Nearly 50% of the American political world hate President Trump. Truly hate him. This is no mild disregard like it was for President Bush 43 “Dubbya,” he of the cowboy foreign policy. This is not the “He’s a total lightweight but he’s pretty harmless so we can sandbag him,” disrespect they had for George HW Bush. This is even deeper than the outright derision and scorn in which they held for Ronald Reagan.

No, this goes farther. This is hatred on a deep, visceral level. A we’d-revert-to-violence-if-we-could-get-away-with-it hatred. They really, really hate him -- personally, politically, any way you can slice it.

Here’s why:

He’s not one of “them.” He’s not a lifelong politician and he doesn’t practice the usual conventions of referring to his fellow politicos with false niceties, nor does he observe the tradition regarding respectful treatment of a hostile media. On the contrary, if a rival politician or national figure behaves badly, he calls them out in no uncertain terms, in a most horrifyingly “unpresidential” manner. Likewise, he’s turned the tables on the liberal media (coining the term “fake news”) and forever ended the past Republican tradition of rolling over and cowering in the face of liberal media criticism. His example has flowed downstream to many rank-and-file Republicans. Now, they too stand up and fight back. Trump has showed them how. He’ll never be forgiven for it.

His tweets tend to be harshly worded and extremely direct. The liberal media hates that President Trump has found an effective way to circumvent the liberal media filter and go around them completely. In response, they have stepped up their attacks dramatically in a vain effort to pre-emptively undercut his credibility. But harshly-worded or not (so much so that even some Republicans cringe), his tweets are invariably grounded in truth and they resonate with exactly how his supporters feel. The liberal media and his Democratic opponents on the Hill hate him for this.

His enemies blather wildly inaccurate inanities like, “He’s shredding the Constitution,” or “He’s a Russian asset,” or “He’s a racist, a misogynist, anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic, a homophobe, an Islamophobe,” and so on, ad nauseum. All of it is demonstrably false. The entire Mueller Probe and the so-called “Impeachment” were colossal wastes of time and money, without the thinnest sliver of any allegation being anywhere near true. Yet his sworn enemies continue to sling accusations in the wild hope that something will stick.

The real reason they hate him so deeply is that he’s accomplished so much, kept so many promises, made so many Americans’ lives tangibly and obviously better. From lowering taxes and cutting job-stifling, burdensome regulations, to strengthening border security, to unleashing domestic energy production to the point that we’re now essentially energy-independent (proven by the non-rise in oil/gasoline prices following last year’s Iranian-backed attack on the Saudi oil refineries), to his appointment of two Supreme Court justices and close to 200 federal judges, to the incredible stock market gains (thus preserving and guaranteeing the viability of pension plans for millions of retired Democratic unionized workers), to the lowest unemployment in decades across all demographic categories (including women and minorities), to rebuilding the military, to great new international trade agreements that redound significantly to American workers’ benefit, President Trump has unequivocally made life in America far better for virtually everyone.

And he rubs the Democrats’ nose in it every single day, unashamedly and accurately pointing out that he’s accomplished in just three years what the Democrats couldn’t get done over many decades. He’s shown that his way is the right way. It produces results. The Democrats and the Fake News are too preoccupied with trying to derail his leadership, all because he sends out critical, no-holds-barred tweets that unapologetically pull back the curtain on D.C. corruption and the insidious insider nod-nod/wink-wink behavior that puts the needs of unethical bureaucrats over the needs of the American people. His success shows the Democrats that their way is wrong and his way is right.

President Trump is not looking to become rich after he leaves office (he’s already rich), he’s not looking to hobnob with the upper crust of the entertainment world (he already had a long-running hit TV show), he’s not looking to become a bestselling author (he already is). Unlike any former President, he is not beholden to party interests and major contributors and therefore he’s free to have the best interest of the country as his prime motivator.

But most of all, they hate him for this: They know he’s going to absolutely trounce any Democratic candidate they put up in November 2020. For the desperate Democrats -- longing to implement their world of government control over individuals’ lives, their desire to restrict personal wealth by severely limiting free-market capitalism and entrepreneurship, their irrational yearning to ban fossil fuels well before the development of a suitable replacement, and of course, their avowed aim to roll back centuries of societal norms of gender definition and the free expression of religious beliefs -- the prospect of another four years of President Trump is frightening indeed.

I’d hate him too.