I never got past gin rummy, which I learned to play as a kid because my whole family was into it, and I must have absorbed it through some sort of mental osmosis. In general, though, card games just don’t hold any interest for me.

My mother, on the other hand, was an avid bridge player, and belonged to a bridge club that met once a week to play, not for money, but because they really loved it. I still remember hearing them — when it was my mother’s turn to host the game at our house — calling out their bids. I always wondered what a “trick” was, and what “three-no-trump” meant; but I honestly didn’t care enough to find out.

What brought on this little surge of nostalgia was the day’s surfeit of news about you-know-who, which in some circuitous manner reminded me of those long-ago bridge games. So I looked it up, and this is what Google gave me as a definition for the term “trump” as it relates to the card game:

“In Bridge, a trump refers to any card from a designated trump suit, which has special powers that allow it to win tricks over any card of a non-trump (plain) suit.”

And suddenly it all became blindingly clear . . . the key to Donald Trump’s psyche:

“ . . . trump . . . has special powers that allow it to win tricks . . .”

He sees life as a f**king card game, with unlimited stakes and himself holding all the winning tricks!

It’s so unbelievably simple. Now all we have to do is figure out how to trump Trump’s trump card. Where is Charles Goren when we really need him? (Sadly, dead.)

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
9/27/25