“Trump Steaks” An essay by Miles Jaye

“TRUMP STEAKS”

By Miles Jaye

When Donald Trump’s grandfather, Friedrich Trump, immigrated from Bavaria, (Germany), to the United States in 1881, he was 16 years old. Only days after his arrival in New York City, he was hired by a local barber, he had apprenticed in a shop in his homeland.

In 1891, Trump moved to the Seattle area in Washington State in the Pacific Northwest. He bought a restaurant with a few hundred dollars of savings and named it the Dairy Restaurant, then expanded the business to provide food, liquor and rooms to his clientele of hustlers and prostitutes in the local Red-Light district.

In 1894 Grandpa Trump decided to leave Seattle but before leaving town he made his first land purchase of 40 acres with what was then his life savings– $200. This was the Trump Dynasty’s introduction to the world of real estate. Interestingly, the land was already deeded to a man named Rudebeck– that didn’t stop Trump!

Trump moved to a mining-town, this was the gold-rush era, so he knew prospectors would need food and lodging. The new location was so remote that horses would literally die in route to the outpost. There was an actual strip of road called “Dead Horse Trail”. When Grandpa opened his new restaurant, hotel, and brothel, he served horse-meat to the settlers. Ironic that Donald would brand steaks under the family name– Trump Steaks.

High-stakes means high-risk– the chance of winning big versus the risk of losing big. That’s why gambling is referred to as games of chance. High-stakes gambling is high-stakes investments; it can be a high-stakes move for love, career, or some other major life decision… simply put, putting it all on the line.

Donald Trump is a high-stakes gambler– win big or lose big, either way, boasting a win. That’s how high-stakes gamblers play. To them, the game is never over. There’s always another hand, another roll, or another spin.

High-stakes gamblers may gamble on absolutely anything– pro sports, college sports, high school sports, or which of several pigeons will take off first from the ledge of a building.

Donald Trump gambled on Trump University, Trump Casinos, Trump Neck-Ties, Trump Wine and Trump Steaks, many of which landed him in court, sued for any number of improprieties or broken laws.

To high-stakes gamblers or “High-Rollers,” laws are just rules and rules are for chumps. In “John Wick 2,” underworld sage, Winston, says “Rules… without them we live with the animals.” High-stakes gamblers take on animal-like characteristics, as they “go in for the kill”. The carnivorous blood-lust they appear to experience when they go in for the big take-down is the rush that puts the “high” in high-stakes.

When you understand the high-stakes gambler, you understand Trump, a man so many intellectuals seem to have difficulty understanding. A high-stakes man will look for any advantage, any weakness, any tell. It’s no more complicated than a matter of advantage or odds– tall grass, camouflage, stealth.“The Art of the Deal” could be more aptly named, “The Art of War.” Sun Tzu said in “The Art of War” “All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”  In other words, “bluff”!!

The President has been called virtually every possible variety of liar, not the least of which is pathological. Journalist/Commentator, Fareed Zakaria called Donald Trump a “B.S. Artist.” The point is, to a big game hunter, it’s all the same, they’re all the same. To him it’s gamesmanship, the art of war.

When a high-stakes gambler goes “all-in”, he or she will justify any play that renders them a win. A bluff is a test of an opponents will, and they know not everyone has the stomach for it– Trump depends on it. Win big, or lose big, but remember, they never lose because the game is never over.

Donald Trump inherited a real estate empire from his father, Fred, who inherited a highly successful New York real estate development firm from his father Friedrich, but Donald, through an insatiable appetite for the big-win took the Trump brand global. Bankruptcy after bankruptcy, law suit after law suit, Trump continued to up the ante and raise the stakes.

Upping the ante to a point where the gambler goes “bust” or loses his or her stake yet wants to continue gambling believing their luck will change, is the classic profile of the compulsive gambler. A compulsive gambler or one suffering from a gambling disorder or addiction will hock everything they own for one more bet. The compulsive gambler cannot just walk away. They don’t know when to hold ‘em or know when to fold ‘em. They don’t know when to walk away and they don’t know when to run.

Trump is gambling the house now, he’s all-in, the highest stakes of his life—the U.S., the world. The problem is, it’s our house, with all that we know, own and love, and we’re all watching… the world is watching, as if in slow-motion, as he loses it all!

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