Bridging The Gap- President Donald Trump’s Leadership, 2017–2021 (COVID-19 Pandemic)
Fun Fact about President Donald Trump: He was on the Big Screen in the Movie, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
Welcome back everyone. I hope you enjoyed my story about President Thomas Jefferson, our third United States (US) President. He was a primary driver to America’s Independence before he became the President and sustained this conviction during his administration.
Fast — Forward from 1809 to 2017–208 years later. To put it in perspective, we drove down memory lane to understand the office of the President: the leader who holds the position; the problem he had to address; and the project he managed to reduce or eliminate it. We only researched the first three Presidents and learned how they all brought a unique value per the attributes to the office which ultimately served the American people. This brings us to the present. Now that we have some understanding of the office of the US President, we, from a bird’s eye view, will study to see and understand how the four leadership attributes work inside the leadership aptitudes of the 45th, 44th, and 43rd Presidents, respectively.
In this story, we will begin with the 45th President- Donald Trump, 2017–2021. Unlike other candidates, he did not come up through the political and or military career path. Instead, he was a businessman who was the owner of a real estate organization, called The Trump Organization. He is an author of the book, Art of the Deal, published in 1987 and he hosted the television show called the Apprentice in 2004. He is married and has five children. In 2016, he defeated Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton in the Presidential Election. This placed him in the historical ranks of the highest honorable leadership position in America. His campaign’s slogan “Make America Great Again” was the driver that helped him to achieve the most Electoral Votes: 304 to 227 over Hillary. He and his administration had to tackle many problems facing America. The one that we will address in this story is the COVID-19 Pandemic.
COVID-19 is the disease that came from the coronavirus. It is an infectious virus that is spread or delivered to others in proximity (less than six feet) to infect individuals, via air transmission and contact with infected surfaces. The first case was discovered in Wuhan, China in 2019 and was initially known as an epidemic because the cases were only in this region. But the virus began to move to other countries outside of China which changed its status to a pandemic. The outbreak put countries in a “Red Alert” status, as they were learning about it while people were being infected and dying from the disease.
This brings us to America and President Donald Trump. He was quickly brought up to speed on this major problem and pandemic, as the World Health Organization (WHO) educated him and his team on the disease, its effects on people lives, and ultimately the economy. He knew the seriousness of the disease and how it would harm the health of the American people and so much more as we later discovered. For some reason, he downplayed its effect and compared it to the flu. His messaging to the public was light and cavalier about the disease. He emphasized that America has this disease under control, but in practical terms, we did not, as it was overburdening hospitals across America. The Healthcare System could not effectively fulfill its original mission and manage the care of the influx of people who were infected by COVID-19. As a result, 400,000+ people (all age demographics) died, and millions were infected under his administration. Statistically speaking, between 3,000 and 49,000 people die from the flu each year in America. His comparison was incorrect.
Because the pandemic is vast and powerful, people would have unfortunately lost their lives, even if President Trump presented a stronger Leadership/Scientific message, approach, and campaign. However, the difference would have been a consistent visual demonstration of wearing masks and active social distancing at all events in front of the American people. In turn, people would follow his lead and mimic his example in a healthy way. They would have partnered with him to lower the effectiveness of the disease. Unfortunately, many followed his way and fed the strength of the virus, resulting in extended catastrophic problems in the economy, families, hospitalizations, and educational institutions.
Though his messaging and management approach to COVID-19 was unhealthy, President Trump commissioned a White House COVID-19 Taskforce. Vice President Pence, the leader, with various doctors, and scientists were charged to tackle the pandemic. They gave daily press meetings to the American people to respectively, update them on the latest COVID-19 news and arm them with techniques, such as wearing masks inside/outside buildings; practice social distancing (six feet) from your neighbor; washing hands for 20 seconds; contact tracing if a person had been around someone who contracted the virus; and quarantine protocols when the person is infected. Their meetings were useful and occurred for a period and then they stopped- not sure why, as things were still evolving with the virus. One thing to point out is that the President did not listen to his Taskforce’s direction, as he held events without wearing masks and did not adhere or enforce social distancing practices in the audience. Sadly, he, his wife, their son, and other key government officials contracted COVID-19.
A highlight that came from the taskforce was Project Operation Warp Speed. Its mission was to charge specific scientific organizations with the task of developing a COVID-19 vaccine outside their normal clinical protocols for developing vaccines. They chose the right candidates who developed a vaccine with a healthy efficacy rate that met the approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Per the four leadership attributes for this Project, I rated President Trump, accordingly, as shown in the table. His administration failed in their response to the pandemic. The data was evident and told a convincing story that America was in trouble. The Federal stance and messaging, however, did not share this sentiment. It did not drive and reinforce the science and mitigation practices to change the outcome. As a result, we are in this situation today.
As the leader, there will be extenuating circumstances that may have the potential to harm your constituents, your customers, and your teams. During these moments, you must work the problem — listen to the experts; make decisions from healthy data; practice what you preach; and execute. Your job is to protect them.
As customary in my stories, take an inventory of your leadership toolbelt and assess your position on the four attributes. Add them if they are missing; Adjust them if they are unhealthy; Sustain them if they are solid; and Improve them to continue to grow. Your Team; Your Constituents; Your Customer; and Your Family need you to stay engaged.
[1] The White House Historical Association. “Donald Trump”. The White House Historical Association Website, 16 January 2019, President Donald Trump
[2] HEALTHCARE & PHARMA. “Like the flu? Trump’s coronavirus messaging confuses public, pandemic researchers say”. RUETERS Website, Brad Brooks. 13 March 2020, COVID Communications
[3] EDITOR’S PICK. “President Trump Has Consistently Undermined White House Coronavirus Task Force”. Forbes Website, Joshua Cohen. 10 October 2020, Donald Trump COVID Taskforce
[4] GAO-21–319. “Operation Warp Speed: Accelerated COVID-19 Vaccine Development Status and Efforts to Address Manufacturing Challenges”. GAO@100 Website, 11 February 2021, Operation Warp Speed
[5] WHITE HOUSE. “What did Trump know and when did he know it? Inside his Feb. 7 admission”. POLITICO Website, Nancy Crook, Meridith McGraw, Adam Cancryn. 10 September 2020, President Trump COVID Admission
[6] Coronavirus. “There is a current outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease”. World Health Organization Website, COVID-19
[7] CDC. “How many people die from the flu?”. WebMD Website, Carol DerSarkissian. 7 December 2020, Deaths from Flu Annually
