Commentary by Stephen Macaulay
Management consultant Tom Peters, co-author of In Search of Excellence, is credited with a phrase that is important in all walks of life:
“Under promise and over deliver.”
The book was published in 1989. It was, and is, one of the most influential business books of all time.
Consequently, it is a bit surprising that legendary business maven, and now president, Donald Trump seems to have missed it.
Or maybe he doesn’t believe it.
He opened his inaugural address:
“The Golden Age of America begins right now.”
Now maybe he is simply stating that he is going to bring back the Gilded Age, a period in the late 19th century that generated great wealth — for industrialists and entrepreneurs, like many of the tech bros that surrounded him on inauguration day.
There was, it should go without saying, rife corruption during the Gilded Age.
The poster boy was Boss Tweed, a political operative (and a Democrat) who was convicted to stealing millions of dollars from the people of New York City, who could ill afford it.
And there were abuses in terms of patronage. This means that government jobs
weren’t given to those most qualified to hold them (i.e., people who could actually do the work), but to political supporters and friends. Sound familiar?
But there was another characteristic of the Gilded Age: Regular people didn’t prosper.
It is largely thought that there were two key issues that led to Trump’s election:
- The economy
- The southern border
The latter is being addressed — at least visually — pronto.
But the former is the tricky bit.
People voted because they think he can bring down prices of everyday items like eggs.
People as in the “regular people.”
The MAGA base.
I recently went to a local diner for breakfast. There was a sticker on the front of the menu stating that the price for all egg dishes are increased by $1 due to the hike of the price of eggs. And that wasn’t a trivial hike because that place had offered a $3 breakfast special.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the price of eggs has increased by 38% over the last 12 months.
And here is a bit of irony: a major cause was a pandemic. Bird flu.
Can we have much in the way of confidence that there will be a concerted effort to wipe out bird flu, or will it “just go away”?
One thing that Trump said that may come back to bite him was his description of the fires in California:
“Los Angeles, where we are watching fires still tragically burn from weeks ago without even a token of defense.
“They’re raging through the houses and communities, even affecting some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in our country, some of whom are sitting here right now. They don’t have a home any longer. That’s interesting, but we can’t let this happen. Everyone is unable to do anything about it. That’s going to change.”
Anybody who has watched the fires on a newscast has seen nothing but women and men busting their asses, spraying and digging and doing all possible activities to put out the horrendous fires.
“Without even a token of defense”? “Everyone is unable to do anything about it”? What about those brave first responders? Are they doing nothing?
People know that’s not the case. They probably have friends or relatives who put their lives on the line every day just like the fire service personnel in California.
And the comment about “some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in our country. . . .don’t have a home any longer.”
What about the regular people who have had their insurance canceled?
Why doesn’t he care about them? Because they didn’t donate millions to him?
If the price of eggs doesn’t go down, if there are tariffs applied across the board that raise prices at everywhere from the Home Depot to Kroger, if mom starts having trouble getting heath care coverage, if. . . .
Well, those regular folks helped put him on that podium, and he’s not going to leave.
But unless he does something to address their day-to-day existence, he’s going to find the love he basks in gone.