Brothers: Donald Trump and Cassius Clay
It finally happened. For the first time in President-elect Donald Trump’s nine years in politics, his favorable ratings now exceed his unfavorable ratings.
Consider Trump’s evolution since declaring his candidacy for president in 2015. It began with broad ridicule. How could the “crass,” “self-promoting” “braggart” win? As he began to be taken more seriously, critics compare the prospect of a Trump victory to Hitler’s seizure of power in Nazi Germany.
When Trump became president, he battled a “resistance” consisting of the dismissal of his election as “illegitimate” and of calling the “stolen” election only a result of Russian “collusion.” Then came baseless lawsuits by the Department of Justice and by Trump-hating state and local prosecutors.
He endured congressional investigations and two impeachments for reasons even the average Trump-hating voter could not explain. There were nonstop attacks by Democrat politicians, the Trump-hating combine of media/academia/Hollywood/Big Tech (with the belated exception of X). Over 90% of the Trump “news” coverage by ABC, NBC and CBS was negative.
Perhaps the only modern major public figure with a similar improbable evolution is former heavyweight champion Cassius Marcellus Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, who, like Trump, was the most recognized figure in the world.
Like Trump, Clay was incredibly talented, charismatic, brimming with confidence, funny, opinionated, entertaining and underestimated. Neither man drinks. They both led public lives with public ups and downs. Ali was married four times, Trump three. Ali has nine children, Trump five.
Clay, the Olympic gold medalist but upstart braggart with little professional experience, challenged the perceived “invincible” champion, Sonny Liston. Boxing experts and oddsmakers gave “the Louisville Lip” little to no chance of winning. But in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, he won. After defeating Liston, Clay shouted from the ring, “I shook up the world!” Likewise, Trump, in the greatest upset in presidential history, defeated the massively favored Hillary Clinton.
As with Trump’s 2016 victory, many skeptics refused to give Ali credit claiming, Liston – an ex-convict with alleged ties to the mob – took a dive. Similar things were said even after Clay won the rematch.
Clay became despised by much of the media when he joined of the Nation of Islam, changed his named to Muhammad Ali, criticized the Vietnam War and refused induction into the military. A jury convicted him of draft evasion. He was fined $10,000 and sentenced to five years in prison.
The New York Athletic Commission called Ali’s refused induction to the military “detrimental to the interests of boxing” and withdrew his license to box. He was stripped of his titles.
Ali engaged in a protracted legal battle ending when the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously found him exempt from the draft as a religious conscientious objector.
Ali spent three years “out of office.” Trump spent four before regaining the presidency. Trump returned to the White House by beating media favorite Vice President Kamala Harris. Ali regained his title by knocking out another “invincible” champion, the formidable George Foreman.
Ali, despite the massive financial hit as well as the loss of his prime years as an athlete, stood on principle. Public opinion turned against the war. Ali became, for many, a persecuted hero. Even those who opposed his refusal to enter the draft and disagreed with his anti-Vietnam War views admired how Ali accepted the consequences without self-pity.
Ali went from being despised to being given the honor to light the torch at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He lived out the rest of his life as a beloved three-time champion suffering from Parkinson’s, again, without self-pity.
A friend of mine, Tim Shanahan, was one of Ali’s closest friends. He wrote “Running with the Champ,” a book about their philosophical discussions when they ran together as Ali trained for fights. Ali died in June 2016, before Trump’s November triumph. But during the presidential campaign, Shanahan told me Ali said he intended for vote for Trump. Ali said, “Trump will shake things up.”
Time will tell whether Trump ever reaches the level of respect and admiration eventually attained by Ali. Given the inherently divisive nature of politics, this is doubtful. But there is no doubt that both Ali and Trump, kindred spirits in so many ways, shook up the world.