and betray everyone, so long as it helps augment his objectives. Unfortunately, it turns out that his objectives were never those things that he mentioned during the campaign. His objective has only been to aggrandize himself.
Not one of his objectives has truly been to benefit the people of the United States. They all have been to benefit Donald Trump.
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