EPIFANİDEN ÖNCE: COVİD-19 PANDEMİ ARİFESİNDE DONALD TRUMP’IN KRİZ LİDERLİĞİNİN DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ

Abstract

In management discipline, the words “crisis” and “change” are usually mentioned together at many points. In the discipline of psychology, the word “epiphany” represents the positive development of individuals by virtue of sudden and drastic changes in their lives. In this context, it is possible to say that the covid-19 pandemic has been an epiphanic experience not only for underdeveloped countries but also for super-powerful countries such as the U.S. Because the U.S, which faced the covid-19 pandemic under the leadership of Donald Trump, unexpectedly failed in this struggle and experienced a deep epiphany. In this study, it has been tried to analyse the role of the leader of the U.S, Donald Trump, in terms of crisis leadership, during the pandemic response phase. More specifically, a few steps have been taken back to look at what Trump possessed on the eve of the crisis and how he responded to the crisis at the onset of the pandemic outbreak. Thus, it has been tried to determine the distance (gap) between Trump's potential power and his kinetic power in the context of the crisis leadership framework. To do this, we have closely examined Trump’s pandemic leadership before the first case date (21 January) and from that date to National Emergency Announcement (March 13) period through the lens of “The Framework for Assessment of Crisis Leadership” proposed by Boin et al. (2013). In the light of events and testimonies, it is possible to say that Trump's pandemic response has negatively affected both his political destiny and the destiny of the Americans.