A PRESIDENT RETURNS TO THE PRESIDENCY. ONLY THE SECOND TIME IN HISTORY.

That Old Black Magic / Frank Sinatra

Each President of the nation has brought their own career and experiences to the presidency. Their own perspective so to speak. Originally, the President was recruited from farmer and business people of the times. After a while, one needed to enter government and politics at a young age and they work one’s way upward in the system. From a local group to a city and regional group and then maybe a state group or elected office. Many years are involved but born politicians love these years and their rising power in the system.

Those elected to Congress from rising in the system are different than those who come in from private industry, outside the system. They are different from businessmen who understand how to create economic growth. They are very different from spectacularly successful billionaires like Donald Trump.

Perspective of an Entrepreneur

The government of America, that is to say the massive juggernaut that continues along between administrations. All the different administrations do is place their own people at the head of various key juggernaut governmental ships. The cargo and systems and techniques of the various ships never change. Why change when there is no incentive to change?

One of the most promising things happening in American politics is the trend towards entering politics (at Congressional Representative level) without going through all the trainings in local politics. In other words, those who have established economic value in some business and employed and managed others, this is a trend of new arrivals to the House. Trump has shown that the door is open to business people without rising in the government system for years.

People coming into government from a career outside of government offer a new perspective for their government employment. They have not been dependent on the government for many years. These people present new types of employees to the government. They come in from private industry based on competition and capitalism. Most are successful. They don’t run for office to bring in money. They don’t spend years in government politics by rising from the ranks of local politics on up in the system. More often than not, they are giving up a lot of their own money (and time running their own company) by running for political office.

In many ways, the Trump presidency, his first and now his coming second, is the poster child for the invasion of innovation into government. Trump shocked what has been identified as “the deep state” or, in reality, that on-going bureaucracy of the government that continues on – hardly changed – from administration to administration. With the addition of Elon Musk to his team as well as Robert Kennedy, Jr., Trump has the potential of two new cabinet members: Director of Department of Technology Elon Musk and Director of Department of Health Robert Kennedy., Jr. There are so many important positions to appoint to and Trump is much more prepared this time.

Yet, there are an increasing number of first-time congress representatives coming into the political system at the congressional level rather than local politics route. Not just an increase in first time Representatives but also first time Senators coming into politics straight from business, like the newly elected Bernie Moreno, just elected United Senator from Ohio. 

Perspective From Outside Office of President

There is the memory and the perspective of Trump on what he did right and wrong in his first administration. Trump, like just one other U.S. President in history has come back to the Presidency after being defeated in his second run for President. Grover Cleveland was president from 1885-1889 and again from 1893-1897.

The four years out of office for both Cleveland and Trump offered an important perspective of the Presidency for the two former Presidents: No longer was Cleveland or Trump the First Person narrator/actor/player in one’s life, the busiest person in the word. For their four years out of office, the two men went from a first-person actor to a third person observer of the presidency. They had the benefit of a period of reflection on the office before returning to it. Only two presidents have had this perspective.

Perspective From a Close Encounter with Death

Since the close assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump has appeared to be a changed person. I could see this difference as he slowly walked into the RNC convention with a band aid over his right ear from the assassination attempt just a few days before. In the midst of all the excitement at the convention, there seems to be a new found peace to Trump. Cheating death by a few millimeters does this to you.

The Unique Perspective of Trump

As I noted at the beginning of this article, each President brings their own perspective to the position. Of course all perspectives are unique but the above perspectives of Trump make him perhaps the most unique president in history. This is different from saying he is the best president in history. Rather it is suggesting that Trump’s experiences have given him a new perspective on the American presidency. It is a perspective from one outside the system who suddenly runs the system.

Trump has been called “an existential threat to democracy.” But the real truth is that he is an existential threat to the current system of government and its growing bureaucracy.