$20 Bill

Pull a twenty dollar bill out of your wallet and take a look at it (hopefully you have a $20 handy).

Who do you see on it?

That's right - Andrew Jackson.

Might the next generation of twenties have Donald Trump on them?

An outspoken and highly successful businessman, he has been described as an egotistical and irascible outsider who bristled at the political establishment, saying things not repeated in polite society while claiming to be the defender of average Americans during his unconventional run for president.

Donald Trump?

Try Andrew Jackson in 1828, the year the rough-cut Tennessean, was elected to the White House after a nasty campaign that spun from one personal attack to another, seemingly much the same track the current GOP slugfest has taken.

In an emerging lesson from history, as billionaire real estate mogul Trump continues his push to capture the Republican nomination, political observers and experts liken the current break-the-mold race to Jackson’s rise to the presidency 188 years ago.

“He was a boorish guy at a time when that was not tolerated in politics, who said what he thought and said whoever disagreed with him was wrong,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political scientist at the University of Houston who specializes in presidential governance. “At times, when voters have elected an outsider, it has been a candidate who has been famous, a celebrity, who has the ability to command an audience. Andrew Jackson did that.”

Think that sounds like Trump? Read on.

A man of quick temper known for his fits of vengeance, Jackson was a social outcast before being elected president, and was legendary for brawling and dueling, including one duel in 1806 over his wife’s honor where a bullet lodged too close to his heart to ever be removed. Though wounded, he shot and killed his opponent.

As he left Washington, he listed two regrets that reflected his blunt personal style: That he was “unable to shoot Henry Clay or to hang John C. Calhoun”— referring to two political opponents in Congress.

Sounds an awful lot like something The Donald would say.

“Jackson’s appeal was to less-educated people, the people who felt excluded and disenfranchised from the political establishment,” said Michael Mezey, a political science professor at Chicago’s DePaul University who is completing a book on presidential campaigns. “Jackson was the first of what was considered to be modern campaigning, where they went around handing out free booze and food and did rabble rousing to get elected. Trump has a populist message. Jackson may have been the first populist. He struck fear into the hearts of the establishment in Washington, and so does Trump.”

When Jackson was elected in 1828, he was accused by the establishment of hijacking American politics.

At this point, American politics need hijacking.

I'm still dithering over who to vote for. I heard Newt Gingrich - a man I have a lot of respect and admiration for - talking about the republican race. His point was that 70% of the aggregate vote in the primaries so far as gone to what he calls the insurgents: Trump, Cruz, and Carson. That's a powerful message the GOP fat cats are ignoring.

Newt also said that Trump's image and message are being distorted by the media and the establishment. I'll have more on that later, but IMO he has a valid point.

I'm not necessarily a Trumpster at this point, but I'm going to give him a second, closer look.

Anyone who pisses off the establishment can't be all bad...