American triumph in Iran: Leadership, including Donald Trump, Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Amy Klobuchar
Today, there was cheering, pursuant to American brilliant military success in rescuing fliers who were at risk after being shot down in Iran.
Understanding leadership: Contrast Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, with Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, and Trump v. Democrats/Biden in dealing with Iran and a murder.
It may be unfair to pit Nanos‘ leadership with Caine’s. But the former took a day off at the height of the Savannah Guthrie Mother crisis debacle, and the result so far is nothing ventured, nothing gained. No body; no suspects; nothing.
Trump is great leadership (minus great rhetorical excellence) personified.
I have dealt with those who disagree with me, saying over and over: How can you support such a clod.
I have written and said on media a multitude of times that Trump is a rhetorical embarrassment as president, but policy-wise he is right on target. And his Democratic opponents are not serious leaders.
I should rather have Trump as national leader than Newsom, Harris, Biden, Obama or any of the woefully inadequate woke members now saturating the left.
I asked before: Where have you gone, Amy Klobuchar? So sad.
Once, before 2020, she was somewhat moderate:
“While she has staked out mainstream liberal positions on many issues, she has taken more moderate stances than Warren, Sanders and some other rivals for her party’s presidential nod on issues including education, the environment, health care and immigration, according to The Washington Post.
For example, she supports legislation that would alleviate student debt but opposes the kind of widespread debt cancellation backed by Sanders and Warren, candidates in the ‘progressive lane.’ Unlike Sanders and Warren, she opposes ‘Medicare for all….’ Nor does she support a ban on fracking backed by Sanders and Warren or their proposed repeal of criminal laws against people who enter the country without permission.”
Really, only John Fetterman has been reliably centrist among current Democratic high office-holders in his political choices and rhetoric. He supports reasonable political exchanges and centrist policy recommendations.
https://www.facebook.com/
President Trump has threatened to demolish Iran if Iran doesn’t come to an agreement by late Tuesday, April 7, ET, including their opening the Strait of Hormuz. And he claims this could happen in “one night,” including attacks on their bridges and power plants.
Iran claims to reject the offer as of April 6.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/
The one difference between Trump and his presidential predecessors: for better or worse, his threats are followed by actions consistent with those threats.
The advantage of this sort of leadership is that, unlike Obama, threats under his tenure, our adversaries believe Trump will act unless his conditions are met.
In 2013, President Obama’s “red line” threat of military action if Syria used chemical weapons was simply not followed.
Good leadership is hard to enact, and it can cost political support, especially short-term.
It brings back the old question: Do you want to win elections or govern well?
Trump appears to be a leader who wants to govern well, if profanely and tastelessly. And that is not a bad choice.
Richard E. Vatz https://wp.towson.edu/vatz/ is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of political rhetoric at Towson University and author of The Only Authentic of Persuasion: the Agenda-Spin Model (Bookwrights House, 2024) and over 200 other works, essays, lectures, and op-eds. He is the benefactor of the Richard E. Vatz Best Debater Award at Towson. The Van Bokkelen Auditorium at Towson University has been named after him.