Leaders – whether in politics or business – are understandably focused on winning. To come out on top is an inherent human desire; it shows we have impact and yields both financial and psychological rewards. Countless management books preach about how to win customers, form winning teams, and beat the competition. However, the 2020 presidential election cycle has shown us, leaders do need to learn how to lose graciously. Persistence is laudable but only up to a point. As a society, and especially in politics, we must not just tolerate but embrace losses as experiences that can prompt change and growth.
Most of the Republican Party, at the state and national levels support the big lie! Donald Trump’s “big lie” playbook — the collection of falsehoods alleging that the 2020 election was stolen through voting fraud — mirrors the tactics used by sophisticated spreaders of disinformation. Media manipulation is defined as the sociotechnical process whereby motivated actors leverage specific conditions or features within an information ecosystem in an attempt to generate public attention and influence public discourse through deceptive, creative, or unfair means. Campaigns or operations that engage in media manipulation may use several tactics, such as memes, viral videos, forged documents, or leaked information.
A defeat is an opportunity to show vulnerability and humility. As presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin suggests, the secret star of any election night is the loser who gives a graceful concession speech remembered forever, like the late John McCain in 2008. Hilary Clinton after losing the 2016 Presidential election said,” Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead. Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power, and we don’t just respect that, we cherish it.”
Leaders need to recognize when their actions are being driven more by an impulse to maintain the upper hand than a genuine desire for positive impact. A Democratic loss in the 2024 presidential election may well have catastrophic consequences for the country, arguing that the Trump-led Republican Party presents the most serious threat to American democracy in modern times. The Democrats’ first duty should be to protect democracy by winning in 2022; everything else should be subordinated to that objective.
A loss in either the senate or house will spell 2 years of stalemates. Had Trump’s backers placed their focus of helping the American people, Biden’s tenue would end in 2024. Had they not gone on an all out offensive against everyone who are not White or Christan, most of us would have remained uninterested in politics.
Donald Trump and his Republican party do not know how to lose with grace. Give them the practice the need by voting against their racist, homophobic, anti-choice and anti-democratic agenda!
