The President I'd Rather Follow

Everyone has their political leanings. This article is not about politics. It’s about leadership. I’ve become rather unnerved by reading the news lately. 2025 is not the year I was hoping it would be. I believe that elected officials should be leaders among the population that they represent. For example, a mayor should be a leader of and in his/her city. An elected board member of a nonprofit should be a leader among all who serve or benefit from that nonprofit. A state senator should be a leader in their state. By that same logic, a president of a sovereign nation should be a leader among his nation.

Fundamentally, a leader is someone who has at least one follower. By definition, you cannot be a leader without a follower. The legendary auto executive Lee Iacocca asked the right question in his 2007 book, Where Have All the Leaders Gone? There may be a few among us, but the American political machine is a force to be reckoned with. It would seem that many have succumbed to it. It seems that we have been left with very few leaders worth following. When I use the term follow in this article, I am referring to someone that I trust to make decisions on my behalf, on the behalf of others, and that the decision they make will be a decision with our best interests in mind. Afterall, isn’t that the point of voting for the person? This article is not about our politicians as a whole. This article is about the President of the United States and the President of Ukraine. The question here is which man would I rather follow.

I read a decent number of books on the topic of leadership. In my previous career path before law school I was attempting to climb the corporate ladder. In my early days, one manager tossed a book at me and told me to read it. I got hooked on the topic and continued reading as many leadership books as I could get my hands on. During some graduate studies I also took business classes on various topics of leadership. I don’t hold myself out as an expert on leadership, but I did attempt to become the best leader I could and more importantly, the kind of leader I would want for myself.

As I got promoted from one position to the next, I strived to be the best I could in my manager roles. I don’t mean just my best as rated by company metrics, but also my best to be the leader my people wanted to follow. I wanted to be the kind of boss that I wanted. It’s an easier concept than you might imagine, emulate the best qualities of the leaders you admired and respected while also avoiding the qualities and habits of the leaders you despised. Had a great boss or coach in the past? Do the things that guy did which made you like, respect, and admire him. Had a terrible one? Don’t be that guy.

For example, one quality I admire in a leader is someone who will never ask me to do something they would never do themselves. My way of showing my employees that I would never do that is cleaning the bathrooms. It was literally the dirtiest and most disgusting job in the building. I did not ask my employees to the clean the bathrooms yet I did it myself. Not only did they appreciate it, but they knew that I would do anything myself that I asked of them. I also did my best to lead by example, and when I worked with customers, I acted out the same behaviors and habits that I hoped they would act out with customers.

I also appreciate a leader who has my back. I did my best to replicate that too. If I made a mistake as a low level employee and word of that made it to a district manager, I appreciated my direct manager insisting that I made an honest mistake and that a simple conversation would suffice rather than a formal writeup. Why discipline honest mistakes when the employee had no intention of doing wrong. I did the same for my employees. On the flipside of that, if they did mess up I preferred to have the conversation myself and not involve the district manager. If a customer was upset with an employee, I always had their back. If my employee was wrong, I would work to correct the issue and prevent it from happening again, but I would not berate or belittle the employee and I would not allow the customer to do it either. Again, I do not to claim to be perfect. I may have had many employees who liked me, but I assume I still had a few detractors. The qualities I mentioned are not meant to be an exhaustive list of qualities. No two leaders have to leave the same way to be effective or respected. At the end of the day, I believe the general idea is simple: emulate the good leaders and avoid being like the bad ones you have experienced in your own life.

What qualities do I see in Donald Trump? I see a man who refuses to take accountability for his actions. No president gets the luxury of stepping into a perfectly running nation. There is some room to blame the situation you inherited. Trump is a man who takes credit for anything that pleases people and puts the blame on others for anything not going well. In this current presidency, he often blames Joe Biden and calls him incompetent (among other names). This behavior is both crass and unbecoming of someone in such a high position.

Speaking of the position, Trump has no respect for the institution of the presidency nor the Constitution. As a leader and an elected official the voters (or at a minimum his voters) entrusted him to both respect the position he has taken and to respect the Constitution, not because it’s our sacred document (which it is) but because it is how we play the game. We are supposed to be living in a nation that found living under a tyrannical ruler so disgusting and repulsive that our ancestors signed a treasonous document and fought a war to start an entirely different nation. The Constitution lays out the rules that are supposed to keep us all in a system that is free of tyranny. No one wants a boss who makes them follow the rules while they break the rules.

I also see Trump as incredibly narcissistic and untrustworthy in both word and actions. First, he clearly expects everyone to bend the knee and kiss the ring. He expects praise and adoration even though he has not earned it. Trump not only speaks in absurd hyperbole, but outright lies. No one likes being lied to, yet it doesn’t stop him. What about his actions? Nothing he does inspires me to think that he wouldn’t throw me under the bus at the slightest inconvenience to him. As President of the United States, Trump is the Commander in Chief of the military. He is literally the highest formal leader of the entire military. I honestly believe that all the other presidents I have lived through had an honest conscience relative to the fact that they not only had a level of respect for people who were willing to sacrifice their lives in the name of the United States of America, but understood the severity and consequences of sending troops into combat. Trump on the other hand considers our military service members to be “losers” and “suckers.” What about that inspires anyone to sacrifice themselves for a leader who had no respect for them?

How you treat others also says a lot about the type of person you are. As a leader, Trump set the tone for the meeting in the Oval Office with President Zelensky. When Zelensky didn’t kiss the ring (or Trump’s ass like JD Vance does) Trump turned on him. The rest of the room followed. They went as low to mock his uniform. Fact check, the American people have no problem with his lack of a suit. Second fact check, neither does the Trump Administration. Where’s the proof? It’s the lack of a problem with man-child Elon Musk dressed in a trench coat, t-shirt, and baseball cap in the White House. Questioning Zelensky about his uniform wasn’t about respect, it was about intentionally being disrespectful and demeaning. It was meant to incite the MAGA fanbase and give unquestioning loyalists and excuse to dislike Zelensky and give an excuse to Trump (and lapdog Vance) to yell and berate.

What do I see in Zelensky? Let’s talk about his lack of a suit. Why is the president and highest ranking official not wearing a suit? Zelensky refuses to wear a suit and instead wears military clothes with Ukraine’s coat of arms as a symbolic gesture. His country is under attack, and while this war is going on, he stands by those who are on the frontlines defending their home. This is a characteristic that the United States has long respected. Prior to our draft-dodging president who thinks little of our own military, we have held that sacrifice in the highest regard. Anyone who has been to a sporting event recently has probably noticed the way people stand, face the flag, remove their caps, and listen to the national anthem. Usually, later in the event, the announcer will ask current and past military servicemembers to stand and thanks them for their service and sacrifice. The audience then gives a standing ovation. Why? It is because we hold this sacrifice and selflessness in the name of one’s own country in high esteem. At least Zelensky still holds that to be true. In this aspect, he also stays true in his word and actions that he supports his people by maintaining that promise regardless of the circumstances.

What else has he demonstrated? Zelensky demonstrated courage since the beginning of the war. The Russians attempted a social media disinformation campaign since the beginning to undermine Zelensky (and the West). The Russians put out social media posts that Zelensky fled the country after the attacks. In response, Zelensky went outside and showed on camera that he was still in Kyiv and would not abandon his people. There’s a quote attributed to Zelensky that in reply to the United State’s offer to pull him out of Ukraine, he said, “I need ammunition, not a ride.” While the quote was not confirmed, the idea still holds true. Zelensky did not leave Ukraine in the beginning and has never left to hide. He has only ever left the country since the war started to make diplomatic visits to allies in attempts to plead his case for further support.

What was Zelensky’s problem at the White House? His problem was that he didn’t kiss the ring and he called out Trump for his bullshit relationship with Putin. Fact check, Trump was in office previously while Putin already occupied two smaller portions of Ukraine. Zelensky pointed out that Putin was the invader and instigator, not Ukraine, that Putin broke all previous ceasefires, and that Trump did nothing to stand up to Putin or support Ukraine in the previous invasion. This may not have worked in Zelensky’s favor toward getting a ceasefire deal brokered by the United States. Perhaps it was a lapse of strategy. Some of the media certainly thinks so. However, as a leader, it shows Zelensky’s unwillingness to break loyalty to his people. Allowing Trump to cozy up to Putin and then make a deal with the devil to get what he wants seemed to go against the fibers of his very being.

So, back to my question from earlier: Which of these presidents would I follow? The answer is easy. I would follow the man I trust to have my back and my best interest. The man who shows he stands by my side and the side of the people I care about. That is precisely what Zelensky does for his people. I certainly don’t trust a man who outright lies, has no loyalty to others, and berates and belittles anyone who refuses to bend the knee and kiss the ring. To all this, I say, Slava Ukraini. President Zelensky, I respect you. I admire you. On behalf of at least one voting American, I am sorry that our president was not only disrespectful to you and your country but also that he is turning our country’s back on you in favor of Vladimir Putin, a dictator.