The Enablers
How Team Trump Flunked the Pandemic and Failed America

This is a story about complicity – about Trump's supporters being equally responsible for his tragic mismanagement of the pandemic.

Barbara Kellerman (Author)

9781108838320, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 August 2021

330 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.2 cm, 0.6 kg

An eye-opening look at how bad leaders – one in particular – rely on bad followers.' Kirkus

The COVID-19 pandemic will forever be remembered as a pivotal event in American history. Written by one of the world's foremost experts on leadership and followership, this book centers on the first six months of the pandemic and the crises that ran rampant. The chapters focus less on the former president, Donald Trump, than on his followers: on people complicit in his miserable mismanagement of the crisis in public health. Barbara Kellerman provides clear and compelling evidence that Trump was not entirely to blame for everything that went wrong. Many others were responsible including his base, party, administration, inner circle, Republican elites, members of the media, and even medical experts. Far too many surrendered to the president's demands, despite it being obvious his leadership was fatally flawed. The book testifies to the importance of speaking truth to power, and a willingness to take risks properly to serve the public interest.

Part I. Trump's Tribe: 1. Base
2. Party
3. Administration
4. Inner Circle
Part II. Virus Crisis: 5. Prequel to the Pandemic
6. Sequence of the Pandemic
7. Science of the Pandemic
8. Politics of the Pandemic
Part III. Trump's Team: 9. Vice President, Cabinet
10. Senior Advisors
11. Senators, Governors, Media
12. Medical Experts
Epilogue: Enabler Effect.

Subject Areas: Organizational theory & behaviour [KJU], Public administration [JPP], Political science & theory [JPA], Social, group or collective psychology [JMH]