Before there were bombastic businessmen like Donald Trump and later Elon Musk, there was Ted Turner. He was called the “Mouth of the South,” full of bluster and humor. For better or worse, as he later admitted, he was the man who created 24-hour cable news. There was a time in the news business that “breaking news” did not happen every ten minutes. If one more person on that boat with Hantavirus got sick at 9 p.m., you’d have to wait until morning to be told.

As an aside, the seven cases of Hantavirus have quarantined the people on the boat. CNN reassured its audience that Dr. Fauci and the DNC will solve it with a vaccine they developed that will mandate mail-in voting for the mid-terms.

Back to Ted. Modern-day cable news was invented when Ted Turner, an intrepid Atlanta entrepreneur, created it by starting CNN. I knew Ted through my Atlanta business days and a close relationship I had with one of CNN’s anchors. He was bigger than life, the type of guy who would challenge a thunderstorm to a fist fight.

And, like most great entrepreneurs, he created jobs for his city and generational wealth for those in his orbit.

Capitalists are full of confidence and are not afraid to fail. Ted’s great self-aware line about himself was, “If I only had a little humility, I’d be perfect.” Modest, unaccomplished people do not interest me. Rough and tumble, risk-taking innovators and thinkers with a sense of humor always have.

Like them or not Ted Turner, Trump and Musk are not boring and are right up front with you.

Like most entrepreneurs, Turner had learning disabilities, chiefly ADHD. To straighten him out, Ted was sent to McCallie military school where he developed personality traits that would define his future: competitiveness, stubbornness, and the ability to make authority figures immediately reach for aspirin.

According to Ted, McCallie was transformative. I suspect the school will be getting a lot of land and bison soon.

Turner briefly attended Brown University, but his college career ended when he was expelled for having female visitors in his dorm room. This was perhaps the earliest sign that Ted Turner would spend his life treating rules the way raccoons treat trash can lids: as mild suggestions standing between him and excitement.

CNN was good for years, but sadly, like most businesses where the founder/owner stopped being involved and corporate America took over, it faltered. It was killed by blatant left-wing bias. CNN used to report the news from bureaus all over the world. Now viewers feel like they’ve been enrolled in a North Korean day school. These days, relying on CNN for your facts is like relying on bourbon for hydration.

Ted’s politics were his own. Some argued he was pro-capitalist and right of center, others said he became more liberal with age. I do know when he met Jane Fonda, they went at it. He became more liberal, but his back started to feel a lot better.

Chivalrous like Rhett Butler, Ted did love Jane. When Jane was arrested for the fourth time protesting global warming, I wrote about it: “Is she sure? Could it be hot flashes?” I got a quick note from Ted: “Funny, but cut that s*** out.”

Of course, Turner’s personality was impossible to separate from his success. He said whatever popped into his head, often with the timing of a car horn going off during your golf swing. Over the years, he offended politicians, religious groups, fellow executives, and likely several innocent bystanders waiting for elevators.

“Life is a game. Money is how we keep score,” he once said. And no one played that game better than Ted Turner. His tombstone will probably read, “I have nothing more to say.”

Ted Turner could have been the Donald Trump of his time, business mogul turned president. I like the idea of a businessperson running the country but I’m afraid it’s too late. If business leaders get a look at our country’s books, they might burn it down for the insurance money.