Leadership Connections: A Look Back at the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Hebrews 4:15

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

(ESV)

Even though more than a year has passed since the 2016 Presidential election in the United States, Democrats still struggle with what happened and remain clueless about what caused their candidate to lose.  Efforts to blame collusion between Trump and the Russians have failed with no discovery of such a connection after more than a year of investigations.  (1)  While many criminal convictions occur without a smoking gun of evidence, (2) a crime must exist for a conviction.  This is because in a criminal case, the prosecution must prove guilt beyond any doubt.  For example, if both the defense and prosecution come into court on a criminal case and neither one presents any evidence of a crime, the defense wins due to the failure of the prosecution to prove guilt beyond any doubt.  (3)  This represents the foundation of innocent until proven guilty, the foundation of U.S. law. 

Unfortunately, outside of the judicial system, media and their liberal counterparts run with any alleged appearance of a crime and spin it to appear like someone is guilty prior to receiving their day in court.  While the court may eventually find them innocent of any wrong doing, the political damage may have already occurred with someone losing an election or forced to resign from office.  The revelation that the entire Russian dossier is a piece of opposition research funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign means there is no foundational crime upon which to launch a case against President Trump regarding Russian collusion. 

It was not some Trump Russian conspiracy that cost Hillary Clinton the 2016 election but a loss of connection between the political elites, represented by Hillary Clinton and the voters in the U.S.  Since it is voters that decide who wins elections, and not connections to donors or special interest groups, Hillary Clinton achieved a popular vote victory but did not achieve an electoral college victory, the victory needed to become President of The United States.  Donald Trump, however, made a connection with voters, allowing Him to pierce the blue wall in the 2016 election, propelling him to an electoral college victory.  (4) 

Leaders make a connection with those following them at four levels,

1)      Reputational connection – A leader’s reputation is crucial for it is the foundation upon which a leader builds trust. 

2)      Influential connection – Leaders trusted by their followers based upon good reputations can exercise influence over followers that is deeper than just having an official title.  Instead of followers following their leader based upon their position, followers willingly follow their leader.

3)      Emotional connection – The subsequent willful following of a leader out of trust establishes an emotional connection.

4)      Transformational connection – The established emotional connection results in followers looking up to their leader for motivation guidance during uncertain times. 

This progression of leader-member connection with followers parallels the connection candidate Donald Trump made with voters.  He spent years establishing a successful reputation as a businessman able to succeed through hard work, the subject of many books.  (5)  The respect gained from this history of success created influence with voters.  This influential connection coupled with Trump speaking to issues affecting many Americans who believed the political elite could care less about them and were more interested in appeasing their donors and special interests created an emotional connection with voters.  The connection was complete as voters seeking a transformational leader interested in what affected their lives went to the polls and voted for Donald Trump. 

The strategy of Hillary Clinton was similar to the strategy of Barak Obama.  Instead of beginning from the foundation of a solid reputation, Clinton begins with making an emotional appeal with people as becoming the first female President of the United States, like what propelled Barak Obama to victory as the first African American President.  The expectation of Hilary Clinton was that her emotional connection with voters would result in hope of transformational change.  However, unlike the relatively unknown candidate Barak Obama who had no widely known reputational or influential connection with voters, Hillary Clinton had both a reputational and influential problem. 

Her reputational problem stems from serving as an enabler of her husband’s sexual improprieties.  (6)  Her lack of influential connection stems from a brief but unproductive career in the Senate.  (7)  As Secretary of State, Benghazi severed any potential influential connection.  (8) 

Hillary Clinton did not make the reputational and influential connection leading to her failure to gain broad support necessary to achieve an electoral college victory.  Her strategy of establishing an emotional connection first hoping to achieve a transformational connection leading to victory failed due to her lack of a strong reputation as a good leader with influence due to a history of a reputation as an enabler of sexual improprieties and lack of Senate influence coupled with incompetency as Secretary of State. 

This illustrates an ongoing problem with liberal and progressive candidates for their campaigns usually begin from a foundation of emotion.  Unless the candidate is relatively unknown, something difficult to do in our social media charged environment, this is a flawed foundation upon which to build a successful Electoral College victory.  The ongoing problem stems from a flawed liberal progressive philosophy lacking a reputation of positive accomplishments bringing about transformational change bettering the lives of individuals.  This leads to a lack of influence as leaders.  Solid Presidential leadership begins with a reputation of success creating influence as followers make an emotional connection with a leader that has demonstrated the ability to bring about transformational change bettering their lives.  In the 2016 election, this candidate was Donald Trump. 

Jesus Christ provides the perfect example of leadership connection.  Scripture tells us of Jesus divine reputation in John 1:1-14 telling us that the Word of God, God Himself, became flesh and lived among us in the person of Jesus Christ.  He made the emotional connection by healing the sick and opening the eyes of the blind.  His mastery over the weather and demonic spirits demonstrates His divine influence.  His transformational connection came to completion when he died on the cross for our sins, so we can have eternal life (John 3:16). 

The question we each must settle is whether we want to connect personally with God by accepting the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for our sins.  If you want to make this connection with your creator God, please pray with me now.

Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans 3:23)and know that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans 6:23).  I ask you to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me as you promise in your Word (1 John 1:9).  I believe you died, was buried, and resurrected from the dead and now declare you Lord of my life.

Your connection with God has begun and you now have eternal life according to John 3:16. However, just as with any other relationship, the connection grows stronger as we learn more about each other.  Since God already knows all about us, the movement must be on our end as we learn more about our creator God through prayer, reading the Bible, and regular church attendance at a church teaching the Bible.  I also encourage you to make your profession of faith public by commenting to this post. 

May God bless everyone reading this.

1. Schwartz, Ian. Feinstein: No Evidence Trump Campaign Paid Russians For "Dirt" On Hillary Clinton. www.realclearpolitics.com. [Online] RealClear Politics, November 5, 2017. [Cited: December 17, 2017.] https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/11/05/feinstein_no_evidence_trump_campaign_paid_russians_for_dirt_on_hillary_clinton.html.

2. Holland, Joshua. There may not be a smoking gun, but there’s a mountain of evidence tying Trump to the Kremlin. www.thenation.com. [Online] The Nation, December 11, 2017. [Cited: December 17, 2017.] https://www.thenation.com/article/luke-harding-on-trump-russia-and-collusion/.

3. Crooks, Low & Connell S.C. Can a Person Be Convicted Without Evidence? www.crooks-law.com. [Online] Crooks, Low & Connell S.C., April 6, 2017. [Cited: December 17, 2017.] https://www.crooks-law.com/convicted-without-evidence/.

4. Blankenhorn, David. Listemning to Trump Voters. www.the-american-interest.com. [Online] The American Interest, 2016. [Cited: December 17, 2017.] https://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/08/02/listening-to-trump-voters/.

5. Epstein, Ethan. Trump’s Business Success Is More Than Marginal. www.weeklystandard.com. [Online] The Weekly Standard, September 15, 2015. [Cited: December 19, 2017.] http://www.weeklystandard.com/trumps-business-success-is-more-than-marginal/article/1031022.

6. Lowry, Rich. Yes, Hillary Was an Enabler. www.politico.com. [Online] Politico, May 26, 2016. [Cited: December 17, 2017.] https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/yes-hillary-was-an-enabler-213919.

7. Jr., Nicole Goeser & John R. Lott. In eight years, her one concrete achievement was getting a courthouse renamed for Thurgood Marshall. www.nationalreview.com. [Online] National Review, July 28, 2016. [Cited: December 17, 2017.] http://www.nationalreview.com/article/438430/hillarys-senate-record-bill-renaming-nyc-building-her-single-success.

8. Board, Editorial. Benghazi: What the report reveals about Hillary Clinton. www.chicagotribune.com. [Online] Chicago Tribune, June 28, 2016. [Cited: December 17, 2017.] http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-benghazi-hillary-clinton-obama-rhodes-edit-0629-jm-20160628-story.html.