The title of this blog refers to a quote by Jim Rohn: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”. I have used this quote before in my blog of 24 September 2015. Today’s part 2 is about how this concept works out on someone like Donald Trump.
Jim Rohn’s quote can probably be stretched to include the information that we read. This thought came to me after reading a Buzzfeed article, as mentioned in the FT, entitled: “Here’s Where Donald Trump Gets His News”. BF: “BuzzFeed News reviewed 26,234 of Trump’s 34,062 tweets [] between June 1, 2015 [] and Nov. 17, 2016.” The result is an impressive infographic.
The infographic suggests that Steve Bannon of Breitbart News is one of the 5 sources closest to Trump. Trump’s unexpected meeting with Al Gore suggests that his daughter Ivanka is another source. Trump’s intention to appoint Jared Kushner (Ivanka’s husband) in a Consigliere role, suggests that he is in too. It’s likely that his 2 sons Donald Jr and Eric (eg, BBC) are other sources. At least, these four family members also qualify as the “people you spend the most time with”.
The emerging 2017 Trump political structure feels like a copy of a family business structure. The Cabinet appointees are all replaceable executives when things go sour. The people who are really important to Trump are in non-executive and in non-political roles. A logical consequence of that observation is that the political appointees will have less influence than the media now assert.
Trump is likely to behave like a CEO type of President as that is the only role he knows at the age of 70. In a recent CBS interview, Scott Pelley asked this question to Republican Speaker Paul Ryan: “Have you told him being president is not being CEO of the United States, that the Congress is going to have a say?”
Paul Ryan: “Oh, we’ve talked about that extensively. We’ve talked about– the Constitution, Article I on the Constitution, the separation of powers. He feels very strongly, actually, that– that, under President Obama’s watch, he stripped a lot of power away from the Constitution, away from the Legislative Branch of government. And we want to reset the balance of power, so that people and the Constitution are rightfully restored.” Yeah right, that doesn’t sound like a CEO.
The non-existent separation of powers in a CEO-Owner role could well trigger Allan Lichtman‘s September 2016 prediction of a future Trump impeachment. The 5 people who are closest to him may not even be in a position to recognise a Constitutional breach as none of them has been in a political role. This is the downside of being the average of your 5 closest sources.
I prefer to read media that do not support my beliefs. They calibrate my thinking. I don’t mind having people around me with different beliefs. I learn from them. I even prefer to have people around me who feel free to contradict me – though with arguments. I don’t really need or want to agree with people who are close to me, as long as I believe in them.
The Carpenters – They Long To Be (Close To You) – 1970 –
artists, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2
A song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.
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