Text by A.H. Scott, Copyright 2023
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It’s All in The Game
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Donald Trump is always in a tizzy of playing games.
Up until now, it’s as if he’s held all the cards. But, he no longer is master of situating reality on the game board.
Master baiter, master trader, master manipulator, master of illusions, master of delusions, master of ceremonies, master of confusion. Yep, that’s who Donald Trump has been for decades.
Baiting [1] the trap to anyone who would dare speaks words he doesn’t want to hear or actions that disobeys him, as he turns the angry mob on his own vice-President.
Brandishing the crown jewels of national security for his own petulant pride of showing them off like dangling shiny bobbles before the salivating lackeys who sit before him at his golf club in Bedminster is whom this person is.
Conversion of lies into manufactured truths is his game which is played to the hilt.
Donald Trump doesn’t do this alone. In fact, if it were only him; then isolating the poisonous strain which he is would be instantaneous. Yet, this wannabe ain’t riding alone. He rides with a loathsome cadre[2] of coup-caressing[3], crank yankin’ cowards in Brooks Brothers’ suits with many a law degree from prestigious institutions from coast to coast.
Even on a once friendly spot at Fox News Channel only a few months ago, Donald Trump is stuck in a time warp from 2016 of saying he only ‘hires the best people'[4] in an effort to prove his bona fides of wisdom in 2024.
The only game DJT is playing is the one with his self. And, his tiny Truthin’ thumbs are worn out beyond measure:
Scramblin’ N’ Schemin’
Old Man Donald had a wallet
Eh-eye-eh-eye-o
And with every case it got thinner
Eh-eye-eh-eye-o
With an indictment here and an indictment here
Gotta find some cash, where, where, where?
Eh-eye-eh-eye-o
With a PAC, PAC here
And, a grift, grift there
Geez, I – Geez I – OWE!
With a lawyer here and a lawyer there
There are more that I owe
I ain’t on a farm, but I sure am standing in deep
And, all my IOUs are steep
More than I can count, I owe… – A. H. Scott
Donald Trump doesn’t care who he hurts, how he sows chaos and whips up the crowds who cheer him as their Orange Jesus, for it’s all in the game.
The game which Donald Trump is playing is called – Running One Step Ahead of the Gavel of Justice.
Speaking of which, justice is may be a quartet in the form of Lady Justice with a hand of truth and fairness; Judge Chutkin, Attorney General James, and District Attorney Willis. Oh, and then there is the fourth judge which may not be recognized in league with the prior trio. But, I do.
And, even though he doesn’t know it yet, Judge Aileen Cannon may be the final lady that holds a nail for him. You see, the irony is that even the judge he considers to be ‘very smart and very strong'[5] because he nominated her during his administration; even she didn’t do the one thing he was hoping for from the get-go. Judge Aileen Cannon DID NOT toss the case against him that Special Counsel Jack Smith brought against him.
Judge Aileen Cannon is 41 years old and will have many a decade on the bench, compared to a 76 year-old candidate on a craven quest to battle against mythical enemies that will outlast anyone who thinks they will live to infinity; when in reality its’ less than thirty years for a man to make it to exist for a century.
The game board is no longer under the twisted thumbs of Donald Trump. It is in the hands of a feminine force in the form of …and concluding with a most unlikely roadblock – District Judge Aileen Cannon. Oh yes, that Aileen Cannon; the same one who he appointed and has been publicly lauded by Trump.
Judge Cannon may have given Donald Trump some favorable rulings in the Mar-A-Lago case that the Department of Justice has brought against him. But, there is the one thing that she has not given the brooding and bratty former President. And, that is tossing the case.
Yeah, just think about that.
Many a legal analyst on television and publication has criticized Judge Aileen Cannon for being too slow and soft on holding this defendant’s wobbly defense accountable with all due speed and tightness of legality.
Yet, still even she isn’t throwing out the charges from Department of Justice investigation headed by Special Counsel Jack Smith. Oh no, Donald – Cannon ain’t gonna blow these charges away for you. So, you are going to trial. Whether that be closer to this moment in time, or even a bit further down the road of days. But, it’s coming your way.
Saying some sweet words here and there to butter up and saddle up to one of your own appointees isn’t the magic touch you thought it would be.
So, the game you thought you’ve always had a hand up on, now points the finger downward at you, Mr. Former President.
Donald John Trump puts up that mask of bravado when speaking of the possibility that a prison cell may be in his future, as when he boldly said that he doesn’t even think about things not going his way in the legal imbroglio he’s consumed within.
“I’m built a little differently I guess, because I have had people come up to me and say, ‘How do you do it, sir? How do you do it?’ I don’t even think about it.” – Donald Trump, September 17th, 2023[6]
I guess it comes so easy for him to sleep like a man without a care in this world, for it would take a conscience to grasp the dimensions of the dastardly deeds he’s been charged with.
By the way, 91[7] counts is the total this defendant is dealing with. He can boast and put on a faux scowl of a delusional strongman, but the number ain’t chicken liver.
“I sleep. Because I truly feel that, in the end, we’re going to win.” – Donald Trump, September 17th, 2023[8]
Living in what I call “Orange Oblivion”, the former President of the United States of America; a man who is a twice-impeached, substantially[9] deemed rapist, with a ketchup (bottle) killin’ fetish, is scratchin’ back to yesteryear in reliance of tricks and fancies he’s learned at the knee of Roy Cohn and Cohn’s mini-me, Roger Stone – Delay! Delay! Delay!
Speaking of delusional outrage, it seems that Donald Trump’s constant fallback to appeal and obfuscate in the realm of the legal system has come back to bite him in his over-inflated (ahem) ego.
Appeal a ruling or countersuing doesn’t seem to have the punch and pith it used to for the man of Mar-a-Lago anymore. He does his same old shtick and judges are seeing through his game with a full-on transparency.
Men and women who adorn the black robes[10] ain’t ya’ choir anymore, Donald.
Game of numbers, laid out on the game board of life: 9 counts? Maybe can beat the odds. 29? Hmm, gets a little bit harder to slide away. 91, ya’ ain’t gonna wigggle, whine or whip up some social media abracadabra tricks to stay uncuffed and unguilty in the eyes of the American legal system. Even with all the scurrying around and barking at the moon in saying you are the most persecuted soul on the planet, 91’s gonna stick to 45. Might not be out for the full count, but somethin’s gonna stick.
And, even he knows it.
Democrats in both houses of Congress should start reviewing the process of any former President who is convicted of a felony have an immediate revocation of Public Law 89-186 which guarantees lifetime Secret Service protection.
Oh no! If Donald Trump becomes a jailbird[11], we the American people should not have to be on the hook for pampering him behind the wall with special treatment. Only he should be stripped of that gilded status. For Melania, Baron, Tiffany, Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric Trump – all of them should continue to be granted the Secret Service protection, for they are not convicted felons.
Yet, I would love to be a fly on the wall when the members of the former President’s detail could decide who would get the short end of the stick to have to do the time behind bars with him if he is convicted of 1 through 91 counts.
Just for a moment, think about how fouled up this situation even being at hand truly is:
To the men and women of the Secret Service, who are law enforcers having to be melded to a lawless protectee[12] is truly an unimaginable future possibility that I as an American citizen shakes my head in disbelief when I think about it.
Duty that is exemplary should not be dragged through doody for the sake of a man who has been trying to outrun what he has reaped his whole life.
A law on the books might not solve everything, but if it were there to clearly state that if anything like the schemes of a man bent on taking down democracy for the sake of his own ego not getting bruised over losing an election would face consequences; then maybe it would be worth it to have it as a backstop[13] to keeping this madness of Trump’s turgid thirst of returning into the Oval Office as some kind of conquering demi-God in the rearview mirror.
There’s an adage in politics that Democrats have a need to fall in love with a candidate and Republicans fall in line behind a candidate. For this moment in time, the parties have switched positions and it is the GOP primary voters who are enthralled with the leading candidate among the polls. His name is one which is known by all – Donald Trump.
The Republican Party’s dance with Donald Trump is far from over. He calls, they respond. He knocks and they open all doors with a welcome sigh. Oh, my, my, it’s all in the game:
“Once in a while he will call
But it’s all in the game
Soon he’ll be there at your side
With a sweet bouquet
And he’ll kiss your lips
And caress your waiting fingertips
And your hearts will fly
Away” – “It’s All In The Game”, Dawes/Sigman[14]
Originally a musical composition titled “Melody In A Major”[15] had been penned in 1912 by another Republican named Charles G. Dawes, former vice-President of the United States under President Calvin Coolidge which was paired with the lyrics of Carl Sigman in 1951 to become the aforementioned “It’s All In The Game”.
Trump makes the hearts all aflutter for the mass of the Republican primary voters who are eager to take his sweet bouquet of promised retribution ever so willingly.
Damn the tomorrows, embrace the moment with all which he brings to the table. Making America Great (for a certain sliver of Americans) Again!!
Callin’ N’ Respondin’
Reap what you sow
Sow what you reap
One may reap what they may sow and sow what they may reap
His promises are lies
Lies are all which he keeps
Keeps you closer with every pout
Keeps you in line to never want to shout
All under his spell in his game is what it is all about
Yet, justice has a way to creep
Creep closer to comeuppance
And, the game winds down
As a judge enters the courtroom and bailiff commands all to stand
For defendant Donald, this ain’t the game he planned
Counts of 91 are crimping his style
Also, the fact he can’t be on that campaign trail for a while
Thinking his former title will keep him above the fray
Oh no, Donnie – this is the American way
Called on the carpet to pay the piper in legal terms that is
Sit on your rump and hear them call the case titled for Trump
No weasely, no measly
Like any other one’s that guilty, you ain’t gonna get off so easily
Controllin’ it all is your way
But, that was back then
And, today’s a new day
Mugshot for sale, it ain’t no shame
For Donald Trump, it’s all in the game
Judge demands the defendant sit down
Tarnished crown on a clown
Yet, what he’s reaped is calculation
Sown are the seeds of chaos that are tossed with pith
Roots are entangled and matted ever so deep
There is only a single promise this candidate will keep
Dastardly and bastardly is the demise of democracy
Something’s in the wind and it’s not the scent of liberty
Donald Trump is master of the game he seeks
In the courtroom, in the town square, across social media our psyches have been born bare
Yet, that fame you’ve hungered for is the most insidious flame
Before the bar, we all burn the same
No matter how many a lawyer is on retainer,
The facts of what’s going on couldn’t be any plainer
Even the most conservative of judges ain’t in the tank
Trump figures they owe him allegiance
Tip of the hat may be given by some
Yet, truth is truth beyond any Trump rebuke
In the end, it’s all in the game.
And, that is the damnedest shame… – A.H. Scott
Game board of new vision shall turn the page from Orange Oblivion to Democracy’s Resurgence is the hope which I have for what will come to pass. For my fellow Americans, let’s not let the free and fair election of 2020 be our last.
Stay vigilant!
“It’s All In The Game”
By
A.H. Scott
“It’s All In the Game” – THE FOOTNOTES:
1.-Judge Slams Trump As ‘Charlatan’ After Jury Finds Jan. 6 Rioter Guilty On All Counts – ABC News
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/judge-slams-trump-charlatan-jury-finds-jan-rioter/story?id=84090253
2.-President Trump’s Best People – New York Times
3.-Trump Aide Peter Navarro Pressed on Coup Plot by Ari Melber in 2022, Before Later Conviction in 2023 – MSNBC
4.-Fox News Roasts Trump for Turning on Who He Hired – Now This
5.-Trump Praises Judge Overseeing Docs Case: ‘She’s Very Smart and Very Strong’ – The Messenger
https://themessenger.com/politics/trump-praises-judge-overseeing-docs-case-shes-very-smart-and-very-strong
6.-Trump says he doesn’t worry about going to jail: ‘I don’t even think about it’ – NBC News
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-the-press/trump-doesnt-worry-going-jail-meet-the-press-rcna105312
7.-Breaking down the 91 charges Trump faces in his four indictments – The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/trump-charges-jan-6-classified-documents/
8.-Full Trump Interview: ‘I Don’t Consider Us To Have Much of A Democracy Right now’ – NBC News
9.-Judge Says E Jean Carroll Allegation Trump Raped Her is ‘Substantially True’ in Court Dismissal – Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/07/donald-trump-rape-language-e-jean-carroll
10.-Judge Howell delivers another blow to Trump and his lawyer – The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/20/judge-howell-ruling-trump-corcoran-testify/
11.-Trump Privately Frets He Could Be Headed to Prison – Rolling Stone
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-prison-conviction-trial-1234828231/
12.-Would a Former President Get Secret Service Protection in Prison? – Slate
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/would-a-former-president-get-secret-service-protection-in-prison.html
13.-“Restoring and Enforcing Accountability of Presidents Act” or the “REAP Act” – U.S. House
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1153/text
14.-It’s All In The Game – Genius
https://genius.com/Tommy-edwards-its-all-in-the-game-lyrics
15.-Tracing the History of a Song: ‘It’s All In the Game’ – NPR
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5325146
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: A.H. Scott is a poet and essayist based in New York City and is a veteran contributor to this blog. To access additional articles by A.H. Scott, click here: https://tonyward.com/a-h-scott-grab-em-by-the-p-word/