Toxic Leadership in the White House

Image: Created by Google Gemini AI

As I watch the news, I can't help but be overwhelmed by the leadership counterexample that Donald Trump is presenting to the world. He does not seem to be consulting with people around him. He does not seem to be taking the impact of his actions on other people into account. He certainly is not delegating power to others.

(Exercising power is not an inherent attribute of leadership. Quite the opposite: exercising power is usually a sign of the absence of leadership.)

Trump's actions as the "Leader of the Free World" are comical.

When asked about the impacts of his recent tariffs on imported automobiles, he is quoted as saying, "I don't care if they increase prices on imported cars." No recognition of how this will likely result in somewhat higher prices for domestically manufactured cars. No acknowledgement that this will be a shock to the entire automobile market. No apparent realization that this will impact the lives of Americans.

The blind callousness is astounding.

Of course, this should come as no surprise. Trump doesn't aspire to be an exemplar of good leadership. He seems to be motivated mostly by exercising raw power just to show that he can.

"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Or so the saying goes.

Does Trump's exercise of raw power, unfettered by the norm of "governance with the consent of the governed," illustrate corruption?

Trump's conflicts of interest have been well documented. He has not relinquished interest in his business activities. He and his immediate family readily receive multi-million dollar payments for dubious "licensing fees" for intellectual property. Since the value of intellectual property is strictly defined as "whatever buyers will pay for it," there is no accounting for how much of those "licensing fees" are intended to influence Trump's relationship with the business interests of the "licensee."

Trump has business interests in foreign countries. And foreign powers, be they oligarchs or government officials, routinely pay exorbitant prices to "do business" with those business interests. How does this not conflict with the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution?

I don't expect that Trump ever receives a check with "for favors received" or "for favors expected" in the memo field. No, those payments will masquerade as licensing fees to merely use his name or likeness.

We seem to be stuck with this paradigm of toxic leadership for a while. I just hope that my coping strategies can keep up.

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Footnote:
As I was searching for an image to illustrate "toxic leadership" to accompany this post, I came across 10 Characteristics of Toxic Leadership as identified by an executive recruiting firm. Just look through the list. Trump exemplifies each one.