In 2001 Russell Crowe received the Oscar for best actor for his depiction of General Maximus Decimus Aurelius, who beats the Roman elite in a fight in which he is supported by the lowest classes within the Roman Empire.

The movie made a half a billion in worldwide sales and deserves to be revisited with our new leader Donald J. Trump in mind. Every time I see Trump take on the media in an arena I have to think of this scene. In one single gut check it sums up the entire Trump phenomenon.

Before I go live on VRT TV from the roof of CBS on 57th Avenue and VRT journalists start firing of their questions I always make a gut check with the CBS cameraman present. I ask "What do you think about... the issue of the day?"

The CBS cameramen - there's a group of ten of them who work for the international correspondents visiting their roof - are all blue collar. They work in news and live in New York. Still, they remain ordinary Americans, intelligent bruisers. They are not news editors, opinion formers. They see things as they are.