Unfit to Command

Trump’s lack of empathy and competence has become a national security emergency.

A lifetime of leadership experience leads to a stark conclusion: Donald Trump’s lack of competence and empathy is not just a personal flaw—it is a national security risk, now dangerously exposed in a war with Iran.

Tragically, Donald Trump is incapable of providing effective leadership for our Armed Forces or the nation, and has proven so repeatedly. The still expanding war of choice with Iran makes this statement even more pressing and alarming. I have published, spoken on, and taught leadership principles for over four decades. There are two primary components of good leadership: competence and caring. America’s once and again chief executive is a clear failure on both counts. His unilateral, disastrous decision to go to war with Iran provides illumination.

You have heard it before, but it bears repetition. This Oval Office occupant exhibits all the behaviors of a malignant narcissist. Narcissists like this lack empathy. Empathy is a key character trait of all effective leaders. Despite voluminous discussion of Trump’s shortcomings, rarely is his lack of empathy, the ability to genuinely care about the fate of those beyond himself and his immediate family, highlighted as a causal factor in his leadership deficiency. We all know that quality, effective leadership matters; soldiers know and depend on this factor better than most. Effective leaders inspire us to become the best version of ourselves. A truly caring leader would have considered and planned for the circumstances and consequences of the actions he was directing the military to undertake. And, he would have prepared and mobilized the nation to support those actions while explaining their urgency. He did neither.

When it comes to competence, history’s judgement will be harsh. This Commander-in-Chief may be the least capable of performing national security functions of any that ever sat behind the desk. Effective leadership in this context is about making wise and informed decisions, acting with integrity, bolstering the nation’s (rather than personal) well-being, accepting responsibility, and possessing the character to bear burdens for others, easing them when possible. This White House occupant renounces responsibility like the mongoose recoils from the cobra’s strike. His straight-from-the-hip and go-to position appears to be to lie, dissemble, and blame others. He plays the role of victim constantly and with undisguised relish.

Regarding the war of choice against Iran, his leadership mistakes are egregious. Trump chose a wholly unqualified self-promoter with repugnant views and past behavior to lead his self-styled Department of “War.” He refused to seek Congressional counsel or approval prior to engaging in hostilities, preferring the advice of his son-in-law and business cronies. He embraced the long disproven notion that air-power alone could compel surrender, an idea surely not promoted by senior military advisers. He shunned collaboration, insulting our NATO allies – calling them cowards - and endangered the Gulf Cooperation Council nations.

As the battle was joined, he insisted that the war was already won in the midst of a clearly continuing and escalating conflict while leaving many American citizens stranded in the region, for lack of evacuation planning. Moreover, he failed to anticipate what everyone in the US Intelligence Community surely knew: that Iran would respond by threatening the Strait of Hormuz, effectively shutting down 20% of the globe’s oil distribution, and driving up the cost of gas at the pump. Finally, but hardly least, he appears to be preparing for a ground assault option that could result in significant American military casualties. The list of missteps goes on and grows longer daily.

It is a well-established truth that competent and caring leaders earn their peoples’ respect and loyalty. I have studied leadership throughout my adult life, learning at the feet of exceptional senior sergeants and officers in the US Army’s Special Forces. I know this subject through academics as well, but more importantly, a half-century of deep professional experience. Mr. Trump is not equal to the challenge of leading our nation. Regrettably, he lacks both required components of effective leadership: competence and caring. Both components are bolstered and accentuated by striving to be a good person. This chief executive failed that test a long time ago.

Robert Bruce Adolph , a qualified Military Strategist, is a retired senior US Army Special Forces soldier. He holds graduate degrees in both National Security Studies & International Affairs and was formally trained as a counterintelligence special agent. Robert also taught university level courses in American Government, US History, and World Politics. Following his retirement from the active military, he joined the UN, subsequently seeing service in Sierra Leone, Yemen, Iraq, Egypt, Israel/Palestine, Indonesia and more, culminating in the role of Chief of the Middle East and North Africa at UN Headquarters in New York. He is a member of The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 400 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.