The President who follows Donald Trump will need to undo tremendous damage done to the office. Whether the next President’s party has a majority in either the House or the Senate doesn’t matter for much of the rehabilitation of the office and our international relationship with friends and others.

The next President must value truth and civility as their most important quality. The people must be able to believe what the President says on those rare occasions when speaking to Americans or the world’s leaders and public.

No matter what race, ethnic, gender, or belief the next President has, sensibility must be a given and all to be treated with the same respect. The administration should go after those people and groups which want to overthrow the government by force or by social media. Reducing the divisiveness of America by Americans who hide behind anonymous social media must be curtailed. Foreign interference must be publicly disclosed and substantial responses must be made to make interfering unacceptable and costly.

The next President must repair relations with our traditional friends by making them the early calls after taking office. Our NATO allies were there for us after 9-11 when the defense article came into effect for the first time. Perhaps a quick visit to all the countries we have dishonored – that would not be a short trip!

Much will need to be done to remake our country the leader of the free world again and the country the world looks to for help and direction, and our enemies for limits. The next President must be a healer and a real leader here and around the world.

I am not old enough to remember President Truman but I have seen several pictures of him setting at his desk. If you look closely it shows a wooded desk sign with these words: “The Buck Stops Here”.

Every time I was in a leadership role, I remembered those words. I have admired leaders who take responsibility for their actions and those under them. I have also seen too many people in leadership positions who never took any responsibility for their actions or anyone else’s. Those people always seem to take credit for anything good that happens whether they were involved or not.

Since Truman, we have had Eisenhower who knew he was responsible for all that happened on his watch. Kennedy took the blame for the botched Cuban invasion which was planned during DDE’s final months. Nixon broke the rule on occasion. Carter took the blame for everything when he should not have. Most of us remember Reagan taking the blame for the Iran-Contra and a few other mistakes. Even Clinton learned early to absorb blame in order to get credit. Both Bush’s fell on their swords for things they didn’t have control over. Obama’s trials and tribulations didn’t rise to the levels that occurred during previous presidents, but he apologized for the deaths of the people in Benghazi though the Ambassador had been advised by many people to not go.

Our current President has never taken responsibility for any failures of his doing but has smeared and blamed everyone else for any perceived error. He can’t restrain himself nor can anyone else restrain him from lashing out in an un-presidential insulting smear. He just won’t take responsibility for anything he or his people do.

He may be the elected President but he definitely isn’t Presidential.