I listened to the radio today, NPR to be exact. I heard a press conference given by our President and others in the Administration and found myself feeling a lot, so as I’m apt to do, I decided to think on it and then hammer these thoughts out here, where likely nobody will ever read them, but at least I’ve gotten them out!
First of all, let’s talk about the word “leadership”. It’s a word we use often, but what does it REALLY mean? We label people as “leaders”….and people assume roles of “leadership” but what traits do we expect from a leader?
After consulting many sources, the definition of leadership that I’ll use for the purposes of this post is: the ability of an individual or group to influence, sway, and guide others toward a common goal, often by motivating, encouraging, inspiring, and setting a common vision for the group as a whole while maintaining ethical standards and being trustworthy.
Today I listened to President Trump discuss the aircraft tragedy near Washington DC. He was not a leader. A tragedy in which 67 people lost their lives…the deadliest US air disaster in over 25 years, and our new President was not a leader. He used this air time to insinuate that diversity and inclusion hiring policies at the FAA contributed to this tragedy. He promised to find out how it happened and “ensure nothing like this ever happens again”. He made assessments of aviation that he has absolutely no expertise to make (“for some reason, adjustments weren’t made”).
President Trump turned an American tragedy into a political issue. When discussing the FAA’s hiring policies, he spoke of “hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities”….as if listeners would willingly swallow this tale and believe the FAA is hiring Air Traffic Controllers who have disabilities that make them unfit for the job. Perhaps, Mr. President, the FAA is hiring people with disabilities for jobs that they can perform in spite of their disability.
For President Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth to suggest that hires made based on DEI policies played any kind of role in this tragedy is irresponsible at best. Attributing this “theory” to his own “common sense” makes me want to puke.
I am of the opinion that it’s not so much “common sense” but complete confidence that whatever you’re spewing, the American People will buy. As long as the DC machine can keep us focused over here and fighting amongst ourselves, we will never notice what they’re actually doing “over there”. I don’t think that’s a partisan issue, either. For years that has been my feeling on government in general – regardless if there’s a Republican or Democrat administration.
It’s all one big sleight of hand – keep us fighting one another and focused over there and we have no time to pay attention to what they’re actually doing in DC.
All day today families were holding out hope for some positive news. Military families who have a husband, a father, a son who fly Blackhawks – they were all holding their breaths hoping to NOT hear a knock on their door. Three military families find themselves this evening with a CAO – Casualty Assistance Officer – who will help them navigate their way through this process of bringing their soldier home. Can you IMAGINE worrying that you might hear the President of the United States – the COMMANDER in Chief of our military – cast BLAME on your deceased soldier for causing the crash? He sure as hell cast blame on the Air Traffic Controllers today – so what is to prevent him from casting that shadow of blame on your solider tomorrow?
For more than 30 minutes, our current President took to the airwaves…not to LEAD. Not to encourage, not to inspire, not to motivate as a leader does. He took to the airwaves to blame, to make assumptions, and to insinuate facts that are blatantly false.
Shame on you, Mr. President. Shame on you.
The Neverending Lori 