Having been let down by both parties for decades — on issues from the rising cost of living to stagnant wages — the American people were looking for outsiders to disrupt a broken system in 2016 and will likely do so again in 2020. Surely the man who created an entire industry and built one of the world’s best-known brands can offer a new product to millions of unhappy customers.

Michael Bloomberg concluded that an independent pathway was not viable in the last presidential election, but he did not try. The last third-party presidential candidate who tried and won was Abraham Lincoln. The most recent credible independent presidential candidate was Ross Perot, who led polls in June 1992. Anything can happen. Right, President Trump?

And our country would be better for the attempt. Neither Democrats nor Republicans have a right to lay exclusive claim over a system of government that was not originally designed to accommodate political parties — especially at a time when political independents (42 percent as of 2017) have rejected and outnumber them both.