Some portion of the American population cast their ballots for
a man who promised to make their country great again. A greater portion of the
voting public case ballots for one or other of the candidate who were running
against his platform of systematic dissection of American economic strides of
the past 70 years. An even greater portion of the American population failed
for one reason or another to cast a vote for any candidate.
Hillary Clinton ran with a well-established and time tested team
of advisers and like-minded politician and staff. The minor candidates, not so
much. They lacked the synergy which comes from working together in common
pursuits.
For good or for ill, businessman and entrepreneur, Donald J.
Trump ran for and won the election to become the 45th President of the United
States. Here is a man who was a Big Fish in a Small Pond. While in private life
he owned, bought and sold hundreds of businesses. Some of them were good
enterprises and others failed. Mr. Trump was the undisputed owner and director
of every part of those enterprises. His "pond" consisted of a few
dozen board members and investors to whom he was responsible. In the shallows
of that pond were several thousands of employees who relied on his prowess and
ability to maintain a working business. He was good at commanding respect and
making people jump through the hoops he held out for them.
This command and control structure extends to his three wives
and five children who stand politely at his side and reflect his greatness back
to him.
The era of Mr. Trump's big status has come to an end with his
election to the office of President. Now he is responsible for and to tens of
thousands of Federal employees who make his newly acquired enterprise work. No
longer is the command chain only three links long. In his private business life
he could summarily dismiss anyone and everyone at his pleasure and reassign
duties as he saw fit. After all they were his employees and their jobs were his
personal property. This is not the same in government circles.
While he struggles to realign the government to his liking he
is finding that he is responsible for far more people than before. His
employees needed wages and health insurance. He could wave his hand and raise,
lower, add or remove any and all compensation with near impunity. If anyone did
not like it, they could look elsewhere for a job.
As elected leader of the nation he assumed his 43 million
supported were his constituents. Meeting their wants and desires were his
calling. That pond got measurable larger and he, proportionally smaller.
The people who voted for him are not his only concerns. There
are 317 million Americans to whom he has a duty. Even if the few hundred board
members and investors would not inform him that he had spinach in his teeth,
there are millions of ordinary citizens who would immediately tell him and make
an Internet meme all about it. Those 317 million Americans comprise an even
bigger pond.
Mr. Trump is wholly unsuited for the magnitude of the position
he now occupies. He is appearing progressively smaller and smaller as time goes
by. The sheer number of direction he must look and act have overwhelmed the
man. He has no highly experienced team with government experience to carry out
his executive decisions and legislative priorities. The only experience his
Wall Street appointees, Pharma appointees, regulatory agency appointees have is
as adversaries of the very government bodies they are supposed to manage. Mr.
Trump, the businessman who hated government regulations and taxes, is now the
man who can whisk away those pesky regulations with the stroke of his pen. That
power is awesome and awful at the same time.
The Art
of the Deal is more a treatise on his ability to get his own
way than it is for how to negotiate for mutual benefit. In business one can
crush the opponent bring him to his knees and force him to kiss your signet. In
politics, this is never a good practice.
The 317 million Americans are not the end of the pond growing
responsibility. Mr. Trump becomes even small in the pons which houses 7 billion
humans. Like it or not, every decision an American President makes ultimate impact
each and every one of those people. Shaking one fist at the ceiling and
declaring America First is a
declaration of conflict when heard by peoples of other countries. It harkens
back to the days of ITT, Standard Oil, Ford and other American multinational corporations
which moved in on South American and Asian countries sucking the wealth out of
the region and leaving the spoils to the indigenous populations.
Like it or not, the entire world is in your hands, Mr. Trump,
not just the white male demographic of the US. You are now a very Small Fish in
a very Large Pond. The common people will tell you to your face that you are
not doing a good job. Other leaders will tell you to your face and to their
people that you need to clean up your act and become a team player and not be
yet another despotic dictator in the world. The Press will describe your
attributes and report on your actions. That is their job. You cannot stop them
without doing yourself more damage.
