Donald Trump is a terrible creature creating leadership by fear- creating terror for all Americans

Trump is a failed leader

Echo opinion letter published in the News-Gazette 

in Central Illinois:

Donald Trump is a failed (fake❗) leader. 

Effective leaders marshal resources to enable teams to do their work. To get that work done, they must engage the energies and good will of the people who do it.

But, Trump’s agenda tears down government’s ability to do its work. Abolishing departments, firing workers, shutting down computers, encouraging snitches and cutting funds cripples government’s ability to function. That is what Trump wants to do: stop government from doing the work Congress has authorized. Legally, he can only do so with Congress’ consent. So he end-runs the law by giving his campaign donor, Elon Musk, the burglary tools to ransack agencies.

Moreover, Trump has made fear his way to corral and intimidate workers who run government agencies’ programs. Fear is no way to engage the energies and creativity of employees. Management by fear, punishing first and asking later, alienates them. It encourages backlash, subterfuge and rebellion — destroying efficiency and morale. Abused people won’t feel obligated to support the mission, nor to perform on their jobs. The result is dereliction of duty and waste.

Trump calls on us to despair, not to hope. To withdraw, not to advance. To quit, not to persist. Who wants to sacrifice time and energy to tear things down instead of to build and succeed? No wonder Trump failed so often in the private sector. His mismanagement will spawn dozens of case studies on how not to lead. He’s eroding the presidency by personalizing it as a tool for pathological revenge.

From David Leslie in Urbana, Illinois