Facing up to past mistakes is a crucial aspect of leadership
Last week Joe Biden made an off-the-cuff joke that could be interpreted as taking African American votes for granted. It wasn’t a big deal; Biden, who loyally served Barack Obama, has long had a strong affinity with black voters and he has made a point of issuing policy proposals aimed at narrowing racial health and wealth gaps. Still, Biden apologized.
And in so doing he made a powerful case for choosing him over Donald Trump in November. You see, Biden, unlike Trump, is capable of admitting error.
Everybody makes mistakes, and nobody likes admitting having been wrong. But facing up to past mistakes is crucial to leadership.
Consider, for example, changing guidance on face masks. In the beginning of the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Americans it wasn’t necessary to wear masks in public. In early April, however, the CDC reversed course in light of new evidence and recommended wearing cloth masks when in public.
What if the CDC had refused to admit its error, keeping its initial recommendations instead? The COVID-19 death toll would surely be much higher than it is.
In other words, refusing to admit mistakes isn’t just a character flaw; it can lead to disaster.
And under Donald Trump, that’s exactly what has happened.
Trump’s pathological inability to admit error — and yes, it really does rise to the level of pathology — has been obvious for years, and it’s had serious consequences. It’s made him an easy mark for foreign dictators such as North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, who know they can safely renege on whatever promises Trump thought they made. After all, for Trump to condemn Kim’s actions would mean admitting he was wrong to claim he had achieved a diplomatic breakthrough.
But it took a pandemic to show the damage a leader with an infallibility complex can inflict. It’s no exaggeration to suggest Trump’s inability to acknowledge error has killed thousands of Americans and likely will kill many more before this is over.
Indeed, in the same week that Biden committed his harmless gaffe, Trump doubled down on his bizarre idea that the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine can prevent COVID-19, claiming that he’s taking it himself, even as new studies suggested that the drug actually increases mortality. We may never know how many people died because Trump kept touting the drug, but the number is certainly more than zero.
Yet this pales in significance compared to how his infallibility complex has crippled America’s response to a deadly virus.
We now know that during January and February Trump ignored repeated warnings about COVID-19 threat. He and his inner circle didn’t want to hear anything that might threaten the stock market.
By the first half of March, the evidence of an emerging pandemic was overwhelming. Yet Trump and company refused to act, largely, one suspects, because they couldn’t admit they’d been wrong earlier. When Trump finally (and briefly) acted, it was too late to prevent a death toll topping 100,000.
And the worst may be yet to come. If you aren’t terrified by photos of large crowds gathering over Memorial Day weekend without either wearing masks or practicing social distancing, you haven’t been paying attention.
Yet if there’s a second wave of COVID-19 cases, Trump — who’s insisted on relaxing social distancing orders despite warnings from health experts — has already declared he won’t call for a second lockdown. After all, that would mean admitting he was wrong to push for early reopening.
Which brings me back to the contrast between Trump and Biden.
In some ways Trump is a pitiful figure — or would be, if his character flaws weren’t leading to so many deaths. Imagine what it must be like to be so insecure, so lacking in self-regard, that you need to constantly boast and always claim infallibility.
Biden, conversely, while perhaps not the most impressive presidential candidate ever, is clearly a man who knows who he is. That’s why he’s been able to reconcile with former critics such as Elizabeth Warren. And when he makes a mistake, he isn’t afraid to admit it.
Over the past few months we’ve seen just how much damage a president who’s never wrong can do. Wouldn’t it be a relief to have the White House occupied by someone who isn’t infallible?