Troubleshooting of Communication

The Problem of Terrorism and Immigration

The example used for this essay is how the current American president has approached the problem of terrorism. Donald Trump, the president, suggested that immigration be limited and that illegal immigrants be sent back to their home nations. This was a good plan, in my opinion, but it ran into a slew of legal issues at the state, organizational, and individual levels, making it nearly impossible to carry out and ultimately stalling owing to court rulings that frozen its implementation. Additional attempts to revise the executive order in order to make them palatable to the public were in vain as the courts put them on hold, saying their implementation (Nye, 2017). This was a big blow to the administration of the president and contributed to poor rankings in his first 100 days in office.

Factors Contributing to the Failure of the Plan

The factors that made this plan fail are; the tone of communication, the arrogance of the president, lack of a participatory approach, overconfidence and failure to express courtesy and concern in the communication. The tone the president employed while suggesting the executive order ad its intended effect was harsh and insensitive. It was oriented towards getting rid of the people than ensuring safety, this portrayed the wrong picture and thus resulted in outrage. The president often belittled those who disagreed with or express dissent over his proposed action thus leaving his target audience uninterested and bent on bringing him down overconfidence. Additionally, the president chose to institute the proposed ideas as an executive order which required no consultation as is often the case with laws passed through congress. This showed the target population that they were unimportant to the communication and thus had no rationale to support it. Last but not least, the president demonstrated a dangerous sense of overconfidence when he implied that at one time that every American who cares about the country would support him. This was a grave assumption that saw him see effective opposition from the masses in form of riots and the states in form of lawsuits (Shiebler, 2016).

Suggestions for Successful Communication and Implementation

To successfully communicate his plan and succeed in its implementation, the president should involve stakeholders in the matter such as the citizens, human rights groups and the immigrants or their representatives. This would have made it easier for them to accept the decision and feel include in it. Additionally, the president should have appreciated everyone on the matter and their contributions. For example, appreciating the media would have been much more helpful than discrediting it. Thirdly, the president should have offered a listening year to everyone involved. Penultimately, Donald Trump should have been cautious and humble in his remarks regarding the immigration orders and his intention to use them to curb terrorism. Assumptions and overconfidence often indicate pride, which comes before a fall. Last but not least, it is mandatory that proper diction and tone is employed in the matter since it was one pertaining to a sensitive topic. He should have employed a friendly but stern tone to demonstrate his willingness to be considerate and professionalism in the matter. Every one of these factors would go a long way to ensuring a well-received campaign and proper communication of the president’s goals (Griffin, Han, & Simon, 2011).

References

Griffin, C. J., Han, S.-H., & Simon, T. (2011, July 25). Crucial communication: effective messages important in presidential campaigns. Retrieved from News Services: https://www.k-state.edu/media/newsreleases/jul11/prescomm72511.html

Nye, J. S. (2017, February 8). Donald Trump’s dark art of the tweet. Retrieved from Project Syndicate: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-political-communication-skills-by-joseph-s--nye-2017-02

Shiebler, K. (2016, October 24). Linguists: There Is something very strange about Donald Trump. Retrieved from Liberal America: http://www.liberalamerica.org/2016/10/24/language-specialists-agree-trump-speaks-nine-year-old/