I’m not talking about Marvel movies although I thoroughly enjoyed that one. And this post isn’t really about chess despite the fact that its opening is about chess.
My brother is a lifelong chess aficionado. As a child, he studied chess openings and endgames. Chess is often divided into and studied as three game phases – the opening, the mid-game, and the endgame. Serious chess players don’t just learn the moves and then play opponents. They study the game. Chess has at least a thousand openings and variations – most openings consist of 30 or fewer moves. The endgame moves are easier to understand – every game ends in a draw or a victory for one side. I was thinking about endgames the other day as I wondered how the current Trump indictment drama will end.
For many political and social figures, the endgame is assassination – John and Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and many others. For Adolph Hitler, as for Jeffrey Epstein, the endgame was suicide. The endgame for Benito Mussolini was summary execution as he tried to escape Italy for refuge in Spain. For Emperor Hirohito, as for Nelson Mandela, the endgame was death in old age from infirmity.
The endgame for the rich and powerful is usually assassination, suicide, execution, and for the fortunate few, old age and illness – as it for most of us. In the case of Donald J. Trump, I can see any of these endgame variations:
- He is assassinated. I prefer that this occur in full public view and be committed by a military veteran with solid Republican bona fides and who is afflicted with an imminently terminal health condition. I don’t call for such a thing, but I admit that the event would please my sense of justice. I would remember the assailant as a national hero. Others would make a martyr of Trump, and that would be a serious downside of this endgame.
- He is jailed and commits suicide as did his buddy Epstein. This is entirely plausible because a narcissist, deprived of adoration, soon becomes despondent and depressed. I don’t see a downside to this endgame scenario. It would show his acolytes that their beloved orange lord was simply a big coward. It is unlikely that he would be remembered as a martyr.
- Execution is unlikely, but a long imprisonment for this old man would be tantamount to a life sentence or execution. This endgame would be a death of personality fitting to one whose ego was once nourished by a cult of personality.
- Old age and illness. This endgame awaits many of us – certainly me. I would be satisfied with that endgame for Trump if two conditions were satisfied. First, his demise must come before my own and sooner rather than later. I want to savor it. Second, it should occur while he is imprisoned.
If life is a game of chess, then we are all destined to lose the endgame. That is a fact of life, and that does not make us losers. What makes us either winners or losers is the way that we chose to live the time we were allotted.
Trump is already a loser. The endgame cannot change that.