When Leadership Really Counts

If there were any doubt, the current pandemic and social unrest has confirmed that we are a broken country in many ways and we desperately need strong and compassionate leadership to guide us through this dark hour.  Donald Trump is the antithesis of good leadership and if his incoherent, malevolent ramblings are not countered by other strong voices in our democracy, then we will have hell to pay.

I have been a strong critic of Donald Trump from the moment he entered the political scene.  I was astonished that a man whose entry into politics had been the promotion of an absurd racist birther claim against Barack Obama could even be considered for political office. 

But both his message and his style resonated with a certain part of America, and others who felt that despite his personality failings he could be employed to further conservative causes – abortion law changes, gun rights protection, aggressive foreign and trade policy, anti-immigration policy, etc. – cynically embraced his candidacy and tenure as president.

Can we imagine a less admirable character?  The flaws that he exhibits defy enumeration, but here are just a few:  narcissism, paranoia, thin-skin, boastfulness to an extreme, sexual predation, vindictiveness, insecurity, unparalleled vanity, impatience, lack of intellectual curiosity or rigor, lack of empathy.  Even an ardent conservative would find it difficult to argue that their child should emulate Donald Trump as a human being.

The demonstrations and riots that have multiplied over the last several days were sparked by police brutality and racism, but these issues are just the tip of the iceberg.  There are so many social and economic problems that we have swept under the rug for years.  We are fast becoming a banana republic, a laughable land of extremes in poverty and wealth with prisons and drugs serving as pressure relief valves that no longer suffice to hide the truth of our rotten socioeconomic landscape.

There is no hope of Trump rising to the challenge of leadership for this land in our hour of need.  He is as far from a Lincoln or FDR as any human can possibly be.  The only hope is for responsible leaders from both the left and the right to speak out and sideline the increasingly disastrous antics of the president, and then elect a replacement as soon as possible.  Now is the time for men and women of honor to lead a renaissance of the American dream.   Who will step up to the challenge?