Eli BremerOne of the great pleasures of my Olympic career was training with fencing legend Seth Kelsey. Seth and I competed together on the Air Force Academy fencing team; then we trained together at the Olympic Training Center for nearly a decade. Arguably the greatest U.S. fencer of all time in the discipline of épée, Seth’s style was unorthodox. But he had an amazing propensity to win – a lot.

In 2012, while working as an Olympic TV commentator, I was assigned an “expert” in fencing for my support staff. While discussing Seth’s near-gold medal performance, the “expert” made a comment that Seth’s technique was unorthodox and terrible. I responded that his technique was simply misunderstood and that Seth had his own way of demolishing his competition in an efficient and effective way. My assigned “expert” was unconvinced and told me Seth could have been much better if he adopted a more traditional technique.

Politics and sports are often similar. They are competitions with defined winners and losers. They also have armchair quarterbacks who are convinced they know more than those on the field.

The same “experts” who incorrectly told us that President Donald Trump’s campaign was a joke have already declared his presidency a disaster. They mock the supposed chaos of his first month in office, the fake scandals and his unorthodox methods of communication. But what these supposed experts fail to see is that Trump leaves in his wake accomplishments and not disaster.

In Trump’s business career, his unorthodox methods led to the creation of a multibillion-dollar business. The Trump brand is strong and valuable around the globe. In politics, Trump’s unorthodox methods pulled off one of the greatest political upsets in our nation’s history. He transformed the electoral map in a way that no “expert” saw coming. Furthermore, his coattails led to the Republicans controlling the U.S. House and Senate. What “expert” predicted that?

Trump is continuing his unorthodox methods as president. To an outside observer, it is understandable that he looks disorganized and chaotic. But under the fog of supposed chaos, Trump has masterfully maneuvered his agenda forward. While others are distracted by scandals (some of which I believe Trump has created to cause confusion), Trump’s team is completely reorganizing the United States government.

From the Keystone XL pipeline to the Supreme Court to resetting U.S. positioning in diplomacy, Trump has accomplished more in the first month than any other Republican would have in the first two years. And he is just getting started. Watch for more chaos and scandals from Trump, but then take note as Trump maneuvers under the chaos to enact his agenda of remodeling and reforming the government. While the media panic over the next “crazy” thing Trump does, watch him quietly and skillfully use the chaos to implement more of his policy.

Supposed experts will never understand Trump. They will continue to see him as a bumbling idiot who accidentally gains success.

Accidents do not explain Trump’s success, and they will not explain his effectiveness as president. Though completely unorthodox, Trump will prove one of the most effective presidents the United States has ever seen.

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Sara GioiaIt is ironic that Donald Trump, a man who won the presidency with a message of “America First,” will soon lose that same title due to his administration’s relationship with Russia.

During the campaign, Trump not only refused to condemn Russian interference in the election, but he went as far as to encourage Russians to continue their hacking. Now, after only a few weeks in the Oval Office, Trump has already lost a national security adviser to the Russian fiasco, and all indications are that this is just the beginning of a rapid decline that will end in impeachment.

The fact that Trump is a fan of Vladimir Putin is no surprise, but the president’s attitude about Russian interference in the United States election is. When Chris Wallace, the moderator of the third and final presidential debate, directly asked Trump whether he condemned the Russian interference in the American election, Trump answered, “I don’t know Putin. I have no idea.”

Then, a few weeks later, the Trump transition team released the following statement about the intelligence community: “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again.’?” In issuing this statement, the Trump machine not only dismissed evidence that Russia was involved in influencing the election but also expressed doubts about the efficacy of the intelligence community, a move that directly contradicts the sentiments of senators and representatives on both sides.

Although disagreeing with Congress is not an impeachable offense, encouraging a foreign government to conduct cyberattacks against Americans is. In addition to Trump’s very public tweet to Russia – “If you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing” – mounting evidence suggests that members of his inner circle were meeting with Kremlin officials to orchestrate further hacks and improve Russia’s global position.

According to leaked intelligence information, the now-former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, asked a Russian government official to refrain from retaliating against U.S. sanctions on Russia. Simultaneously, the FBI is investigating Trump’s legal counsel for meeting with a former Trump business associate and a pro-Russia Ukrainian politician to develop a plan to lift U.S. sanctions on Russia.

Although Trump refuses to admit that he had any knowledge of his associates’ activities, his actions show otherwise. As more information about Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election surfaces, Congress will begin impeachment proceedings and Americans will have to accept the reality of a Mike Pence presidency.

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Eli Bremer is a three-time Pan American gold medalist in pentathlon and a former chairman of the El Paso County Republican Party. Sara Gioia is an improvisational comedienne and an actress who has performed throughout the Pikes Peak Region. Both live in Colorado Springs.