Getty Images Prepare for four more years of the most disruptive president ever
You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't harbor incredibly strong feelings about President Trump. Millions of Americans hate him. Millions still support him. "I don't have an opinion about Trump" is not something you'd expect to hear in a casual or political discussion - which is precisely the point.
For decades, Trump has been a lightning rod attracting the electrical discharges of hate and admiration with little neutral voltage in between. After he beat Hillary Clinton in 2016, he began to get zapped by hundreds of thousands of opinionated charges, and then literally millions, emanating from around the globe.
Today we could say these charges have become "matter versus antimatter," creating a dangerous energy field that may not be able to be shut down regardless of the outcome of November's presidential election.
In a speech at the American Enterprise Institute's annual dinner last year, Nikki Haley, a former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina governor who is still a powerful voice in the GOP, cut to the chase regarding Trump: "President Trump is a disruptor. That makes some people very happy, and it makes some people very mad." She is correct - the president is a disruptor, and the need to disrupt likely is in his DNA. Our nation and the world haven't experienced another president like him.
Forget "The Art of the Deal," the book that introduced many Americans to Trump. For the past five decades, he has used "the art of disruption" to break down seemingly insurmountable walls to achieve his goals. Many times, he succeeded. Sometimes, the bricks and mortar collapsed upon him.
But even when they caved, he crawled out, dusted himself off and went about disrupting the next obstacle in his path. Those who have come to hate Trump must think they are watching a never-ending, real-life version of the "The Terminator," with Trump playing the role of the unstoppable cyborg.
Since Haley made her remarks last November, the world has been turned on its head by a deadly pandemic and our nation has been disrupted by legitimate protests and civil unrest tinged with troubling violence.
But through it all, Trump remains virtually the same. What you see is what you get. He's still that one-man disruptive force of often epic proportions. He goes full speed ahead - damn the (rhetorical) torpedoes!
Most media appear to be left of center in the U.S. and many other countries. They've come to truly loathe Trump and made their low opinions of him abundantly clear. Some world leaders and their staff have scoffed at the president too. Trump the disruptor, marching to his own beat, truly rubs them the wrong way. They want him gone.
On the other hand, the millions of voters in the U.S. who strongly support Trump need him to remain that disruptive force against both major political parties and the entrenched elite establishment. Power centers, they believe, never have had their best interests at heart.
As the election approaches, our nation is in a precarious and volatile position. Millions of Americans seem to be on the edge of despair - whether from the destructive fallout from the pandemic, its politicization, the ugly polarization of our politics or the pockets of anarchy.
The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis was barbaric, and those who rose up in protest were right to do so; their voices need to be heard. But violence in the streets, destruction of property and calls to "defund the police" are deeply worrisome to many Americans. Such anarchy goes too far even for some Democrats, liberals and minority communities. No one wants violence in their neighborhood, town or city, especially Americans who may be struggling to survive.
Against this backdrop, voters will be asked to choose between our disruptive president or tentative former Vice President Joe Biden. I wonder if Democrats privately have confidence in the polls showing Biden leading Trump - or confidence in Biden himself.
But if the storms continue to rage, I suspect enough voters - frightened by the anarchy and nervous about the reversal of course sought by some on the left - will choose to ride it out with Trump until 2024. Then, they'll take a deep breath, collect their thoughts and elect America's first female president.
Douglas MacKinnon was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communication at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration. He is the author of: "The Dawn of a Nazi Moon: Book One."
The rest is here:
Prepare for four more years of the most disruptive president ever - MSN Money
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