Who will wear number 47?
When 2024 rolls around—sooner than you think, as the game has already begun—we will finally have the next president of these still united and continuing states, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Without a civil war, a new Fort Sumter, or any form of blue state secession or confederacy, relief from the continental discontent and burden of Joe Biden will arrive.
Evidently, the country moans for that biblical-scale relief as soon as possible.
And relief is on the way. The cavalry is coming. Look at the seal in the photo below right, and the secret is disclosed.
Let’s start with who it won’t be first.
Joe Biden can’t run again. He is an unmitigated disaster, a complete “f-ck up,” in his own vulgar vernacular. The record on every front makes Biden the worst president in the long history of this 246-year-old republic. Worse than James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Franklin Pierce, or Zachary Taylor.
Biden, a senile shell of a man, was never a good politician or a profound thinker. As a plagiarist, ill-tempered maniac, who ran his office more as a collection and bribery agency to benefit his crime family, Biden has sunk to an all-time low in the polls (33 percent, by one estimate). He is not just unpopular. The populace hates him and laughs at him out loud. “Let’s Go Brandon” is a mockery. After his coming defeat in the midterms; the likely indictment of his son, Hunter; and the repeated debacles of foreign policy, economic and energy policy, crime, and immigration policy, there is no way Joe has any future outside of a highly medicated residency in an assisted living facility cared for by Dr. Jill.
Kamala Harris, unbelievably, is worse. The cackling idiot dimwit can’t string a sentence together, knows nothing about the real world, business, or international relations, is a critical race theory advocate, and wants to defund the police and attack America.
Recall while she was born here of non-American (Indian and Jamaican) parents, her entire youth and education took place in Montreal, Canada. She is a committed globalist. Her popularity is even lower than Joe’s, which is hardly surprising. In the Democratic primaries, which she dropped out of early, her polling was hovering around 1 percent. She is going nowhere faster than you can say, “black lives matter.”
There are about 30-odd Democrats who think they should be president—from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Beto O’Rourke to serial election denier Stacey Abrams and California Governor Gavin “French Laundry” Newsom. None of them have the wherewithal or charisma to get to second base. I would nominate Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), just for the laughs. Cartoonists would at least have a field day.
The Republicans have a much better bench with more than a handful of qualified hopefuls. Some are too young for now, others need slightly greater executive-level experience, while others, like Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, and all the other RINOs, are castaways.
How to Hire a Chief Executive of the United States
It is time for a real “get things done” executive.
The U.S. economy is in shambles. There is no growth. Our trade deficit with other countries has ballooned; we are not creating enough decent-paying jobs. The recession is deepening; inflation is at a 40-year high, gas prices are rising again, and the stock market (and, hence 401ks) is collapsing.
The chief economist for the National Association of Credit Unions called the U.S. economic outlook “gloomy” and said there is “no silver lining” looking immediately ahead. Our wage growth has been nonexistent for more than a decade now. As Capital Economics put it, “the weakness in payrolls are widespread.” The high inflation means working people are losing every month, as wages are not keeping up, in fact, they are falling behind.
And who is to blame for this?
Joe Biden, along with his inept team, has failed to perform. He should stop all the chest-thumping, screaming, and globetrotting and go back to school. Private forecasters estimate that U.S. economic growth is running at zero or less. This is plainly unacceptable. We need a president who can realize 4 or 5 percent growth rates.
The U.S. economy has failed to regain momentum, and the Federal Reserve has failed to act and now has crashed the economy and asset markets. Some smart people are arguing we are in for years of “stagnation or stagflation,” with lower standards of living and an erosion of wealth for the whole middle class, which means more economic inequality. And that doesn’t even admit to the risk of the deepening recession we have commenced. Deflationary processes are kicking in.
What are Americans to do?
What we need is a new CEO. We should, as an electorate, use proven search techniques to find the next president. If we were to conduct our search the way a big company does, we would hire a qualified executive search firm, the likes of Korn Ferry, to find us the best and most qualified person for the position. Then we would honestly interview them.
And what would that search firm look for?
The job description they would follow would not be proscribed by the political parties or the media but dictated by the dire conditions we face.
America needs to find a vibrant, new CEO to address the personal, strategic, and organizational drivers affecting its dynamics and performance. And, as noted, that performance has been worse than poor under Biden. It needs a person who can walk and chew gum at the same time—who can conduct both domestic and foreign policy.
We need to achieve alignment on strategic direction and risk, secure the best people for the right executive roles (the Cabinet) and build the capabilities necessary to deliver superior performance. Only this kind of focus will create good, high-paying new jobs and deliver wealth for the country over the longer term.
The president should align roles with business-oriented strategies and operating structures. By assessing and properly planning for risk tolerance, the president could then be bold and forthright. Within 100 days, the new president could begin to turn the economy back toward growth with the right policies, tax cuts, and initiatives.
By enabling significant structural change (such as lower personal and corporate taxes, curtailment of limiting or duplicative regulation, and movement to a balanced budget) and rapid, confident decision-making, a president, operating like a CEO, could navigate toward more effective governance. Putting the right people in the right positions and perfecting their management routines will make government both more appropriate and efficient. It would cost less and accomplish more.
We need to stop doing many things, deregulate others, streamline still other processes, and focus on one big thing: creating good jobs by growing the economic pie for all.
It is the president’s task to synchronize vision, mission, and goals to ensure everyone is pulling in the same direction. Picture a perfectly aligned crew that rows together. That kind of supreme effort, that kind of expert skill, and that kind of motivation is what the country urgently needs.
And only an experienced business leader or a state executive who has done it is up to the demanding, even daunting task.
The Case for Trump?
We don’t need just another politician—Left or Right—we need something different this time around.
At this hour, I would predict Trump will run and win, but who knows in two years’ time? I doubt he will forfeit his Grover Cleveland moment.
Having the successful Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ready to go, fully prepared and energized, is another great prospect. It is our real insurance policy.
Look at the photo again.