THE DEAL GAME

by Ruth A. Sheets

Well, we are now into the 3rd month of the Reign of Donald Trump, the least qualified, least appropriate person in the past century or more to be president, but the Universe thought America needed a lesson in humility.  It sent us a game playing, deal-making  narcissist.  So, his games/deals are all about him and his celebrity.  The goal of the game, Trump must win, at all costs.  If other “players” gain anything, that’s just a side effect that will somehow cleave them to him for eternity.  For the rest of the poor suckers, “Sad, too bad you aren’t as good at this as I am.” 

How does this game work?  The rules are not too complicated, especially for Mr. Trump and his loyal followers.

1. Be rich and have rich friends. Believe you deserve everything you have and that even more is desirable no matter how you get it.

2. Throw out the most outrageous things that come to mind.  Watch and listen to see how people react.  Know your wealth gives whatever you say more weight.

3. If the folks respond with little notice or negatively, drop or slightly alter the statement and see what happens. This trial and error approach allows for creation of even more outrageous statements that this time WILL entice, enchant, and motivate listeners.  A sprinkle of hate and blaming works wonders.

4. Expand on positive responses received.  The wilder the claim, the more audiences will love it and the more opponents will hate it and try to stand against it. (which of course means standing against Trump and his “poor, innocent, ignored” listeners)

5. Talk a lot.  Repeat often.  Use very simple language, occasionally tossing in a 6^th grade level word, repeating it a few times to let your team think you know what it means.  No one really cares about your comprehension, the tone is what matters – sell it!  And, the more fear you can incite, the better.  Remember, if you say it loud enough and long enough, people will believe it.

6. Submit to Congress and others outrageous proposals for cabinet members, healthcare, budget, etc.  Opponents, and even some “friends” will be so appalled they will speak against it.

7. Then, slightly alter the statements/demands/proposals making them a little less radical.  Opponents will be so grateful, they will accept the nearly equally outrageous “deal” because “at least it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.”

8. Lie as much as possible and condemn those who are looking for truth.  The lies can be of differing intensity so some will sound a bit like truth.  Never apologize for the lies and act as if those who discovered the lies are the real liars.

9. On rare occasions, use a teleprompter or some kind of notes to follow a more “normal” approach to say the same things you have been saying all along.  People will think you are presidential (or whatever job/title you are erroneously holding), and will talk about it for weeks.

The game nearly always works for Mr. Trump and people like him because those who oppose him consistently choose to play.  They know he is a complete fraud, but they are afraid of the crazies who play on Mr. Trump’s team.  Those guys might withhold the money necessary for re-election, or say mean things about them. 

Fear is a powerful element in this game.  Whoever wields it most effectively and can manipulate the most people with it will win.

Maybe, we who know about the Deal Game need to stop playing it.  We must call the players out at every turn, call a lie a lie.  Get the word out that manipulation is unattractive on anyone.  Promote courage  and truth and reward them. 

This won’t be easy, but ordinary citizens who care and the media who could come to care can get things moving.  Start a different kind of “deal” where everyone can vote, where the popular vote wins, where lies, insults, and false promises are not cute and easily dismissed, where corruption is given that name, where science counts, and facts are facts for everyone. 

Good luck to all of us.  We’re going to need it. 

IF A DEMOCRAT HAD DONE THAT... !

by Ruth A. Sheets

For years, I have cried out over and over, “If a Democrat had done that... ”  Republican politicians have been involved with, even done appalling, illegal, unconstitutional, or just plain immoral things.  Their acts are then dismissed as unimportant, sad, a moment of forgetfulness. 

The list is long.  It seems after Nixon’s Watergate “bad judgment,” Republicans just can’t be held accountable for anything happening either on their watch or directly as a result of individual members’ actions.

Some of the highlights include: 

- President Reagan’s Iran-Contra scheme, clearly illegal, but poor Mr. Reagan didn’t know anything about it and his minions were just following orders.”  (Whose orders, no one is quite sure.)

- Shutting down the whole government twice to prove a point. What point was clear neither time.

- 9/11 happened under George W. Bush, but he was seen as a president heroically bringing people together while Jimmy Carter was brought down because of the Iranian Revolution and Hillary Clinton was blamed and pilloried by Republicans for the raid in Benghazi.

-Candidate Donald Trump lied about every one of his opponents, made racist and sexist comments and maligned the family of a soldier killed in the Bush wars, accused a president of not being a legitimate citizen, yet was elected.

Attorney Gen. Jeff Sessions lied to a Congressional Committee in his confirmation hearings and most Republican senators are okay with it because he was “probably talking with the Russian ambassador about issues related to the Senate Committee he was a member of, not on behalf of Mr. Trump on whose election committee he was serving.”

Replace a Democrat’s name for any Republican named above and he or she would have been hung out to dry.  Remember, Bill Clinton was vilified and impeached for the kind of sex act that Mr. Trump brags about. 

I think of the Republican Party as the Teflon party.  Nothing negative they do sticks to them.

Comedian Bill Maher, though, has a better name for this phenomenon.  He calls it “The Magic R.”  If one has the Magic “R” behind his/her name, one can do practically anything and have it dismissed as some minor occurrence or nothing at all.  Cheat on your wife, no problem if you have the Magic R.  Lie to Congress, my goodness, “You must have forgotten.”  Insult fellow citizens from your high office?  No big deal, “He actually didn’t mean what he said.”  Lie to the American people, that’s okay, “the real Americans know you were just a bit angry with those other guys.”  Freeze up when you hear the news about 9/11, “Don’t worry, we’ll write a speech for you that will let you seem tough and in charge.”

And so it goes.  I do not know how to un-magic the R.  Republicans are very good with the language of deceit, finding phrases/slogans that sound good but mean the exact opposite:  “Right to Work bills” that actually lower wages and working conditions, “Religious Freedom bills” that make acceptable discrimination against people whose religion or practices they don’t like, “Voting Rights bills” that deliberately intend to keep specific groups of people from voting.

Maybe the way to remove the magic is to point it out every time we see it.  The media needs to call the “Right to Work,” the “Union-busting, Worker Repressing Bill” and “The Voting Rights Bill” the “Keep People (mostly Democrats) from Voting Bill.”  They started that with the bills discriminating against transgender people “Bathroom Bills.”  Good journalists will call the R’s out on all their hypocrisy so people can see it. Then, if citizens continue to vote for the hypocrites, they will know they are doing it and can be held accountable. 

I know, I know.  wishful thinking!