It’s clear that Trump is choosing to fill the top positions in his administration with people who are loyal to him and who will conform to what he wants to see done. They will not act on their own but will just do his bidding. At the most basic level, loyalty to him is his guiding principle as he has chosen people who will never talk back to him or refuse his orders. He will run the show; they are there to just act on his every wish or command.
He has referred to himself as the greatest president ever and he sometimes says that he is operating in the tradition of Abraham Lincoln who many people feel is the greatest president in our nation’s history. Trump and his minions have failed to see why Lincoln is regarded as such. Beyond his sheer courage, moral fabric, and always having the nation’s unity first in his mind, there is something that set him apart from others. Lincoln had a characteristic that Trump didn’t when he honored Lincoln. Trump surrounded himself with “yes men and women” to preside over our nation. Lincoln did not.
No one has documented it as well as Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. He won the election to the Presidency because of his innate ability to put himself in the shoes of others, to experience what they were experiencing, and to understand their motives and desires. He brought his disgruntled opponents together to create the most unusual cabinet in history and marshalled this diverse cabinet’s ideas to bring the union together to win an historic war. His view of humankind was that their better angels would prevail, unlike Trump who sees a potential enemy in each encounter.
We have seen these contrasting views of how people see themselves and others before and where this attitude leads. Trump’s view of the human condition is that people are insecure, competitive, and glory seeking. We have seen this with the people flocking to Mar-a- Lago seeking to have a position in Trump’s administration. They backstab and undercut one another. It is a feeding frenzy. This was the view of Thomas Hobbes. To see his view in action just read or see Golding’s Lord of the Flies. It is a story about a group of schoolboys who are marooned on an island. Death, betrayal, and the destruction of the island are the result. In Hobbes’ story one person, The Leviathan, rules over the students who give up all power to him.
Lincoln’s view of the human condition is that of John Locke. His view forms a philosophical basis for our Constitution. Locke saw people as basically good, and that government should focus on equality and the rights of all. Property and contracts were sacred, and the government could be changed through orderly transition. We now call it voting. The goal was to avoid chaos and promote equal treatment under the law. This resulted in freedom for the slaves.
The whole driver in my course in ethics was a Doctrine of Self to students understand how they view themselves and others. Their actions are informed by this Doctrine. It boggles my mind that no political candidate was asked the questions, “How do you see yourself and others.? How does that inform your actions?”
It is ironic that Trump wants to get rid of all diversity and inclusion programs by withholding funding for them in schools. Those courses are directly responsible for creating an environment of a culture of safety, reflecting the principles espoused by Locke and Lincoln.
Trump’s choice of people for his administration, based on yes men and women, is the worst way to create a group with a common purpose. He wants to control things.
The most effective leadership is found in the Doctrine of Self, how do I see myself and others. Lincoln governed by this doctrine. Most of the books on leadership state, “Bring on broad-minded, competent and diverse people who are not like you.” I always ask people who I view as great leaders what they thought made a great leader. Years ago, I had a friend who retired in his thirties from an insurance business, so I asked him the secret to his success. “Don’t be afraid to hire people better than you or are different from you.”
When I interviewed people for chaplain positions, I would always ask what they did for exercise? Being a Chaplain requires a great deal of stamina. A few months later they would declare “I see why you asked that question in the interview.” The next question was aimed at getting into what makes them tick. I also tended to want people around me that “had been through something” in life. It was a given that they had the academic tickets, or they wouldn’t be in the process. A lot of their perspectives and ideas were different from mine. How would they get along with kids? Would they love the position? One person I brought on board was a clergyman who the faculty thought was so different from me that he wouldn’t last long. We were together for fourteen years. My perspective was what can I learn from this person?
The same was true for the student leadership group, the Vestry, who worked with me to plan chapel services. They were elected by the faculty and peers. They were different from one another but were committed to the same mission which was to include as many voices as possible in our chapel service while still basing the worship in the Christian Episcopalian Tradition.
My job was to be their coach nurturing them be the best that they could be, honor one another’s views, and reflect what the student body needed at any time in terms of faith and character. Like a coach, I would enter our “time outs” to provide direction and to change the “play” when necessary. But I believed in them even when they made mistakes. The meetings were vibrant and soul searching. I never had a single student who was elected who failed to grow in the role and enjoy the experience which was demanding of their time and talent. Even so some years twenty-four students would run for four positions. It was a real leadership experience, not a rubber stamp of what I wanted.
I wanted them to be a TEAM OF RIVALS enabling the best of each other. One vestry member became a foreman on a jury for a high-profile murder trial in New York City. He wrote a book about his experience. He had to bring the diverse group together with one mind on the verdict. Not easy! This person indicated that he could do it because of his work as a student leader on the Vestry. This certainly contrasts with Trump’s style of leadership.
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