Leadership
“I will follow him.
Ever since he touched my hand I knew.
And near him I always must be,
And nothing can keep him from me.
He is my destiny.
I will follow him.
Follow him wherever he may go.
There isn’t an ocean too deep,
A mountain so high it can keep,
Keep me away.
Away from my love.
And where he goes, I’ll follow,
I’ll follow,
I’ll follow.”
Leadership is important. Be that in the military, a business, a family or a country, the right leadership can determine whether the entity being led experiences success or failure.
With war ongoing between Israel and Iran as I write this, as well as riots in the United States, I will make a few observations on the leaders of Israel, Iran and the United States as well as the aspiring leaders of the Democratic Party in America.
Netanyahu: I heard many speeches in the House of Representatives including two U.S. Presidents and many world leaders. The best one I ever heard was by Bibi Netanyahu. It was inspiring. That was nearly 15 years ago. He was Prime Minister then and he is Prime Minister now. He has been Prime Minister three non-consecutive times for a total of 17 years starting in 1996. To survive in politics at the top level in any democracy is a feat all by itself. But his terms in office have not been without controversy and significant opposition as well as some time in the “political wilderness.”
But there is no denying that he is an inspiring leader. There is a great question in history of whether the person makes the moment or the moment makes the person. Had Abraham Lincoln or FDR been president in a time of peace, would we still revere them? Or is it that they each presided over a war that ended with the “unconditional surrender” of the opposing force?
I’m not sure which it is. But Netanyahu has unified all the major political factions in Israel which are completely supportive of him and his conduct of the war. The word they all use is that a nuclear Iran is an “existential threat” to Israel. Let’s call it what it is. It would mean the destruction of the country and the extermination of all the people living in it. Khomeini has been clear about that many times for many years.
Facing that kind of threat is certainly unifying. But it takes an inspiring leader to mobilize that unity to dispel the threat. Bibi Netanyahu is such a leader.
Khomeini: The Ayatollah is 86 years old. He has been around since before the revolution in 1979 that overthrew the Shah. Despotic leaders in communist or totalitarian regimes don’t need charisma. All they need is ruthlessness and the ability to exercise power to “eliminate” any opposition. I’m sure you can name a dozen other such “leaders” around the world. They are all essentially the same. They only lose power when killed or forced to flee (Assad in Syria) because too many men with weapons have turned against them.
Donald J. Trump: In 2015, Trump identified a longing in a significant segment of the population that felt ignored by both political parties. Few people, myself included, had noticed it. He mobilized this group into three presidential primary victories and two general election victories, with a third still in some dispute. This is the very definition of leadership. He saw a problem, identified a solution, and is leading hundreds of millions towards that solution. Whether you like him or agree with him or not, this is undeniable.
He is in his final term as president. He fears nothing and no one. He is hell bent on fulfilling his campaign promises and solving the problems he inherited. Where he cannot solve them in four years (the deficit), he is hoping to establish a sustainable majority that can solve them more fully after he leaves office using his blueprint. This is how he intends to be ranked up there with the greatest presidents in history.
The “No Kings” riots were interesting. But, any student of history knows that this is nothing new. The truly great presidents (Jackson, Lincoln, FDR, etc.) all exercised their power in ways that had not been utilized in the recent past. Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus for Pete’s sake. And many hated him at the time for that “abuse of power.” But we lionize him as a great president because he accomplished his goals which are seen by history as righteous. That said, if a President Newsom (more on that below) exercised authority just as Trump is doing, but for the reverse policy, all the “No Kings” people would praise him. Arguably Biden, or the people we now know were operating the autopen, did that in his term.
It has been said that it took a Jimmy Carter to create the conditions for a Ronald Reagan. It took Harold Wilson and James Callaghan to create the conditions for Margaret Thatcher. I think it took Joe Biden to give us the Donald Trump we have now, who is very different from the Donald Trump of his first term. He is confident and unafraid.
To my British readers, you can hope that the disaster of Keir Starmer and his miserable government will pave the way for a revival of the United Kingdom! MUKGA.
But, I digress. The day before I wrote this, Trump came out and called for the unconditional surrender of Iran. I mentioned that Lincoln and FDR obtained unconditional surrenders in those wars. That is the only way to truly end a war. Armistices often leave simmering issues that erupt later. Some historians believe that World War I never really ended in 1918, but that there was merely a truce for 20 years when it broke out again. All of America’s wars since and including Korea still simmer or were eventually lost after the U.S. withdrew.
Trump doesn’t want that. He believes he can bring lasting peace to the region. But that can only happen with unconditional surrender and the total dismantling of the nuclear program. Regime change there would need to be accomplished by the Iranians themselves. America has failed at installing Jeffersonian democracies in countries whose cultures are not equipped for that. They can bring back the Shah, or have a democracy, or a constitutional monarchy, or another despotic leader. That should be their call. But, no nuclear weapons and no interest in killing all the jews and Americans after that. Remember, we are the “Great Satan”.
Trump has not yet completed 5 months of his second term, and these moments are already coming to him. We can pray that he is up to the moment.
One more similarity between Lincoln and Trump. Lincoln famously had a “team of rivals” on his cabinet which history has recorded as having been effective. If you look at Trump’s national security and military team, I’m sure he is getting very different advice from Tulsi Gabbard than from Marco Rubio. That is good. It will cause him to pause before rushing in or before deciding to stay completely out.
Democratic Party: The party is leaderless right now. Arguably, they were leaderless even with Biden in the White House since it appears he wasn’t actually calling the shots anyway. But there is no shortage of people who want to claim that mantle and ride it to the Democratic nomination for president in 2028.
What is amazing to me is how they all seem to be following the same playbook. “Be as anti-Trump and everything he does as you can be” and I’ll win the nomination.
California Governor Gavin Newsom is the most interesting example. Understand that I can’t stand him and have zero respect for him. He has no principles at all except for serving his own naked ambition. I can respect a committed leftist for at least believing in something bigger than themselves. Gavin doesn’t do that. He started his undeclared presidential campaign by doing some moves towards the center through his podcast (This is Gavin Newsom). For example, he indicated some willingness to see the problem of letting men compete in women’s sports. This is an 80-20 issue and he was starting to side with the 80%.
But it now appears that all that was a head fake. Or, he just didn’t see it getting him anywhere so he pivoted. He is now using Trump’s response to the riots in LA to get major national attention as being more anti-Trump than anyone else. That whole transgender sports issue? He’s back in the far left corner there now.
For all Gavin’s sliminess and many faults, he is politically very astute. And since he has no principles, he can take any position on any issue to serve his ambitions. The fact that he appears to have abandoned any semblance of moderation on anything, indicates that he thinks this is the only road to the nomination.
AOC appears to be the heir apparent to the Bernie Sanders faction with the approval of the Senator from Vermont. It’s hard to be left of them. You see grandstanding by Senator Corey Booker on the Senate floor; Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen cuddling up to illegal immigrant criminals in South America; Illinois Governor Pritzker trying to be more anti-Trump; and Michigan Governor Whitmer holding her iPad over her face in the oval office so there is no photo of her with Trump while she was in there begging for support for her state. That just names a few. There are plenty more Democrats who hear “Hail to the Chief” when they look in the mirror.
They all are trying to get national attention by being more anti-Trump than the next guy or gal. But is this really smart? There are no policy positions other than to undo what Trump is doing. They are counting on Trump failing and then, being not Trump may be enough.
But what if he doesn’t fail? Maybe they can win a nomination in a shrinking and increasingly leftist Democratic Party, but they would be unlikely to win in the general election. Also, is Newsom really separating himself from the rest of the field or is he just the anti-Trump hero of the moment soon to be eclipsed by the next stunt by someone else?
Do any of them have real charisma or have identified a longing like the one Trump saw? Not that I can see yet.
There are a few Dem voices on the fringes who are quietly suggesting that the party cannot win being pro crime and illegal immigration and transgenders and more taxes and weak foreign policy and anti-cop and pro-corruption. For the moment, those voices are going nowhere.
But it is still early.
I will be taking the next couple of weeks off from this blog. I will be back to you after the 249th anniversary of Independence Day in the United States. Next year, will be a big one.
I remain respectfully,
Congressman John Campbell
Drive Fast & Live Free
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