ABSTRACT

Crises are a time when people look to their political leaders for action. For a President who was a master of shaping political narratives, COVID-19 offered an opportunity to use his messaging skills to steer the public response. Instead, COVID-19 revealed Trump’s long-standing inability to manage governance processes reflected in a series of failures in decision-making, communication, collaboration, and coordination and control. This article examines leadership qualities needed to successfully manage crisis and compares those qualities to President Trump’s actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case reveals how the lack of presidential leadership left the United States in a position of failure, characterized by high case rates, deaths, and an ongoing inability to establish a basic national consensus on how to respond to the pandemic.

摘要

危机是人们期待政治领导人采取行动的时期。对于一位擅长塑造政治叙事的总统来说，COVID-19 提供了一个机会，可以利用他的消息传递技巧来引导公众的反应。相反，COVID-19 揭示了特朗普长期以来无法管理治理流程，这反映在决策、沟通、协作以及协调和控制方面的一系列失败。本文研究了成功管理危机所需的领导素质，并将这些素质与特朗普总统在 COVID-19 大流行期间的行为进行了比较。该案例揭示了缺乏总统领导力如何使美国处于失败的境地，其特点是病例率高、死亡人数高，以及持续无法就如何应对大流行病建立基本的全国共识。