Bridge is a very challenging game. For those who do not play, all you need to know in this analogy is that when one suit is declared to be the trump suit, any card in that suit is endowed with power over any non-trump card.
In grammar the word “trump” can be an adjective (modifies or describes a noun or pronoun), or a verb (describes an action between two things). On January 20th our president-elect will do something that I believe has never been accomplished by any of his 44 predecessors: His name will become a verb. He will have the power to control action between an incalculable number of things.
That’s where it gets interesting. His power will be extended from those who chose to be controlled by him to include the rest of the world. We are in the process of observing who will be the 15 members of his cabinet who, perhaps naively, believe that they can influence how his new-found verboid status is deployed.
Maybe we can be reassured by those who have been in conference with him reporting how thoughtful and insightful, how carefully his listens to their counsel. Let’s hope so.
Recently there was an entry on U-tube that brings that hopeful thought into a different perspective. It has to do with the Trump airliner. It is a Boeing 757 purchased some years ago and, according the chief pilot, John Dunkin, the aircraft was refurbished a cost totaling 100 million dollars. One would hope that included the purchase price.
Why is this important? First, the President-elect has said that the government plans to replace the fleet of Air Force One at a cost of four billion dollars. That seems a bit excessive and how many aircraft that includes isn’t known or are the numbers cited factual. As we have heard figures quoted by the President-elect verified by, “I heard it somewhere; somebody said it so it must be true.” But I digress.
The really interesting thing about the airplane is how it is maintained. It is basically an airborne Taj Mahal. The interior was recently redone and everything has to be to exact specifications of the owner. That is surely his prerogative; after all, it is his airplane.
According to reports the countertops in the galley are solid mahogany and the seams joining the various pieces must be in perfect alignment with the rug seams on the floor some 30 inches below the counter surface. The cabin ceiling is lined with suede which must be combed perpendicular to the long axis of the fuselage.
Any finger smudge on any surface will cause instant inquiry as to how that happened and there will be consequences. All metal fixtures are solid gold. And most astounding of all is the president-elect’s insistence that all parts removed during servicing must be re-installed and never replaced with anything that was not original equipment on the aircraft. Can we assume mechanical parts are excluded? Captain Dunkin says that the plane must always be in mint condition, just as if it came off the assembly line of Boeing.
Now if the President-elect cancels the replacement fleet because of the cost that may be a good thing. If he thinks he can have the Air-Taj Mahal retrofitted to meet secret service security requirements, that’s another matter.
Should he decide that he cannot accept a downgrade to the relative tourist class of the current fleet then the public may be in for yet another surprise. If his absolute demand that he be in charge of every detail on his airplane will he insist on similar control of the world over which he will soon hold the “trump card?” If so, perhaps we can hope that trump suit is hearts (for compassion and caring) and not clubs (for beating opposition into submission).
Fasten your seat belts. Some turbulence may be encountered.
Hayden Hollingsworth
