Remind me again, why anyone thought it was a great idea to have a businessman as the political leader of our nation? That was it, wasn't it...it's what everyone was saying, he'll be great, he knows how to run a business therefore he will know how to run a government. I also heard....he's rich, therefore he's successful, and because he's good at being successful he'll know how to get the best deals for America. Finally there was this gem, he's rich, and therefore he won't be able to be bought by special interests.
If what we have seen so far has not yet convinced you that the above arguments have more holes in them than a block of swiss cheese then I don't suppose my thoughts are going to sway your views. That said, let me rehash some of the most glaring problems with those arguments.
First, I don't think anyone gave any real thought to the idea that there are different types of business leaders because there are a lot of different types of businesses and the experiences those industry titans acquire and then put to use running various sorts of business enterprises are not necessarily interchangeable from business to business. For example, business entrepreneurs who run their own business or company have no one else to answer to. They do what they want, say what they want, they sink or swim based on their own actions. The skills required to run your own show are not the same as the skills and responsibilities of the CEO of a large corporation. That businessman has lots of others he answers to, especially a board of directors and shareholders of the company. None of the companies Mr. Trump has run required him to answer to anyone but himself. He has not ever known the responsibility and the give and take required of a CEO who has to work with a board of directors or to worry about shareholders.
Next there is the question of Mr Trump's wealth and the idea that because he is mega wealthy we should all assume he will be a great President. The first and most obvious problem here is that we don't really have a good understanding of just what his wealth amounts to or how he got it. We can guess, we can assume, but really we don't know if he is worth millions or billions and he clearly doesn't want to share that information with the rest of the country.
Running a business is NOTHING like being President. If you run a business you are not obligated to listen to anyone else, you can do your own thing, all the time, every day. You don't have two other branches of your business telling you "no, you can't do that!' That is especially true of a private business which has no board of directors or share holders to answer to. Donald Trump has never run a business where he had to answer to anyone other than his own inner voices. No share holders, no board of directors....just him, so it's probably been a big shock to realize he doesn't always get the last word in his new job.
Successful, he's been magnificently successful they said....but did anyone stop and consider the obvious...a successful football player is not necessarily a successful baseball player, or ball room dancer, or doctor. If you dentist was a great dentist who had built a large and successful dental clinic and had hundreds of patients who adored him would you then assume he'd be the guy who should do your orthopedic knee replacement? Of course you wouldn't....so why on earth would you think that being a successful business tycoon translate to a great President?
Will he make America great again? That remains a question but I'm not hopeful....
