By DAVID PFEFFER
What happened when Muhammed Ali first declared his principles? The clownish, smart-aleck black boxing champion suddenly became a serious Muslim, changed his name, refused the draft, and ascended from braggadocio to integrity.They hated him and sentenced him to jail.Ali’s gifts were extraordinary – courage, wit, charm, speed and stamina in and out of the merciless ring. But rare integrity was his strongest gift. Ali designed his life against all odds. "He decided at a very young age to write his own story. He decided he would never be disempowered." (Bill Clinton at Ali’s funeral).In time, he was vindicated. “Ali… ended up one of the most celebrated Americans in modern history.” (Reuters).What happens now to Donald Trump as he declares his principles? This clownish, narcissistic, scandalized, rich white guy suddenly puts America first – he would secure her borders, prevent terrorist infiltration, rebuild her military, demand good trade deals and require the rest of the free world do its part.They hate him and threaten him with assassination.Will time vindicate Trump for saving America from self-destruction and humanity from Islamo-fascism?“If Muhammad didn’t like the rules, he rewrote them. He would not be intimidated.” (Ali’s widow Lonnie). “Ali was always himself, willing to give up everything for what he believed in.” (Billy Crystal).Trump, to the near-universal contempt of the entrenched establishment’s vested benefactors, like Ali, goes his own way. He tells it like it is, unfettered by political correctness, staying himself and fighting back – as so many Americans crave. He calls out the distorting media as dishonest – as so many Americans already know.Trump’s gift is not extraordinary – he’s just one of the crowd. He’s old school, lives American values, feels pride. His smarts are more normal than political – but add physical courage and extraordinary success to the mix.
They hate him because he succeeds. They blame him because they don’t. They laugh at him because they are afraid.Ali had an “extraordinary sense of timing… as he burst onto the stage... When he challenged the government on the draft, his chance of success was slim to none… Public opinion shifted in his direction, followed by a unanimous Supreme Court ruling… He was free to return to the ring.” (Lonnie Ali).Trump burst onto the stage, decisively defeating sixteen experienced opponents, mustering millions of passionate enthusiasts. Despite tawdry scandals, vile opposition, riots, libeled as a racist xenophobe and clearly having no shot – this politically-incorrect, laughable, self-indulgent multi-billionaire-turned-novice-politician now stands a real chance of becoming the president of the United States, the premiere defender of freedom and the champion of suppressed mankind worldwide – a job description more demanding than any other on God’s green earth.No mere human can function in this position yet everyone who has filled it has been merely human. The phrase “rise to the occasion” must have been coined for the Oval Office.The office makes the man. When it doesn’t, the world burns. The office demands inexhaustible courage – political courage – to persevere against all odds. The world abounds with people lusting for freedom’s failure. “Ali stood up for us by standing up for himself.” That’s what Trump does – and the world knows it.Ali "dared to love black people at a time when black people had a problem loving themselves." (Rev. Kevin Cosby). With Trump, all Americans have a shot at loving themselves – at last."He was a tremendous bolt of lightning created by Mother Nature out of thin air… Ali struck us in the middle of America’s darkest night. Ali forced us to take a look at ourselves." (Billy Crystal).Trump is forcing us to take a look at ourselves, all of us. Martin Luther King’s color-blind society has been supplanted by a society that sees only color. America, the free world, are overrun by Trojan-Horse, unfiltered migration, enabling virulent enemies to perpetrate horror. America, the free world, are run by globalist bureaucrats who destroy borders, national identities and personal rights. Individual responsibility is supplanted by racial preference.“Hating people because of their color is wrong, Ali said. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating.” (Bryant Gumbel).“Ali never got credit for being as smart as he was. I don’t think he ever got credit for being, until later, as wise as he was. In the end… (he was) basically a universal soldier for our common humanity.” (Bill Clinton).Push will come to shove. And once it does, The Donald can look to The Greatest.