An Inadequate Leader “We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails” said Thomas S. Monson. As this year comes to an end it is time to select a new president who will now adjust the sails, so that the United States of America can go through the upcoming Euroclydon smoothly. The intensity of this election is between a politician and a businessman. Politician, secretary of state, Hillary D. Clinton, born October 26th, 1947. The eldest daughter of a prosperous fabric store owner in Park Ridge, Illinois.
Hillary Clinton worked her way up to the top of the social ladder, starting from the middle working middle class. She was inspired to work in public services when she was in Chicago and heard a speech by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. She started her journey at Wellesley College, then attended Yale Law School, where she met her husband Bill Clinton. Secretary Clinton spent her summers working at various jobs, she knew what it was like to work hard to get what she wants to be where she is today. On the other hand, there is the businessman, Donald J. Trump, born June 14th, 1946, raised in Queens, New York.
Donald Trump was born into the wealth, his father Frederick Trump was a real estate developer who specialized in constructing and operating middle income apartments in Queens, Staten Island and Brooklyn sections of New York. Donald Trump went to Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with a degree in economics in the year 1968. Donald J. Trump then proceeded with his successful life by joining the family business; The Trump Organization. Trump does not understand what it is like to grow in the middle class, he did not have to work hard to be successful.
When Trump began to branch off with his new ideas under his father’s business, his dad gave him “a very small loan of $14 million dollars”. When it comes to the future of the United States of America, Hillary Clinton, have affectual plans that can allow America to be more prosperous even through the economic warfare. Whereas, Donald Trump believes in pinning the blame on other races, religions and ethnicities, he also believes that cutting off necessary allies will be beneficial to America, more specifically, the upper class.
Both these Candidates are trying to adjust the sails, but the question is who will adjust it that it may save the whole ship and not just a piece of it? A leader is a person who influences the behavior of a group of people. There are two types of leaders: a transactional leader and a transformational leader. A transformational leader instills a sense of mission or higher purpose, thereby changing the nature of the group of people. Whereas, a Transactional leader accomplishes the task at hand and also get its members to do their job.
For example, abortion, a transformational leader will demand for a change in this area, whereas a transactional leader would not campaign for a change in the situation. When looking at candidate Donald Trump, he is neither a transformational leader or a transactional leader. He has high influence on the behavior of a group of people, but that influence comes from his social status and wealth. This kind of influence can often be misguided as leadership qualities.
Edd Karr states that, “ Trump will unleash the power of innovation, entrepreneurship and work ethic that makes the country so unique. ” (pg 3) He also says, “Trump knows how to embrace the power of the free market to maximize the country’s potential. ” (Pg 3) One can refute Mr. Edd Karr statements by simply proving that he is influenced by Donald Trump’s social status and not by his morales. To become the president of such a diverse and bureaucratic nation, it is hard for one to be elected based solely on their social status or personal wealth.
A president is a self-less leader who is willing to pilot a nation from it’s current state to a higher position by being the executive commander in chief in every aspect of the nation. A good president is characterized as a person who is self-less, well rounded, realistic, honest, wise, confident, firm and motivated. Hence why Donald Trump is inadequate to be the president of the United States, because he is not as wise as he portrays himself to be, he is selfish and vindictive, and also lacks the all-inclusive knowledge of how to run the nation.
Donald Trump built a good amount of wealth as a businessman and a celebrity. However, there are facts to prove that he is not a business genius as he conveys himself to be. His degree in economics was useful in managing and continuing his father’s business, however, it has no relevance when it comes to running a nation. While continuing the Trump Organization, Donald Trump has filed for bankruptcy six times. As per Politifacts, “Trump declared four times within two years in the 1990’s, once more in 2004 and once more in 2009. (pg 5)
The amount of bankruptcies Trump has, it can be concluded that he makes poor financial decisions, who is to say he will not make poor financial decisions for our country? When touching upon the topic of war, it is proven, by On the Issues, Trump says that he supports certain wars, but then contradicts himself and disapproves on previous war choices. His lack of confidence in his ideologies shows his uncertainty. Which can be implied that he is more interested in saying what the people want to hear instead of what he ultimately believes in, which can cause confusion as a leader.
Donald Trump’s wealth came directly from his father, Frederick Trump. His father jumped from rags to riches, whereas he went from rich to richer. According to City-Lab, “The working class made up two-thirds of the U. S labor force in 2013”. If majority of the United States population are working middle class, how can they relate to a president who doesn’t understand what it is like to working just above minimum wage. Especially in the home of one income: paying bills, insurance, school fee, etc. iving paycheck to paycheck especially when such a large amount of money is deducted from their paycheck because of tax.
Donald Trump was born with a gold spoon in his mouth but is so quick to add input on how an average American should live. Throughout Trump’s campaign, he made no true effort to speak with the working class or major population, instead, he focused more on the wealthy class and reducing taxes for their benefit. Who is to say that Donald Trump genuinely cares for the wealthy class either.
His history provides solid facts that he is indeed selfish and vindictive and is willing to go to any great measures to make sure his organization/ business stands strong. As stated before, he was born into his father’s thriving business, which he then took over. Donald Trump had a dream and a zeal to become great in the economy. From the 1970s to the 1990s everything was going well in the Trump Organization, from the Pennsylvania Central Railroad right down to the purchase of the Barbizon-Plaza Hotel in New York City.
According to www. notablebiographies. om, “It was in 1990, however, that the real estate market declined, reducing the value of and income from Trump’s empire; his own net worth plummeted from an estimate of $1. 7 billion to $500 million. ” (page 1). One can only imagine how difficult it was to rebuild his net worth. This decline happened right before Bill Clinton was elected President in 1992. As any other citizen, Trump probably hoped that the next president will help place America back on track, because when America is on track, big businesses such as his own can profit from it.
Unfortunately, for Donald Trump, congress passed the NAFTA bill, which was signed and approved by President Clinton. NAFTA stands for the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is an agreement between Mexico, Canada and the United States that eliminated tariffs among these three countries. Statistics show that NAFTA had the most positive impact on the United States economy, however, Donald Trump believes that NAFTA is the cause of the economic problems that the United States face, as he stated on the first presidential debate, he blames Bill Clinton.
After the decline in the real estate market, and the passing of the NAFTA bill, is it a coincidence that Donald Trump was trying to be nominated for the presidential race in 2000? This shows that his motive 16 years ago was to change these laws that could potentially ruin his business, and the fact that he can still blame NAFTA for some of the problems in America in present day, shows that Donald Trump still have the selfish mindset to not make America great again but to make the name of Trump great again, and he will do it by any means necessary.
Even if that means to become president and build a wall on the borders of Mexico, cut down on immigration, get rid of the colored and Latinos, remove certain allies, negotiate with enemy, or raise taxes on the middle class, so that it may be lower on the upper class but by any means “America” must be great again. Not only is Donald Trump selfish, he is also vindictive. Though politics can get dirty, Trump made it real filthy. In the past, candidates would campaign for themselves in commercials, newspapers or magazines. However, Donald Trump used social media, more specifically, twitter. Donald Trump used twitter as his battle ground.
When someone hurts his feelings, or asks a question he might not like, he jumps on social media and slander the person or group. For example, when asked about his tax returns, on November 1st, 2016, he runs to twitter and says, “Look at the way Crooked Hillary is handling the e-mail case and the total mess she is in. She is unfit to be president. Bad judgement! ”, later that day he says “Crooked Hillary should not be allowed to run for president. She deleted 33,000 e-mails AFTER getting a subpoena from U. S. Congress. RIGGED! ”. Any negative light that may be shed upon him, he finds a way to throw the dirt at someone else.
When certain questions are asked and he does not know how to answer, he begins to besmirch the person and then bring it back to social media, it can be said he has a tantrum when things aren’t going directly in his favor. However, after awhile he returns to the public and either apologizes or tries to justify his wrong. Trump cannot be blamed for his behavior, after all , he was born getting what he wants when he wanted. Donald Trump wrote a book, in which one of his chapters is titled “ revenge” where he speaks about getting even with anybody who crosses him..
The way he rants about people for months at a time on twitter for offending him, it wouldn’t be hard to believe if he was demented. If Donald Trump becomes president of the United States, who is to say that he will not use the FBI, CIA, IRS, DOJ and the military as a way to get revenge for his own personal vindictive ideologies. Knowing the nation as a whole, and how it operates is a fundamental trait to become president. Donald Trump lacks the all-inclusive knowledge on the nation. Trump claims that when he is president he will expel two to three million immigrants.
The very foundation of this nation was built by immigrants who were either forced here or came here on their own free will. It is a natural fact that the immigrants who are here, normally work two to three jobs trying to make a better life for themselves and their family. The sufficiency of America is based off these immigrants and permanent residents. The contradiction of Donald Trumps actions and his rhetoric has passed great abundance. Donald Trump hired immigrants to work for him multiple times, in fact, his wife, Melania Trump, is also an immigrant. The explosion of immigrants is like cutting the bottom of a filled water bottle.
Getting rid of the uniqueness, diversity and quality, all which makes America great. In addition to expelling immigrants, Donald Trump insists that cutting off trade, more specifically free trade (NAFTA) will make America great again, however, statistics show that NAFTA have been beneficial to America, why would Donald Trump want to get rid of something that plays an essential role in America? or even Obamacare, this healthcare have been beneficial to Americans all across the board, why change something that does not need to be fixed? Is Donald Trump trying to make America great again or is he trying to make the name of Trump great again?
His ideologies, rhetoric and actions shows him to be selfish, bigot, vindictive, unassured, partisan and ignorant. These are all qualities of an inadequate president. The majority of the nation should vote for someone who knows what it is like to work their way to the top of the social ladder, someone who knows and understand the quality and operation of the United States of America. America should elect a transformational leader who is willing to adjust the sails to save the whole ship. A leader who is for the people, elected by the people, to stand for the people.
