by Reggie Fullwood
The success of any good magician depends on he or she tricking the audience with “slight of hand” or an illusion and often times a distraction.
President Trump or The Donald is quite the magician himself. His recent assertions that President Obama had his phones at Trump Tower in New York tapped during the last campaign cycle is nothing more than a magician’s trick to distract the media and the American people.
And guess what? We are falling for it – well at least some of us. But if you think about it, some 45% of the country fell for the magician’s tricks when he ran for office.
Nigerian poet and novelist, Ben Okri, once said, “The magician and the politician have much in common: they both have to draw our attention away from what they are really doing.”
The Donald is writing his own unique playbook, and it’s part magic show and part dictatorship. Yes, Trump supporters will say that it’s ludicrous to compare the President’s tactics to a dictator’s strategy for governing, but it is not so far fetched.
A characteristic that most dictators have in common is that they were able to maintain political power by using violence and propaganda. Dictators often manufacture an external threat in order to gain control over the state and appear as the people’s only salvation. Trump has said that America is broken and he is the only guy that can fix the country. Remember his campaign themes – “Make America great again” and “Take our country back.”
Then the one thing that any good dictator does is vilifies the media and then tries to control it. So how do you get away with dictator-like strategies in 2017? You have to use smoke and mirrors.
Magician Trump said in several flashy Tweets that President Obama had his phone tapped during the campaign.
But this magician is deeply flawed. He is like that uncle that only has a couple of magic tricks. He has the coin coming out of your ear trick and maybe a decent card trick, so when the kids ask for more he’s stuck. He has to bluff and say maybe next time kids.
Senator John McCain, the Vietnam hero that was a prisoner of war, the man that Trump degraded by saying that his heroes don’t get captured, basically told Trump to put up or shut up. If Obama did “wiretap” Trump tower as you and your staff have said to the American people, then give us evidence.
But in true magician form, once exposed they change the subject or move on to the next parlor trick. This week, his assistant magician, Sean Spicer, said that the President didn’t mean wiretap in the literal sense. Wait folks, this is the slight of hand part of the trick. No, actually it’s the “you are full of crap” part of the trick.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said, “I think there’s no question about the Obama administration, that there were actions about surveillance and other activities that occurred in the 2016 election.” He adds, “The President used the word wiretaps in quotes to mean, broadly, surveillance and other activities.”
Wait a minute Mr. Assistant Magician. This is exactly what Trump Tweeted, “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”
His third tweet of the morning on March 4, 2017 at 7 am said, “How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”
So Mr. Spicer what the heck are you talking about? Your boss clearly states that President Obama broke the law and “wire tapped” his phone. He and his administration are full of doggy do.
So why do magicians have to keep changing things up? Simple – the more you do a trick, the easier it is for people to figure it out. Mr. Trump, we know that you are full of crap. Your Tweets are emotional rants that have no basis. Your Tweets amount to a third grade temper tantrum with no basis.
At least that is what Mr. Trump and his team wants us to think. Trump sometimes says things that shouldn’t be taken literally. Or maybe it is the strategy that Team Trump has decided to use to distract Americans from the truth. What’s the truth?
The Trump campaigns connections with Russia, the repeal of Obamacare, which looks like it could hurt some 24 million Americans, the watering down of environmental regulations and destruction of public education, are all important issues that people should be focused on.
Don’t be fooled by Magician Trump’s antics. He is clearly distracting Americans with foolish and parlor tricks. We are in uncharted waters with the state of the White House. When you can’t believe anything the President of the United States says out of his mouth is embarrassing.
“When a magician lets you notice something on your own, his lie becomes impenetrable,” said the famous magician Teller.
Signing off from Bizarro World,
Reggie Fullwood
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