Trump and the Trouble with Authenticity

We're told the secret to good PR is authenticity. To be a great communicator, you have to be true to yourself and speak from the heart. By focusing on authenticity, you can really connect with your audience and build meaningful relationships that are mutually beneficial. Well, as with most advice about communication and leadership, Donald Trump rather confounds that belief.

Trump, when he speaks off the cuff, is authentic. He speaks his mind, says what he believes, and we're told by commentators and experts that this was, and still is, the secret of his success. According to the experts, Trump’s supporters and Trump himself, this is what Americans want to hear—someone who sounds like them, shares their frustrations, talks about issues they care about, and wants to "Make America great again."

The trouble is, that's not what a president exists to do. A president is supposed to offer moral leadership, he or she is supposed to raise the level of debate and educate the people. The president isn't supposed to look and sound like us. We want a president we can trust, whose words inspire us, who is educated, and who leads us rather than following what appears to be the popular trend of the moment. A president is supposed to be someone we believe has the best interests of the nation at heart, not their own self-interest. Someone who puts us first, aims high, and encourages us to be better versions of ourselves. Anyone remember “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country”?

As a result, in a democracy, it's inevitable that our leader will be a member of the elite, someone with good judgement and qualities that exceed what we expect of the average Joe. That's how this is supposed to work. Of course, Trump is from the elite—the business elite, but he doesn’t aspire to be a great democrat (with a small ‘d’), he simply likes the feeling of being ‘the most powerful man in the world.’ With Trump, we've got a mirror of our worst selves. Someone who shoots his mouth off in unguarded comments (and surrounds himself with people who do the same). Yes, he's authentic when he isn't scripted, but the trouble is, that's not presidential and it's not leadership.

Presidents including Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Reagan have employed speech writers to craft their messages and help express their ideals and goals for the nation. When inspiring leadership was needed, they were able to step up to the task because they had people around them who could craft great rhetoric. This wasn't inauthentic—their skilled writers captured the essence of their beliefs, and often their character, in the written word whilst capturing the mood of the nation and showing us the way forward.

Trump rejects this tradition and prefers to craft his own remarks or speak unaided. Of course, this is authentic and for some, it might seem a breath of fresh air; but it's also dangerous, divisive, and undermines the presidency. When Trump delivers a scripted address and then follows it within 24 hours with remarks that contradict his earlier statement, as was the case in his response to Charlottesville, we start to question which version is the truth. We start to wonder whether every presidential statement is going to be turned on its head and 'corrected' the following day. We start to believe that the words a president speaks are meaningless, throw away remarks that shouldn't be trusted. That's the trouble with authenticity—the authentic version of this president causes division, danger, and distrust. It's great to be true to yourself, but a key qualification of the office is to be able to take advice from the experts around you and to provide moral leadership. Trump is currently failing on both counts.