Ignorance

A leader can compromise his authority through ignorance. He should know basic facts, but doesn’t. As a result, his subordinates think less of him and his power of persuasion dwindles. Here is a case. Any school child can tell you the British burned Washington and not Canadians who were not even a nation then. This might be dismissed as a one-time faux pas, but President Trump plays fast and loose with facts. He makes them up as he goes along, and he contradicts himself from day to day. It’s a wonder he is able to keep a base of supporters. He has lost many who voted for him the first time. Yet he persists in bending and breaking facts, be they historical or not. No wonder foreign leaders who deal with him are angry, and the Twitter community has a good time schooling him.