Donald Trump is just hours away from becoming president.
It is arguably the most stunning political development in the history of the country.
Trump is a bombastic businessman-turned-reality-television star. Nobody, including himself, at the outset, thought Trump was going to win. After he first announced his run, he said he had a 10 to 20 percent chance of winning.
He was seen as a sideshow in the Republican primaries until the very moment he won the nomination. He was seen as a long shot in the general election until the night he beat Hillary Clinton in the voting booths.
And, now here we are, moments away from Trump being sworn in as president.
Which is why it's a good time to revisit a December comment made by Barry Diller, IAC's chairman and a Trump antagonist.
"Let us see what this is like. It is, kind of, a grand experiment," Diller said In an interview with CNBC.
This is the best summation of what is about to happen.
For years, business leaders have complained about government being too slow or unfriendly to business.
We now have a real businessman leading the country. And not only is he leading the country, he has stacked his administration with business leaders — the CEO of Exxon, the COO of Goldman Sachs, the CEO of Hardees and Carl's Jr. were picked for key roles. Also in the mix, we have the CEO of media company Breitbart, the CEO of OneWest bank, and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who ran his own media company and a real estate business.
Successful business people — especially at the levels where these men operated — aren't accustomed to having a boss. Now, all of them work for Trump, who works for the American people. They also have to navigate the gnarly world of Congress, which is something they never had to deal with in their private enterprises.
Never before have we seen business people take over our government. This is a grand experiment.