[image: stendec8.blogspot.com]

A leader’s job is to lead. It is to inspire, not to lapse into old behaviors unworthy of himself or of others. It is to lay out the tasks that need to be done, and then to fight his or her ass off to get them done. If he shows again and again that he does not have the capacity or the backbone to do any of those basic steps in the face of one crisis after another, he needs to be given his walking papers involuntarily. But when he clings to power, despite or because of his shortcomings, it is time for us to declare an emergency and to act. Such is the case today with Donald Trump.

Don’t whine to me about “Trump bashing.” He is a weakling and a coward. A lot of the verbal dissatisfaction about him arises from “comic relief.” Great leaders know about comic relief. Admiral William McRaven, leader of the Navy Seals that led the successful efforts to take down Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, described it well in his 10 steps to leadership to the graduating class of the University of Texas. He said [paraphrased] “when you’re up to your eyeballs in mud, start singing. It can help sustain you when you need it most.” My own commander, a triple ace fighter pilot, who headed the most decorated combat wing in the Vietnam War, led by example. He did the planning and led his team into action again and again. On one afternoon, his team shot down 7 North Vietnamese aircraft in one of the most daring raids over North Vietnam in that entire war. Fighter pilots know you are on borrowed time if you live to chalk up 100 combat missions. He flew 555 missions and was practically forced to stay out of the cockpit. He probably inspired one of the troops to post a sign outside of his tent “The difficult we do right away. The impossible takes a bit longer.”

Leaders rise up to the task at hand. When President Lincoln learned that General Grant drank a lot, he is reported to have said: “Grant knows how to win. Find out his brand of liquor and send it to my other generals.” Thomas Paine had this to say about the willingness to fight for a cause: "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated." [in the Crisis, 1776]. Gen. George Washington is said to have read Paine’s words to his troops every morning.

Is there anything more urgent today than the need to stop mass murderers from gunning down our innocent men, women, and children? The solution appears to have these components: 1) Set a time limit: 2) Form a crisis group to study the causes; 3) Put together a plan of attack; 4) Identify the potential killers beforehand; 5) Keep assault weapons out of their hands; 6) Let the public review and critique the plan; 7) Implement the plan. 8,9,10) Track, monitor, and revise as needed. Profiteers, apologists, whiners, and cowards need not apply.

[Nobody said it better]

“Oh beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain;
for purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain;
America, America God shed his grace on thee; and crown
thy good with brotherhood – from sea to shining sea.”
--Katherine Lee Bates