Is Donald Trump the Mohammad Ali of Presidential Politics?
Seven Reasons they are alike:
- They both claimed the world stage as “The Greatest” before their fight had even begun.
- They both came out of no where to dominate their opponents like no other before them.
- They both were supremely confident in themselves and embraced highest risk for highest payoff.
- They both rattled their opponents persistently with extreme braggadocio and personal insults.
- They both counter punched their competitors using “rope-a-dope” before putting them away.
- They both were highly adaptable, quick to find weakness, and fought relentlessly like an attack dog.
- They both were driven to win, above all, determined to destroy their opponents with superior wit and unbridled skill.
One Reason They Are Very Different: Muhammad Ali is a Muslim
Muhammad Ali’s battle was fighting one opponent at a time to win for his personal glory, and he did. He took on all comers, including former champions, and won, and won, and won to become a world champion for all times. America basked in his glory and embraced him with undying love.
Trump’s ultimate battle will be very different if he wins his last one-on-one fight in November. As President, he will have to take on many fights simultaneously to win the loving embrace of America he so desires, which his fans now freely give him. Trump will have to make America his new family for this to happen, as Lincoln and others have done before him.
Can he make America great again by focusing his amazing energy, determination, strength, and wile on putting the welfare of his new family ahead of his immediate personal glory for four long years?
©2016, Robert Joseph Harris, PhD: Futurist-Minding the Gap between “what is and what can be” as an advisor, blogger, golfer, researcher, creator, thinker, walker, talker, reader, writer, lover, tinkerer.
Life as it is becoming... 
Bob,
Yours is an interesting comparison-Trump vs Mohammad Ali. You aptly point out a number of similarities. Being old school, I didnât care much about Aliâs politics or showboating but as time passed I did marvel at his boxing. He proved to be the greatest at boxing and more recently became an excellent ambassador on dealing with adversity. Much to admire there.
I donât care much about Trumpâs showboating, politics and outlandish claims either but I understand why people want change. I do marvel at his unexpected nomination. However, it remains to be seen how he might change to be of âpresidential qualityâ and whether he will be elected. His achievements wonât compare to Aliâs unless he is elected and performs well as President. So far in my view, they compare closely early on but Trump has far more to prove in the end game. I think itâs possible but thereâs a long way to go. Iâll be very interesting.
Jim
Thanks Jim for your careful reading and comment on my post. All I can say is “Get the popcorn.” This elections looks like a toss up between two bad choices: predictable incremental change from the do-nothing status quo, or unpredictable erratic change from another planet of thought. What bothers me the most is that all the crazy noise generated by these two choices drowns out several deep rooted really important issues that are sources of tectonic disruption worldwide which I will be writing about in future posts. The most important tectonic force at work is that, for the first time in human history, our digital age is creating a frictionless society in which there are fewer and fewer jobs for more and more people. A world with more people than work needed to produce all of the things that’s wanted has to be dangerously unstable.