The Morning After

When I wrote yesterday morning, I didn’t make the connection that it was the anniversary of Trump’s election. This morning, one year ago was when I woke up to the news that Clinton had lost. I have rarely been as shocked and truly scared for my life and freedoms as I was that morning. I remember getting back into bed and holding my wife as I cried.

Fortunately, my worst fears have not come true yet. Trump’s incompetence has been one of the silver linings in the dark cloud of his administration. His inability to focus on any one strategic issue outside for himself has meant that while he has been wildly successful at creating chaos, his legislative victories have been nearly non-existent.

But Trump’s appointments of the rich, elite and under-qualified to cabinet level posts has been a huge blow to the working of our government – the EPA, HUD, Education Department are all headed by individuals with little experience and with philosophic enmity to the mission of their agencies. Some commentators have suggested that Trump’s only agenda is to tear down what Obama put in place with has no coherent idea what to replace them with. Animosity toward Obama’s legacy seems to be his guiding principle.

David Brooks, Republican commentator from the New York Times, suggested that Trump is playing the role of Abby Hoffman, who successfully disrupted business as usual in the 60’s with his antics. Hoffman, Brooks posits, had the easy job of disruptor and took no interest or responsibility for the outcomes. Trump’s Twitter ramblings and personal attacks are both embarrassing behavior for any grown-up and quite effective disruptors.

One principle I often share in my work with leaders of organizations is that a system is capable of fundamental change only when it is far from equilibrium. This is the good news and the bad news. Here in America, we are now certainly far from equilibrium and there is no guarantee which direction the change will take.