All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players… And one man in his time plays many parts…

-William Shakespeare [As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII]

February 2, 2017 started out like any other day until my local news broadcast switched to a live feed from ’s first National Prayer Breakfast address. What POTUS started out with was what we’ve come to expect: A nasty swipe at Arnold Schwarzenegger about having low ratings on NBC’s “The Apprentice,” the show that was arguably the launching pad for Trump’s political ambitions.

I briefly tuned out fearing it would be “the same old, same old,” but as I ground coffee beans I returned my to Trump’s address. What I heard was a bigger jolt than I hoped to get from my first double espresso of the day:

No one has inspired me more in my travels than the families of the United States military. Men and women who have put their lives on the line everyday for their country and their countrymen… We will never forget the men and women who wear the uniform, believe me. From generation to generation, their vigilance has kept our liberty alive. Our freedom is won by their sacrifice and our security has been earned with their sweat and blood and tears. God has blessed this land to give us such incredible heroes and patriots. They are very, very special and we are going to take care of them.

Appropriate acknowledgement of true heroes, but then Trump went on:

Our soldiers understand that what matters is not party or ideology or creed, but the bonds of loyalty that link us all together as one. America is a nation of believers. In towns all across our land, it's plain to see what we easily forget—so easily we forget this, that the quality of our lives is not defined by our material success, but by our success. I will tell you that and I tell you that from somebody that has had material success and knows tremendous numbers of people with great material success, the most material success. Many of those people are very, very miserable, unhappy people. And I know a lot of people without that, but they have great families. They have great faith; they don't have money, at least, not nearly to the extent. And they're happy. Those, to me, are the successful people, I have to tell you.

Good Lord! The same guy who acts like a phallic aggressive pre-teenager obsessed with crowd size and Nielsen ratings is addressing a national audience with words that seem to have been lifted from a Joel Osteen sermon! I wrote words just like Trump uttered this morning in my first book: The Success Syndrome: Hitting bottom when you reach the top, but I studied and treated the men and women Trump claimed had “great material success [but were]… very, very miserable, unhappy people.” How did the Poster Boy for material excess gain the insight that would enable him to acknowledge, “Money cannot buy ”?

Were there two Trumps at the National Prayer Breakfast?

Nope, just one: The supremely proficient prizefighter who knows that the secret of all successful pugilists is keeping your opponents off balance. Bob-and-weave or, like the greatest boxer of all time Muhammad Ali advised, “Float like a butterfly; sting like a bee.”

What does Trump’s penchant for pugilism have to do with ? Everything. In all aspects of life people are more impactful when they defy expectations than if they confirm them. Take former President Lyndon Johnson. Known throughout his as an unapologetic racist according to his biographer Robert Caro, Johnson lulled those who would deny rights to Blacks with his constant use of the “N Word.” Was that strategic? You bet, because Johnson went on to betray the racists who sang his praises by championing the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. During his time in the White House Johnson “the racist” did more to actualize the ideals America’s founders more than any president other than Abraham Lincoln.

Jack Welch would also float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. His mantra, while leading GE began, with the notion, “My main job was developing talent. I was a gardener providing water and other nourishment to our top 750 people.” Sounds like a nurturing soul if there ever was one. What Welch added, however, was, “Of course, I had to pull out some weeds, too,” which is how he got the nickname “Neutron Jack.” He’d have his business unit leaders rank employees as A, B, or C players, then have them axe the “C’s” en masse.

In his classic management tome, The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli advised, “Never attempt to win by force what can be won by .” Good leaders and good boxers do this at every opportunity. If you try to “muscle your way” through a boxing match, striving to overwhelm your opponent, you’ll tire, drop your guard, and lose. Muhammad Ali fought for years after his physical powers waned with a Rope-a-Dope strategy that wore opponents out by letting them muscle him as he lay on the ropes (of the boxing ring). Today, Trump began his “Rope-a-Dope” strategy: “Hateful S.O.B.? Me? You got the wrong guy… I love veterans… I value people.”

While it is impossible to forget that Trump bullied his opponents (and innocents) during his climb to the White House, we must now find a way to resolve the created by his being tender and compassionate, not to mention understanding and devout. That puts everyone off-balance; that empowers Trump.

Those who won’t allow cognitive dissonance to shape their view of Trump and persist in defining him in wholly negative terms do so at their peril. Watch: I bet that during his term in office Trump will be more like Lyndon Johnson than Frank Underwood (the King Cobra of treachery who plays the POTUS on the TV show House of Cards).