One of our President’s favorite pejorative terms is “loser.” He has used that term to describe
journalists, POW’s, people who pay taxes, media outlets, terrorists, public
schools, protestors, the judicial branch, judges, etc. Every time I hear him call someone or some
group losers I hear him saying “You’re Fired” from the days of his reality TV
show. It is as though he is empowered as
judge and jury, and I for one am glad he will not be standing at the pearly
gates when I arrive. But the real
question is, if these folks are losers, what game are they playing?
President Trump has made two very candid remarks that I find
incredibly revealing. First, he said
that health care is really complicated and he did not know that. Secondly, he said that being President was
much harder than he thought it would be.
Both remarks, and many others, lead me to believe that Trump has yet to
start playing the game that is before him.
Trump plays Monopoly.
The US and the world play chess.
Trump keeps making decisions and statements as though he is amassing
property, is the boss, can tell people what to do, and can bankrupt anyone once
he is in control. He believes he is in
control. The real problem is the world
and the US don’t play monopoly at the policy level. They play chess. Each move is strategic and each move looks
way down the road to consequences both for our nation and the planet. While Trump plays Monopoly he is losing the
chess game. Yes, Trump is a loser once
we agree on the game we are playing.
Trump has no idea how to play chess. His background, his history, his areas of
expertise are in no way suited to play chess.
He plays Monopoly where bold acquisitions and decisions pay off and not
only is control the ultimate goal, but winning is the accumulation of great
wealth and the demise of one’s competitors.
One can enter a game of Monopoly with one central strategy: get property and get rich. Chess is very different. Chess is a game of thought, planning and
expertise. None of those are Trump
qualities. Yes, there is a winner in
each chess game, but to win one must respect the opponent and his or her strengths,
weaknesses, and strategies. To enter a
chess game with a predetermined strategy and not have the ability to adjust as
circumstances change, as science changes, as alliances change, as other players
develop improved skills, is to enter a chess game and lose. Trump senses, I believe, that the game he
finds going on around him is not his game.
It does not play by his rules. It
does not align with his proclivities. It
is a game based on wisdom and experience.
Trump has no experience and virtually no wisdom. Monopoly does not require a lot of wisdom or
experience. Roll the dice.
Trump’s most recent moves continue to imply he is not
capable of making the shift to chess. He
wants to pound the competition. His move
to establish a War Room to take on those nasty media types who keep challenging
him is a classic competitive move. A
chess player would seek to discover what the media wants, how to woo them, how
to be transparent, how to make them allies.
Not Trump. He continues to use
the term “fake news” for any reporting he does not like. Oh so sad.
Meanwhile, Trump thinks he hit a home run on his first international
trip. No one outside this country agrees. The world is shaking its collective head
trying to figure this guy out. All they
have to do is learn to play monopoly and they will understand him.
Trump values wealth and those who acquire wealth. He sees the rest of us, the non-wealthy, as
losers. Health care is about protecting
the winners. The budget is about
protecting the winners. Tax proposals
are about protecting the winners.
Environmental issues are about protecting the winners. If you are a winner, you are good. There is not a moral theme running through
any of his proposals. Do we have a responsibility
to improve our climate? Do we have a
responsibility to support the needy? Do
we have an obligation to those who suffer and are persecuted
internationally? On and on, those are
not considerations when one plays Monopoly.
I fervently hope Trump learns to play chess. I hope he learns that wisdom and expertise
and the long view and the moral view are more important than protecting
winners. I hope that those who have supported Trump realize that in his game he
considers many of his supporters as losers as well, and is proposing policies
that will severely hurt the middle class, the working class, and the poor in
our nation.
But I see very little evidence that he is learning. He is more determined than ever to play Monopoly
on the chess board. And though many may
have thought that the cure for our problems was to change the game and voted
for Trump, it should be more and more clear that if we want to be world leaders,
have a growing economy, employ more people, and put policies and programs in
place that improve the lives of not only Americans but the rest of the world we
have got to play chess. Trump already
has the lowest approval rating of any President in history, and abroad he is a source of fear, concern and laughter.
I am sure he writes all that off because those who do not support him
are losers and that he believes he is winning.
But Trump is a loser because he is not playing the right
game and does not know how to do so. His
victories will be our nation’s defeat.
Then way too late we will realize what a loser he is.
