The Ironic Trump Threat.

A February 21 Op-Ed in the Washington Post by Danielle Allen, a self-professed Democrat and political theorist at Harvard University called “The Moment of Truth: We Must Stop Trump” is a telling story in the nature of political fear.  Both sides are as scared of a Donald Presidency to the point where liberals are reaching across the aisles to conservatives in an effort to knock someone that scares them out of the race.  

"Like any number of us raised in the late 20th century, I have spent my life perplexed about exactly how Hitler could have come to power in Germany. Watching Donald Trump’s rise, I now understand. Leave aside whether a direct comparison of Trump to Hitler is accurate. That is not my point. My point rather is about how a demagogic opportunist can exploit a divided country."

Going full Godwin’s Law in the first paragraph of your Op-Ed doesn’t do much to make your case, because Trump’s supporters have heard it all before, Danielle.  Thanks for playing, though.  

"Perhaps we should just shut the lights out on offensiveness; turn off the mic when someone tries to shout down others; reestablish standards for what counts as a worthwhile contribution to the public debate. That will seem counter to journalistic norms, yes, but why not let Trump pay for his own ads when he wants to broadcast foul and incendiary ideas? He’ll still have plenty of access to freedom of expression. It is time to draw a bright line."

You want to silence Trump in the press now because he’s gamed you, and you recognize this just now?  If that’s the case, Danielle needs to turn in her “political theorist” card now, because part of politics means understanding people, which she clearly doesn’t get. 

And shutting the lights out on “offensiveness” is what this country’s been doing since the rise of the Social Justice Warrior movement, the continued press for false “equality” and “inclusiveness” in the name of grabbing power for power’s sake and silencing all others.  You can’t silence Trump, because Trump doesn’t want to be silenced. His followers appreciate his ability to speak where they cannot, and they rally to him.  

"Trump is rising by taking advantage of a divided country. The truth is that the vast majority of voting Americans think that Trump is unacceptable as a presidential candidate, but we are split by strong partisan ideologies and cannot coordinate a solution to stop him. Similarly, a significant part of voting Republicans think that Trump is unacceptable, but they too, thus far, have been unable to coordinate a solution. Trump is exploiting the fact that we cannot unite across our ideological divides."

The only way to stop him, then, is to achieve just that kind of coordination across party lines and across divisions within parties. We have reached that moment of truth.

No kidding?  It took the rise of a loudmouthed, populist demagogue to get you to finally achieve “coordination across party lines” after eight years of “strong partisan ideologies” splitting this country?  You realize that most Republicans think he’s unacceptable, and yet you don’t think we have a solution to “stop” him? 

Danielle, since you’re a political theorist, I want to pose a simple question to you. 

Have you ever thought we WANT to stop Trump? 

Likewise, across the aisle, do you think the majority of those who have been Liberals their entire lives want to see a Sanders presidency? 

Neither does, and yet now both of you are suggesting a mass vote to bring Marco Rubio to the Republican ticket on Super Tuesday?  You don’t think for one second we don’t realize what the Establishment Politics demand is a Rubio/Clinton ticket? 

Guess what, Danielle?  We know what you want, and the fact you’re trying to tell us that means more people are probably going to vote for Trump on “Super Tuesday” than you ever imagined. 

When Donald Trump entered the Presidential race, I said “He’s going to be President.”  People laughed, and said “Are you serious?  The guy who was in a WWE angle?  The guy who ran “The Apprentice? He’s the one who’s going to be President?  No way! 

Then people flocked to him.  They heard someone different, who promised to “Make America Great Again.”  Sure, he “spoke on a fourth grade level.”  So what?  He’d gotten his customer base. 

Later, when more people started coming to Trump, and he began spouting off comment after comment, people said “How can you vote for Trump?  He’s a racist, sexist, misogynistic xenophobe!”

And there was the critical shift.  Because for the last eight years, in the push for “equality,” and the silencing of people’s ideas through name calling, you officially sold Trump as the man who would not be silenced.  He took Phil “CM Punk” Brooks’ line and ran with it.  He was the “voice of the voiceless.”

You took his words of “I like the poorly educated” as an insult to working-class Americans who didn’t get a degree in gender studies or art history and work on road crews.  His voter base saw that as an affirmation, a welcome.  “I love you,” says Trump, and “We Will Make America Great Again.” 

Then you attempted to reach out to us and say “Okay, we get it now!  We understand you’re angry with us! We’re sorry!” 

And the public said “Apology not accepted.” 

Because you lied to us for eight straight years, perhaps even more.  You told us that when we put you in office you would represent the American People.  You didn’t.  You held onto your party’s ideas, you supported what they wanted to hear, you took it all and you ignored those who put you in place. 

And now you’ve listened to us?  Now you think we’re going to accept your false apology, at this late stage in the game?  Not happening, no way, no how. 

People are sick of being lied to.  We realize now that in a country where you can kill us with murder drones, the best way for us to make change is not with guns, but with the ballot box. 

And because you kept lying, because you pretended to care, you’ve forced the public into doing something royally stupid—either voting for a Socialist who will drive this country further into debt or a loudmouthed business tycoon that will be the epitome of everything many people hate, just to effect change at the highest levels of governance.  

Perhaps the folks in Washington want to look at my new project: www.mediationisdead.com

Meditation

I keep a pack of playing cards with me whenever I leave the house. 

It’s been something I’ve done since I was introduced to the works of Dai Vernon, S.W. Erdnase, and Daniel Madison. 

I keep a vial of Gambler’s Daub in my briefcase. 

When I get stuck, I turn to the cards.  I practice palm shifts, cop moves, pressure moves, Tenkai palms, and diagonal shifts. 

The cards don’t judge.  The cards don’t tell me that I’m a bad person.  The cards don’t place a value judgement on who I am as a person.  They just sit there for my manipulation and allow me the chance to create something extraordinary without thinking.  

I’ve seen people ask others “how do you get out of your head?”  For me, it’s the cards.  It will always be the cards, Hughart, Erdnase, Madison, and more who teach the knacky sleight-of-hand routines. 

It makes me feel like Gambit, in a sense, the Louisiana X-Man who always throws cards that can explode when he uses his mutant powers of kinetic discharge. 

The best are the sleights that require you to practice.  You can sit there for hours at a table and learn something about your hands.  You can see muscles develop in places you didn’t know you had.  Grip training?  Try a pressure steal and see how well you get musculature in your hands beyond that a trainer’s ball will give you.  

There’s this guy, Lennart Green, who devoted his life to card magic and otherwise.  He’s got two moves that are crazy specific called the “snap deal” and the “top shot” that require a mastery of sound, musculature, and deception.  I don’t think I’ll ever quite get either down, but I sure will do my best to master both. 

Green was a rocket scientist and a mathematician, and he found comfort in a pack of playing cards. 

I’m a lawyer turned writer, and I find comfort in a pack of playing cards. 

I own more playing cards than I care to admit.  A guy I know just started selling his collection and I managed to snag four packs designed by David Blaine for about $50.  That’s a steal. 

Right now I’m holding a packet of Madison Revolvers.  They’re the best constructed I’ve seen that aren’t marked.  Those would be the Kings, and I keep two packs of those around.  My current favorite are the Inverted Kings, because they are black and different, and I love the feel of the card stock. 

I learned that you can create as well as destroy 52 assistants depending on how well you treat them or how much you abuse them.  It’s all a matter of love and handling. 

Despite “card tricks,” there’s a subset called “cardistry,” where you just learn cool moves for the sake of learning them and perform them with a deck of cards.  I’ve got two DVD’s worth of the subject and still have yet to master some of the easiest methods.  Never really devoted the time to it, as I’m usually focused on reading or otherwise. 

 The cards don’t care.  They’re always there, waiting, in their respective boxes and cases, waiting for me to pick them up again, for the sake of meditative exercises. 

I’ll set them down soon.  I have other projects to work on, other books to read, and other things to work with on my time.  I have a consultation now with someone I wanted to speak with for a long time, someone who is really a great fit for a project I want to work on. 

But when I come back, the cards will always be there.