President Donald Trump displays an authoritative style of leadership. He values control and order hence seeks to concentrate all powers to him. He neglects the normal constitutional processes and disputes judicial decisions on several occasions. He has repeatedly attacked the judges who rule against him and threatened the courts of law. For instance, he was recently urging for the 9th circuit to be broke up because most of its decisions were against him. Besides, he is quite impatient with the normal legislative rules and once termed them as archaic. Like any other authoritarian, rules and regulation that seem to hinder him from doing what he wants are always damaging for the nation.
Besides, an authoritative leader is never friendly to the press. In fact, he uses intimidation to threaten the press and avoid criticism hence able to consolidate his powers. President Trump has never appreciated the press since his campaign days and always attacks the media for reporting fake news. As a matter of fact, Trump wants the libel laws to be widened so that he can freely sue the press for any news that displeases him (Keck, 2017).Furthermore, Trump never tolerates the other levels of authority and governments. For instance, he insists that all states should report on illegal immigrants yet it violates the federal principle in the 10th amendment. According to the autocratic theory of leadership, power is always centered on the boss, who makes decisions without necessarily consulting the subordinates (Genovese, Belt & Lammers, 2015). .
On the other hand, President Barack Obama portrays transformational leadership style. His own election as the first black President in America was a transformation itself because it changed the Americans ideologies on race, segregation and white supremacy (Mulki, Caemmerer, Heggde, 2015). He came with a rewarding vision, inspiration and motivation that moved the American citizens. While in the office, he made a lot of accomplishments that transformed America. First, he joined efforts with his predecessor George W. Bush and saved America from the 2008 Great Recession. He strengthened the American economy making it one of the best in the whole world (McAdams, 2017).
Secondly, President Obama changed the narrative around the US healthcare sector. Through the Obama Care initiative, he was able to enact a health insurance law that gave 90% of Americans affordable health care (McAdams, 2017). In addition, his administration saw the transformation of Americas energy policy. He worked hard to ensure that the US is leading in the emerging energy revolutions in the world. For instance, solar generation increased by 3000% while its cost reduced by 70% during his reign. On the other hand, Obama brought significant changes in the Americas foreign policy hence strengthening its relationship with foreign nations. According to the transformational leadership theory, the main aim of a leader is to initiate change and motivate others. Such leaders set challenging goals and are more concerned about the satisfaction of their followers.
One major crisis that President Trump has dealt with is the move to cut illegal immigration. This was his major promise during his campaigns and he has several executive orders to fulfill it. Trump intends to build a physical wall along the Mexican border that will act as a barrier to immigrants. Besides, he has signed two other orders that require immigration officers to take tougher measures in enforcing the existing rules. According to Homeland Security, the number of people crossing the Mexican border has dropped significantly since Trump signed the executive orders (McAdams, 2017). Since his administration, there has been a serious crackdown by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency on immigrants. The immigration cases in the court have risen to more than 600,000 cases. The president is determined to deport illegal immigrants as well as stop illegal entry into the country. On the other hand, President Obamas most remarkable crisis was the killing Osama Bin Laden. Obama authorized the killing of Osama in his effort to fight terrorism. This was a risky and intense operation that put the White House in a standstill. After determining that there was enough intelligent to undertake this exercise, he authorized the operation to bring Osama to justice.
President Trumps authoritative leadership style has worked so far for him in tackling the immigrant issue. The signed executive orders have taken effect and seen a significant drop in the level of immigration. Besides, his stand has led to an increase in arrests of illegal immigrants. He has also made radical changes in the administration by making various appointments in the immigration department. There is also a drop in the admission of refugees in the six months (McAdams, 2017). President Trump does not really care about what everyone has to say as long as he makes America Great Again.
On the other hand, President Obamas transformational leadership style motivated him to pursue the worlds most wanted terrorist. However, he did not just make uninformed decisions but held several meetings and discussions before the final conclusion. For instance weeks before the raid, Obama discussed with four administrative lawyers on the legal implication of killing Osama (Bowden & Lurie, 2012). He also held secret meetings with his subordinates to discuss the impacts of the whole operations. These actions reveal that President Obama valued people opinions especially in matters of national interest. Therefore, the leadership trait worked effectively for Obama in succeeding in this operation
References
Bowden, M., & Lurie, J. (2012).The finish: The killing of Osama Bin Laden. Newark, NJ
Genovese, M. A., Belt, T. L., & Lammers, W. W. (2015). Presidency and Domestic Policy:
Comparing Leadership Styles, FDR to Obama. Routledge
Keck, T. M. (2017). Will Donald Trump Break Political Time? Or, Is President Trump More
Like Victor Orban or Franklin Pierce?.
McAdams, D. P. (2017). The Appeal of the Primal Leader: Human Evolution and Donald J.
Trump. Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, 1(2)
Mulki, J. P., Caemmerer, B., & Heggde, G. S. (2015). Leadership style, salesperson's work effort
and job performance: the influence of power distance. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 35(1), 3-22
Request Removal
If you are the original author of this essay and no longer wish to have it published on the customtermpaperwriting.org website, please click below to request its removal:
