Putin and Trump – from bad to worse  

In February 2024, the Russian military finally Captured Avdiivka, one of the most heavily fortified cities in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has coveted Mr. Avdiivka ever since he launched an attack on Ukraine two years ago. 47,000 It doesn’t matter if Russian soldiers are killed or injured.

Death of Alexei Navalny Events in Siberian prisons were similarly unsurprising. Putin has kept a noose around Navalny’s neck for more than a decade, despising and fearing his most personally visible and politically dangerous opponent.

recent donald trump repeated If he wins a second term, he will either abandon NATO or be relegated to a less important alliance. No surprises there either.He also served as National Security Adviser to President John Bolton. Quote His former boss said, “I don’t think anything about NATO.” And Trump himself said that whatever the conflict in Europe is, they “American lives are not worth it.”

In recent months, President Trump’s enablers, his followers who will do what it takes to stay in the favor of Republican kingmakers, have become more docile than ever. This, too, was completely predictable based on past patterns. Starting during President Trump’s presidency, Republican lawmakers, nearly every other Republican, Republican administration officials, advisers, and appointees have become increasingly compliant, even submissive.

We can almost certainly predict what will happen if Trump loses the November election. Given the former president’s last attempt, from the end of November 2020 until January 6, 2021, he escalated his conduct. Efforts to overturn presidential election, requests the governor of Georgia to call a special legislative session. Indeed, state officials “search” Vote. And shamelessly put pressure on Vice President Mike Pence rejected the electors – we can expect him to do just as much, or better, to overturn an unfavorable election result.

As an expert at Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership and a longtime researcher of bad leaders, I know that the recent actions of Presidents Putin and Trump fit a familiar pattern: Bad leaders almost always get worse..

Symptoms worsen in four stages, each more creepy and complex than the previous one. Progression usually begins slowly. Perhaps perceptible, but unobtrusive. Then the steam rises. Finally, if left unchecked by the leader, the bad behavior will go from being trivial to significant and eventually becoming malignant and malicious.

This begs the question: Can we stop worse leadership?

The answer is “Yes, you can.” However, there are some golden rules. The sooner you stop, the better and easier it is.

More than two years after President Putin’s war with Ukraine, it is important to remember the series of events that characterized his more than 20 years in office. Throughout almost his entire tenure, he has demonstrated an insatiable appetite for wealth and power. However, he is not checked either inside Russia or outside Russia.

For example, Western countries did nothing like him. bombed Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, was razed to pieces in 2000, and there was nothing like him again. imposed His military testament to the independent state of Georgia in 2008. Russia suddenly invaded attached Even in Crimea in 2014, the West did nothing.

Also, President Putin has done nothing since starting the war in Ukraine. He strengthened the Russian economy and the Russian military. and he expanded that relationship globally, line up For example, Russia and Iran, a country that is unusually antipathetic to the United States.

Winston Churchill knew that unless he stopped it, worse leadership would almost certainly follow. In 1938 he warned Of the “German dictator” Adolf Hitler, he said, “His appetite may increase as he eats.”

If the United States fails to provide strong support to Ukraine in its third year of war with Russia, and the American people do not decisively vote against Trump winning a second term, a pretty bleak future is guaranteed. will be done.

Barbara Kellerman is a fellow at the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and previously served as the school’s founding executive director. She is the author of Leadership from Bad to Worse, published by Oxford University Press.