The Meaning of Headlines: 'trump'

The Meaning of Headlines: 'trump' - politics

The Opinion section of The Dallas Morning News published an article on March 9, 2016, with the headline: ‘Thomas L. Friedman: Only Trump can trump Trump now.’ Three trumps! What does that mean?

The article is referring to businessman and Republican presidential candidate in this year’s election in the United States of America – Donald Trump.

But what does ‘only Trump can trump Trump’ mean? The Free Dictionary defines the word ‘trump’ as a suit in card games that outranks all other suits for the duration of the hand. It is a trump card. It is also defined as ‘a key resource to be used at an opportune moment’ and ‘to get the better of (an adversary or competitor, for example) by using a crucial, often hidden resource.’ It is actually a derivative of the word ‘triumph’ meaning ‘to win.’

The article notes that, at the time of writing, Donald Trump was leading the Republican nominations to contest the presidential vote in November 2016. He is the front runner – winning the Republican votes for the opportunity to run for presidency. The article says ‘no wonder so many Republicans are voting for Trump on the basis of what they think is in his guts. All the other Republican candidates have none.’ Guts is the colloquial word for stomach, or for fortitude – bravery.

The article discusses Trumps advantages – his ‘aces’ – which is a reference to card games. The top card – the ace – trumps (beats or outranks) other cards. The author says Trump’s aces are: (1) ‘he will have no problem playing the moderate unifier’ (2) ‘he will reap enormous political benefits’ if ‘God forbid, there is a major terrorist attack on our soil between now and Election Day’ and (3) he will ‘go after Hillary Clinton in ways you never heard before.’ The author adds: ‘But Trump is also holding two jokers with those aces’ and explains what these are: (1) ‘one day he may go too far’ and (2) his supporters may go too far (both in regard to political correctness). The author concludes that ‘in short, only Trump can trump Trump.’

Scorecard for The Dallas Morning News headline is 100%. The author reinforces his use of the card game reference by describing Trump’s winning and losing ‘tricks’ – his three aces and his two jokers. Donald Trump is also called The Donald – primarily because there is no one quite like him. He is the only one – he is unique! The author highlights The Donald’s uniqueness by adding that no one can outrank him, beat him, or get the better of him, except The Donald himself.

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20160309-thomas-l.-friedman-only-trump-can-trump-trump-now.ece

Image courtesy of theblaze.com

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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