Political leadership is all about doing what you think is the right thing to do and not worrying about the next election.

There are 16 Republican legislators who apparently never read that savvy advice from former Gov. Bill Milliken — or they read it and ignored it.

Politico recently reported that 18 Republican lawmakers signed a letter urging Florida Gov. Ron DaSantis to come to Michigan to run for president. And West Michigan state Rep. Bryan Posthumus hand-delivered the correspondence to the man himself in Florida, who reportedly was more than pleased to consider the invitation as he ponders his bid for the White House. (If nothing else, he owes the citizens of Michigan a visit, given that, at any given time, half of Michigan is in his state to begin with).

It was reported that only two of the 18 fessed up to having penned the request. To their credit, Posthumus and his colleague, state Rep. Phil Green, did not run and hide and talked to reporters about it.

The other 16 dove for the high grass, never to come out again. Someone said they didn’t think the letter would ever get out.

Really?

Talk about being naive.

Naivety is one thing, but not having the intestinal fortitude to reveal what you did is quite another.

You don’t have to have a Ph. D. in political science to figure out why the gang of 16 may have been so shy about what they did, which they obviously thought was the right thing to do.

By embracing DeSantis, they are not embracing somebody else.

Hum?

Whom could that be?

Green said he spoke out knowing “there would be a backlash,” but he did it just the same.

Where were the rest?

Going public to explain their decision, which is part of what politics is supposed to encourage, would expose them to the wrath of Donald Trump.

Democrats, who call the former president a bully, would argue it is just cowardly behavior, and a fear of standing up to Trump encourages him to keep on with the bullying, because it works.

Intimidation is part of the political game, and players have to figure out how they will cope with it.

If the signers really believe the governor of Florida would make a better president, some of their constituents might be upset, but others might say “thanks for having the guts to tell us why. You get credit for that.”

As Green explains: “We have a lot of people with little experience” in the Legislature.

And one of those is state Rep. Tom Kunse, who explains he did not go public because, in part, “I’ve been in town four days. I know where the bathroom is and my parking spot,” so “I deferred to others” on the issue.

That being said, he was willing to talk and, to his credit, he concludes, “if it costs me the election,” so be it.

Milliken would be pleased to see the new lawmaker invoke the guidance suggested in paragraph one.

What about the other 15?