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Trump: Our First MBO Presidency
I’ll admit I get irked at times by Bill, Jonah, Charles, Kevin (you know who you are) along with others who still can’t seem to get their heads around Donald Trump, President. They are perpetually indignant over the President’s tweets and want to read utmost conviction into every single thing the Donald says. I find this amazing.
Unfortunate for these conservative pundits, they just can’t understand Donald Trump. Sure, they are used to dog whistle politics, quiet subterfuge, crocodile tears, grandstanding, legal word parsing, pretend ceremony, fake deference and duplicitous words. However, they believe that they can see through all this political interference and determine the truth. Except they can’t. They just know, from years of watching Washington politics, who believes what no matter what they say or how they say it. The fibs, outright lies, exaggerations and political legerdemain are still at play in Washington. But Donald Trump, he stymies them. What is he saying? What is that supposed to mean? They are lost. President Trump has them, well, trumped.
I’ve worked closely with a few powerful CEOs in my life. Most were like Donald, energetic, fun to be around, and quite willing to believe and say just about anything with obvious conviction to make a serious point or promote their venture. I was there to encourage them to paint their pictures within the lines; that is to not get too far ahead or away from reality. More than once, during an analyst meeting or in a meeting with investors, I had to interject, carefully, to pull some of the hotter hyperbole, back to earth.
These men are promoters. They are there to seal the deal, promote the company and move along the strategy. They are not securities law experts or even as intimate with the financial details of their own operations as they should be. They want to be the biggest, the best, the most successful and the most profitable. They live for superlatives and set extremely high goals. If you aim high enough, they believe, even if you fall short, you will still out jump the competition.
Politicians are not like that. Their motives are polluted with the retention of power. They are more clever than they are wise. They are as much concerned with making their political adversaries look bad as they are with governing. Political strategy is not about value or efficiency, it is about constituencies and votes. Politicians are actually considering ways to slow down automation and tax it. If that is not the best differentiator when considering the perverse motives of politics, then there are none.
Donald Trump has no appreciation for this kind of retail politics. He’s a business guy, through and through, our first management by objectives CEO, the MBO President. What does he want? Control over our borders. It’s part of his job description and he’s determined to achieve it. And he wants the world to take our leadership seriously. He wants to reverse the diminution of our military. He wants fair trade deals. He wants a simplified tax code with lower rates. He wants elections unblemished by voter fraud. He wants our multinationals to repatriate their profits from overseas. He wants free, open and vibrant health insurance and health care markets. He wants a judiciary that considers constitutional intent, not precedent, first when judging our laws. That’s about it.
OK, he did say he wanted to improve our infrastructure, however just how this would be achieved or funded was never addressed. I can only assume that this goal is on the back burner for now.
What is missing from this agenda? Two big conservative bugaboos: deficits and entitlements. Trump steered clear of these elephants. My take is this: if we tackle the stated goals above maybe then we can find the courage and wherewithal to tackle entitlements and deficits. Much depends on economic growth and the reciprocal growth in government receipts.
President Donald Trump is not an eloquent man. He’s a businessman. He doesn’t filter his words through ideology. His ideology is reflected in the goals and objectives he sets for himself and his administration. The idea is simple: move the country to a new place in the following ways, 1, 2, 3, 4… You can count them on your fingers and toes. If there are some things you don’t like, OK, oppose them. Trump is ready for practical as well as ideological arguments. If you are in the minority, you still have a chance. I direct you to the Freedom Caucus and the first attempt at Obamacare reform.
Back to Kevin, Jonah, Charles and Bill, don’t dismiss our president as un-serious just because he is abrupt or speaks awkwardly. Unlike politicians, President Trump is more wise than he is clever. Measure him by his objectives and how successful he is in achieving them. At the end of his four years, we will all give him his big HR review. It will be simple. If he’s been successful and wants the job, we’ll hire him for another four years. If he’s not, we’ll all move on. That’s the way MBO works.
Published in Politics
Patience.
Besides, I’m being gracious. Of all the possibilities, in hindsight I would have preferred Mitt, but unfortunately he was lousy at retail campaigning; gracious and humble to a fault. Christie might have been OK, but the press and Dems would have had a field day with him as well. I don’t think any of the senators would have fared well
Are you from New York?
That was a spirited article by Mr. Kimball. As someone who twice didn’t vote for Mr. Trump, I’m not convinced by his arguments, but I appreciate his civil attempt. We’ll see what happens over the next few years.
I could catalog many descriptions about Pres. Trump, but “wise” would not be on my list. I just can’t picture wise people making the egregious errors that he has so far made.
Some of the most revealing comments during Mr. Trump’s campaign was his forthright statements that he knew how to work with politicians because of his business interests. He probably did. The politicians wanted something from him (donations?). He wanted something from them. Fair enough.
People may excuse some of his mistakes by saying “He’s a businessman, not a politician.” Sorry, doesn’t wash. He’s now in a different arena. Other politicians may, or may not, have something to offer to him. What does he have to offer them? Favorability ratings, poll numbers, political capital, and other measures may be overrated and may not mean much now, but they surely will in the future if he doesn’t regain (maybe I should say gain) his footing.
I have no experience in working with CEOs, and I trust that Mr. Kimball’s description of their characteristics is correct. A person will have opponents – and in Pres. Trump’s case, enemies. You need allies to get your work done. I’ve never seen a President so enamored with turning allies into opponents.
He has a steep learning curve. Very steep.
As a Boston-area native, I second these points. A great deal of Trump’s personality and brash behavior fits right into the New Yawker stereotype. He clearly believes that, as he made it there, he can make it anywhere (hat tip to Sinatra there). The truth of that only time will tell.
Can the old dog learn new tricks? He hasn’t demonstrated a great deal of learning so far, but it’s early in his term yet. What will count the most will be results. Looking away from the jeering and the lunatic fringe’s antics, he seems to have made some significant headway, despite extreme obstruction from the Democrats and some Republicans, and the daily deluge of attacks in the media.
I’ve noticed many of the #Nevers on our site think that Romney would make a better president. May I remind you that he was nominated by this party and lost? Let’s deal with the here and now.
There are other sorts of business owners, though, who are far different. I’m going to duplicate a comment I made over on Susan Quinn’s post a few minutes:
Did you ever read any of the bios of Steve Jobs? He was like this too (albeit with more of a self-possessed “cool” factor) – mercurial, prone to bouts of unprovoked temper, overselling while under-delivering on promises, and, above all, hard as hell to work for, much less work against.
There are experiences I’m not prepared to disclose here (I could PM you, though, if you want details), but I’ve worked with, for, and around these sorts of people for years. The good ones have a self-destructive streak to be sure, but theirs is a sort of mad genius, even if it is terrifying for their employees (and even high level executives) to constantly work clean up behind the scenes.
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I’ve worked with and for Trump types – I wish I could communicate it better, but this is too open a forum for that. All I can say is that it’s a roller coaster ride with some terrifying drops and loops. Those of us who have been on that ride before have been expecting this and knew what we were signing up for when we voted.
Coming from people who still think comparing the President to the candidate he beat is a get-out-of-criticism-free card, this statement is laughable.
Hear hear. Glad you said it. Saved me from saying it.
I’m confused what that has to do with his competence as President. Obama won twice – does that make him a better President?
Heads I win, tails you lose. That could be their motto….
Hmm, that sounds just like something a secret Hillary lover would say. ;)
If one of Trumps Management Objectives is to divide folks that should be working together, he has been remarkably successful in an astoundingly short time.
It seems like even Ricochet has been divided into two camps, and never the twain shall meet.
Further query, DK: If it’s truly “management by objectives” as you’re suggesting to us, why the ‘micromanagement’ – verbal/virtual and otherwise – from the president? I truly am curious.
[Cont’d. from your gracious PM’d response]:
I get the distinction between Trump’s objectives/goals and Obama’s, DK. What I still can’t fathom is his micro versus macro style – at least as it’s been displayed so far…Getting stuck in the Twitter-swamp, contradicting his SHS’s and SOS’s statements on Comey and intel shared w/Russia, for instance. He seems to be stepping on his own successes, rather than highlighting them. What am I missing?
I’ve seen this said before and I have to admit that I don’t understand it. I know that Trump wrote two tweets about the meeting with the Russians. The tweets do not contradict anything that McMaster said. As far as I know, Trump hasn’t said anything further.
But here you say that Trump contradicted McMaster and Tillerson. So where and when did he contradict McMaster and Tillerson? It wasn’t in the tweets, so where was it? Did he make further comments?
Just his overall recourse to tweetstorms, pre-and-post campaign; don’t expect those who supported him unreservedly to understand concerns; just expressing them…No desire to tangle…
Unfortunately Trump is one of those New Yorkers who just has to have the last say. It’s like a form of Tourettes’ Syndrome. I don’t mind a few tweets for his faithful, but he should use the White House press secretary to vent his feelings about the press and coverage and to reinforce his positions on controversial topics. The press room: that’s where you drop bombs, not on twitter.