We Need a Real Leader

By Hank Silverberg

2018 is in the books. As I wrote last week, it was NOT a good year, though certainly not the worst either. Is there hope for 2019?  I’d  like to answer that with some humor, but I’m not Dave Barry and I lost my sense of humor about two hours into the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings.         

Many things went wrong this past year. Though the economy has been running at high speed with low unemployment, there’s a good chance it will run out of gas in 2019, or worse, crash into a tree because those driving it have been careless. Just this past month, the President created volatility in the Stock Market simply by attacking, in a TWEET, the Federal Reserve Board’s interest rate decisions. And for much of the year he wreaked havoc on the global economy by imposing tariffs on certain foreign goods, prompting retaliatory tariffs by both friend and foe. Those tariffs may spell real trouble for the world economy in 2019 if they continue.  

What we need more than anything now is someone with the ability to lead. Mr. Trump has proven incapable of leadership time and again. He is unable to tell the truth about anything. He has no moral compass at all and lacks the ability to take the advice of those around him who do. He doesn’t read intelligence briefings on crucial issues and seems to get all his information from Fox News, a very questionable source.   

 As a result, many of the competent people who came on board, who have been described as the “adults” in the administration, have deserted him either because they were fed up with Donald Trump, or because he pushed them out. Defense Secretary James Mattis is the most recent example.   

Trump’s leadership shortcomings will have an impact both today and in the long run. In the short term the immigration debate, which has been dragging on for years, has become more divisive than ever because of his hostile rhetoric towards all immigrants and anyone who wants to find a middle ground on dealing with illegal border crossings. He is fixated on an expensive border wall which has nothing to do with secure borders (because it won't work) and everything to do with pleasing his base supporters and his ego. 

In the long run, his denial of climate change and his push to abolish 78 environmental protection rules will impact generations which haven’t been born yet. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/climate/trump-environment-rules-reversed.html

While the President’s lack of leadership will hurt us all at home, his dealings with foreign leaders are scary. So scary I fear for the future of our way of life.     

Remember that so-called nuclear “deal” with Kim Jung Un? It was a myth. North Korea is still building nuclear missiles. We got nothing out of Trump's approach.  His insults and criticism of European leaders has damaged NATO and emboldened Russia's Vladimir Putin to move ahead with his visions of recapturing the old Soviet sphere of influence. Putin's unchallenged annexation of Crimea and attempts to destabilize Ukraine make that clear.

Then there was Trump's reaction to the murder of journalist and Saudi national, Jamal Khashoggi, who wrote for the Washington Post. It came after Trump spent months calling the American press "enemies of the people," and the murder of five newspaper employees in Maryland. Trump wasn’t concerned at all about the murder of Khasloggi or the possible involvement of the Saudi Crown Prince to whom he has paid great homage in the past. Trump was only concerned about the impact it would have on the 110 million-dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2018/12/28/us-needs-reset-its-relations-with-saudi-arabia/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4d4673b7560c

Trump’s idea of foreign policy centers only on business deals and not on moral grounds, human rights or even political practicality. His dealings with our potentially biggest foe, China, have been all about trade deals and tariffs and nothing about China’s push to dominate Asia politically.  That has damaged our long-term alliance with Japan and South Korea, and has soured our friends in the region, like Australia. 

But Trump is not the only leader who failed in 2018. The Republican controlled Congress was a disaster. House Speaker Paul Ryan, the man who never wanted to be the leader, wasn’t one. He pretty much gave up after the tax cut got through in 2017. And the Majority Leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, can best be described as milquetoast.   

He simply capitulated to the President, bringing on our current fabricated crisis that has temporarily shut down parts of the government.  As I wrote last week, the tax cut has not produced the jobs it was supposed to and has raised the average hourly wage by only two cents an hour.  https://hanksilverberg.blogspot.com/2018/12/2018-theyear-that-wasnt-by.html  Congress stood by as our infrastructure continued to deteriorate, and the health care system continued to break apart.

The voters decided this past November that it was time for the Democrats to take over in the House, and they put them back in the majority for 2019. But I am not sure there is a leader there either. Nancy Pelosi has lots of experience as House Speaker, but so far all we have seen from the Democrats as they get ready to take over is vindictive language. We hear words like “investigations” and “impeachment,” but little in the way of new, practical ideas to get us out of this political and economic mess.

2020 is now only a year away. It’s a presidential election year so candidates will begin coming out of the woodwork soon. You have heard some names already, so let’s review them. Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden are decent men, but they are old school and their time may have passed. (Their age is also a factor.) Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Elizabeth Warren are considering a run, but they all come with considerable baggage.  Then there’s Beto O’Rourke, a new face with a Kenndy-esqe rise to prominence who has yet to show us much in the way of real leadership skills.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/07/2020-presidential-candidates-955261

As you can see on the list on the link above, there are plenty of other potential Democratic and Independent candidates ranging from billionaires Mark Cuban and Michael Bloomberg to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. They, or someone else will need to show us they can lead a divided nation.

You can be assured that someone within the Republican party is now contemplating a challenge to Trump in the 2020 primaries, but ANY Republican who did not separate themselves from Trump during the last two years will have trouble with voters. Trump's core will stick with him. A GOP challenger will have to focus on traditional Republicans in the primaries and be moderate enough to grab Independents and Democrats in a general election.  That kind of Republican may be extinct.

 What does the public think of Trump’s leadership? A newly released AP poll shows 58 percent of male veterans approve of Trump’s leadership while 46 percent who have not served, disapprove. A closer look at just women, though, makes the numbers fuzzier. Fifty eight percent of female veterans and 61 percent of women overall disapprove of his leadership. 

https://apnews.com/3b0264d3b4db4c899d98ab3df9902fe4

There will be 96 military veterans in Congress in 2019, 66 Republicans and 30 Democrats.

I would like to think things will be different in 2019, but a year ago I thought 2018 was going to be better than 2017. As we enter a new year, one in which Presidential politics will heat up once again, I finish 2018 with this:

“Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing…after they have exhausted all other possibilities.”

That quote comes from either Winston Churchill or former Israeli Diplomat Abba Eban, depending on which quote book you look at, but it fits.

There is a real leader out there somewhere. This is America. We always find them eventually. So, let’s put out this ad:

                                         Wanted:

“A good leader. Must be someone who has good moral character and values. Candidate must be able to contribute fresh new ideas and have the ability to sell them to a significant portion of the American public including of our stagnant representatives.  If you are that person, or know who that might be, please let the rest of the world in on it. Previous applicants need not apply."

  

While we wait for a response to the ad, we can expect two more years of the Liar-in-Chief trying to dismantle all the progress of the last 40 years, while the Democrats, after hearing an inspiring half-time speech, will play a hold-the-line defense. Happy New Year! 

                                  

(Your suggestions and comments are welcome below)

(Copies of my book "The Campaign" can be purchased on Amazon.com, BN.com, HankSilverbergbooks.com or directly through me with autograph by emailing hanksilverberg@gmail.com for details.)