My favorite political movie is “The Candidate,” starring Robert Redford.
After a bruising campaign, Redford finds himself a winner and makes the memorable statement, “Now what do I do?”
I am sure that candidate Donald Trump said the same thing post-election night, especially because most of the people in the know didn’t think he had a chance.
One of the pillars of Trump’s platform was that he is a successful businessman and that’s what the nation needs.
There is no doubt that some of the voters bought into that idea as a reason to vote for him.
When the subject of successful businessmen in politics comes up, most of us think about Michael Bloomberg, who transferred his many business skills into a successful tenure as mayor of the City of New York.
After building a world-famous, publicly-traded company, Bloomberg made the sacrifice to be a politician and take all the hits that come with the job.
When he got to City Hall, Bloomberg’s management style was much different from any of his predecessors.
He had all of his main staff in open areas with no partitions.
He brought in some of the best and brightest people to be commissioners, and most importantly, he listened to their ideas and gave them free reign to get the job done.
His public persona was also very different.
He would allow his police commissioner to be front and center at press conferences and was never afraid to share the limelight.
It really would be great for the nation if President Trump spent some time studying up on the achievements of Mayor Bloomberg with special attention to the Bloomberg management style.
Because Bloomberg is a respected billionaire, the public expected him to be somewhat of an egomaniac.
That was never the case, as if anything, Bloomberg was always willing to take a back seat to advance his programs.
Sadly, the Donald Trump we have seen to date is anything resembling a successful businessman applying his skills to government.
It is a full month since President Trump took the oath of office.
Regrettably, his style and approach to governing is an absolute disaster.
I know we are supposed to give him some slack, but that has nothing to do with the need for him to act like a grown-up.
It’s hard to imagine the leader of the free world using a daily tweet to announce some initiative or insulting his enemies.
Even though he won the election, he insists on talking about the almost 3 million votes that Mrs. Clinton got over Trump’s vote totals.
The Trump voters were anxious to have an agent of change and they sure got one.
He has insulted many of our friends around the world and just can’t get through one day without negative publicity that drowns out anything he has done that would be considered positive.
He criticized President Obama about the number of executive orders he signed and since Jan. 20, he has created a blizzard of these documents.
In many cases, he claims that his directives are part of keeping a promise to his voters, but most of them are just words and nothing else.
His campaign got major traction on the basis of his pledge to repeal Obamacare.
Now that the public has figured out that Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act are one and the same, things have not gone very well.
The members of Congress who voted 61 times to repeal Obamacare because they knew Obama would veto it, are now backsliding faced with the uncertainty of any action they take.
Days ago Humana, a major carrier, announced they will cease writing policies in 2018 because of their fears of what Congress will do.
All presidents have the problem with internal leaks of important information but this president is facing a daily avalanche of leaks on every topic.
It seems that the members of his team are constantly jockeying for a better position and are willing to undermine President Trump to advance their own agenda.
And lastly, imagine becoming a member of the president’s cabinet and being totally ignored.
That hasn’t happened yet but if it does, there will be mass resignations.
Regardless of your faith, I suggest that just before bedtime you make one fervent prayer for the survival of our republic.
