DECEMBER 18, 2020 – Trump’s presidency revealed that “expertise” is essential. This doesn’t mean that experts are infallible. They err and fail, as when a plane—or market—crashes. But modern society and all hope of advancement would soon collapse altogether without experts. Given the impact of governmental policy, both political and topical expertise are essential in that arena as well—imperative to rational formulation and effective implementation.
Trump’s attraction was that he was the anti-expert; the anti-politician. Millions who were “fed up” with “professional politicians” and “bureaucrats” (i.e. experts) fell for the total opposite, the total outsider, whose absence of expertise was an asset. Having no appreciation himself for expertise, Trump focused on personal loyalty and “red meat” litmus tests but assigned little or no importance to critical knowledge and experience.
The anti-expert attitude was dangerously naive and ignorant. It was driven by impatience with complexity. This simplistic attitude reflected the mindset of restive passengers aboard an airliner stuck at the gate. They blame trained crew for a weather delay and would man the cockpit with a mad-cap cabbie who knows how to drive but doesn’t know “takeoff” from “land.” He who could “negotiate” his way through big city traffic will show those pilots how it’s done—tornadic winds (and FAA rules) be damned!
Likewise . . .
To see basketball at its best, you attend an NBA game, not a scrimmage by local high school JV players whose parents you know.
For a root canal, you don’t put your teeth in the hands of someone with no degree but a cap that says, “Drain the saliva!”
When a pandemic rages, you shouldn’t trust an infotainer’s rants over the educated opinion of an epidemiologist.
In my own little world—not unlike the millions of others out there—I’m working on various transactions that stakeholders are pressing to complete by year-end. As I work with multiple participants—lawyers, lenders, closers, government offices/agencies—I’m reminded how critical expertise is. And not just technical expertise but “political” expertise—how and when to raise, massage, and negotiate issues in a sensible manner to achieve buy-in and mutually satisfactory resolution. Occasionally a “non-expert” surfaces; someone without requisite knowledge or experience. Often such a “non-expert” disrupts without reason. Without experts, little of my work world would avoid a very deep ditch.
Last night my wife and I watched Stephen Colbert’s interview of Mr. and Dr. Biden. The president-elect exudes political and government expertise, and Dr. Biden reflects Joe’s attraction to intelligence and excellence of character. That expertise—knowing the legislative process, the political process; how bureaucracies work; how to judge character—will be essential to good governance and . . . NATION VACCINATION. If anyone besides former presidents (and Martin Sheen!) has lived West Wing—an excellent dramatization of political expertise in government—its Joe Biden.
Where Biden’s political expertise will be most critical—and most evident—in re-uniting a divided land. I’m betting on it as I hope that many of the “75 million” who once championed a non-expert will come to see it.
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© 2020 by Eric Nilsson
