The Blogs: Investigating Issues of Power & Leadership in Trump’s Role as Commander in Chief

Let’s complete a little stream-of-consciousness exercise.

Directions

First, please take a piece of paper and a pen or pencil, or you can type on your computer.
Now, take a few deep breaths, and try to clear your mind.
For a total of 60 seconds, keep writing without stopping even if you need to repeat the same words.
Without suppressing or editing your thoughts, what comes to your mind when you read or hear the word, “Power.”
Write your thoughts.

* * * * *

Okay, now let’s analyze and categorize what you wrote using the following assessment.

Place a number on a scale of Easy to Difficult with “1” being Very Easy and “10” being Very Difficult, and “0” being Neutral indicating how this exercise was for you.
Now, try to place a number above or following each concept or word with “1” indicating Very Negative along a spectrum with “10” indicating Very Positive, and “0” indicating Neutral.
Add the numbers representing “Negative” from 1 to 5.
Add the numbers indicating “Positive” from 6 to 10.
Add the times you indicated “Neutral” with 0.
Look at your Easy to Difficult assessment. What might this indicate or reflect?
Look at your Negative to Positive score. What might this indicate or reflect?
Did you write anything that surprised you? If so, what was it?

So, What Is “Power” Anyway?

In a 1968 speech given to striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. defined power as “the ability to achieve purpose and effect change.”

A dictionary definition I found views “power” (a noun) in general as:

“the ability to do or act; capability of doing or accomplishing something.” In this definition, “capacity” is seen as a synonym of “power.”
Another definition of “power” is as a “great or marked ability to do or act; strength; might; force. In this definition, “energy” is a synonym.
A third definition is “the possession of control or command over people” with the synonyms of authority; influence.
A final definition for our purposes here defines “power” as the “political ascendancy or control in the government of a country, state, etc.” by “overthrowing the legal government” with the synonyms sovereignty, rule, sway, ascendancy.

Types of “Power” Related to Leadership

I use the categories of “educators’” or “teachers’ power” from the works of Educational Psychologists Borich and Tombari in my university courses designed for pre-service teachers and administrators. These categories, though, can be applied when investigating the types of “power” outside the field of education when related to leadership generally.

Expert Power: Some individuals become leaders because others perceive them as experts. Successful leaders have expert power. Their followers see them as both competent to explain and do certain things and are knowledgeable about particular topics. Such influence is earned, rather than conferred by virtue of having a particular title. Expert power is the legitimization of an individual’s leadership because others perceive that individual as an expert.

Referent Power: People often accept as leaders those whom they like and respect. They view such leaders as trustworthy, fair, and concerned. The term referent power is used to describe leadership earned in this way. Referent power is leadership earned because of a perception of an individual’s trustworthiness, fairness, and concern for members of the group.

Legitimate Power: Some roles by their very nature carry with them influence and authority. Police officers, presidents, and judges exert social power and leadership by their very titles. This type of power has been referred to as legitimate power; unlike expert and referent power, it cannot be earned. Leaders possess a certain degree of legitimate power. Our society expects students to give teachers their attention, for example, to respect them, and to do what they say.

Reward Power: Individuals in positions of authority can reward the people they lead. These rewards can take the form of privileges, approval, or more tangible compensation, such as money. To the extent that people desire the rewards conferred by their leaders, these leaders can exert a degree of leadership and authority. However, people who don’t care much about rewards, for example, students who are not concerned about earning good grades or the teachers’ approval are difficult to lead solely by exerting reward power. Reward power, then, is leadership based on rewards or benefits that an individual can give to members of a group.

Coercive Power: By law, teachers and other school personnel are allowed to act in loco parentis, or with the same authority as the parent. Teachers and other leaders, within limits, can punish people who defy their authority or leadership. Within the educational environment, the teacher or administrator can punish by such techniques as suspension or expulsion, denial of privileges, or removal from the classroom. Teachers who rely on such techniques to maintain social power in the classroom are said to be using coercive power. The use of coercive power, however, may end misbehavior for a time, but at the cost of failing to develop trusting relationships or meeting students’ needs for belonging. The same applies to leaders outside the institution of education.

The Uses of Power “With” and “Over”

We can place how leaders use their power also on a spectrum from “With” on one side through “Over” on the other.

“Power With” refers to a leader or leaders utilizing their power in collaboration to empower those they lead. It involves a mutual appreciation and respect for autonomy in the creation of solutions to accomplish shared goals. For the leaders, getting it right has priority rather than being right.

By contrast, “Power Over” refers to an undemocratic or authoritarian approach where the leader or leaders exert their dominance by dictating the actions to be taken, often using coercion or fear in which power is gained at another’s expense. Leaders give the orders, and they expect to be obeyed without challenge. For the leaders, being right has priority rather than getting it right.

Definitions, Types, & Uses as Lenses of Analysis

Now that we have some common definitions, types, and uses of “power,” I ask people to use these as lenses through which we can further understand the actions and not simply only the words of our current President, Donald John Trump.

While Trump has taken many actions in terms of policy initiatives during his first and now second term, let’s use our lenses to analyze some of his actions in his capacity as Commander in Chief. I list below some of those actions, and you give your analysis:

Trump’s executive order to change the Department of Defense to the Department of War. He said in an Oval Office Announcement: “The name ‘Department of War’ conveys a stronger message of readiness and resolve compared to ‘Department of Defense,’ which emphasizes only defensive capabilities.”
Under the Trump administration’s authority, Secretary Hegseth has ordered the deletion of books and other materials that fall under his definition of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the U.S. Naval Academy’s Nimitz Library including materials on the Holocaust, the Black experience, women, LGBTQ people, and others in the United States.
Secretary Hegseth has either demoted or fired successful and highly qualified senior officers of color and women.
Hegseth has also eliminated affinity groups such as the Black Society for Engineers and the Native American Heritage Forum at military academies.
Hegseth has either planned or has already deleted the names of U.S. Navy ships that are within the class of oiler craft, which the commander in chief sets aside to name after civil rights leaders — such USNS Harvey Milk.
Trump took no action against Secretary Hegseth when it became known that Hegseth and others may have potentially leaked highly classified military information on a government group chat (“Signal Gate”) where they erroneously shared sensitive information regarding impending airstrikes on Yemen, which included specific details such as types of aircraft, missiles, and attack times.
Trump ordered U.S. stealth aircraft to bomb three Iranian nuclear sites dubbed “Operation Midnight Hammer,” without the expressed authorization from Congress, which has led to several legal challenges.
Trump ordered the bombing of a small powerboat in international waters on his alleged charge that the 11 people on board were attempting to smuggle drugs into the United States. He did this without notifying or getting approval from the Congress and without releasing proof of his allegations.
Trump has commanded the federalization of the National Guard, which is contrary to the Posse Comitatus Law, and has instructed them to invade Democratic Party-run states and cities even against the governors’ and mayors’ expressed orders.
Trump has ordered unidentified and masked (primarily) men, and has substantially increased funding and expanded resources, the scope, and the number of I.C.E. officers throughout the country. They have acted in ways that have contradicted Trump’s promise of arresting undocumented immigrants who had committed criminal offenses. I.C.E. officers have, instead, often arrested, detained, and disappeared people who have not committed crimes, and have deported them to foreign authoritarian countries not of their birth without due process of law.

Okay, so now you are the judge. Whether you do or don’t use my assessment lenses, what are your general and specific ratings of President Donald Trump in his leadership role of Commander in Chief?