Why Does What the Leader of the United States Says Matter?

By Fidel Amakye Owusu

1. I was a student at the University of Ghana in May 2011 when Osama bin Laden was eliminated by US special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

2. As an avid follower of international news and a student of Political Science, the event was important to me. I was watching CNN about a decade earlier when news broke that a plane had crashed into the WTC in New York. That influenced my interest greatly.

3. From the news, the jubilation in the streets of the United States when President Barrack Obama announced the death of bin Laden after the raid on his compound was massive. After almost ten years the evasive terror was taken out.

4. Almost immediately, conspiracy theorists sprung to deny and question the announcement by the US president. Some claimed whoever was killed was not bin Laden. Others argued that bin Laden was too smart to be eliminated. To some, the operation was staged and not real. According to them, bin Laden was still alive.

5. I had a few schoolmates who doubted the announcement as well. When I was asked about the reason, I believed that bin Laden was indeed taken, I simply said, “Because Obama addressed the United States and said so”. While some people found my reason so simplistic, I stood by it.

6. And so, what?

7. The President of the US is not expected to address the nation or speak to his nationals with falsehood. Doing so would have repercussions on the credibility of the office and to him or her as a leader. It was for this reason that I believed bin Laden had been eliminated even before al Qaeda announced his successor.

8. As a security analyst, I meticulously use the public pronouncements of some leaders (not all) in drawing conclusions and making strategic security forecasts. Many others do. The credibility of these pronouncements is, therefore, important.

9. It is for this reason that the words of President Trump in the last few weeks should be of concern to professionals, academics, students and enthusiasts of global politics. The words of the leader of one of the most important democracies are consequential.

10. We have heard about $300 billion being the value of US contribution to Ukraine when the actual figure is $180 billion. We have heard Zelensky being called a dictator, when we all know who the dictator is. The US president openly said the approval ratings for Zelensky stood at 4%–not true. No matter how he is corrected, he keeps repeating some of these. Perhaps repeating them will make them “true”.

11. Very recently, President Trump has said he could not believe he said the Ukrainian president was a dictator. Some of his supporters already defended him for saying so.

12. I recently told a colleague analyst that one of the best ways to verify a terror attack is when the groups claim it. They don’t lie about them. If such rogue actors are honest about their heinous acts, much will be expected from legitimate actors.

By Fidel Amakye Owusu – International Relations and Security Analyst and Writer

Article Reproduced with Permission from Fidel Amakye Owusu

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