20160309 (advisor)

Everybody has somebody whose advice they'd trust, right?

Did Ben Carson or Donald Trump

Have no trusted friends or confidants

Who could call them aside into a

Private conference and say to them

As kindly or as brutally as it would

Take to tell either of them, “Ben/Donald,

In all honesty you do not have the

Wherewithal to be president however

Much you think you have the money

To run for president.” Such a person

Might be a confessor, a professor, a

Shoe-shiner, or a parking attendant

They have come to know and regard

Over the years. Of Dr. Carson (to take 

The more obvious of the two cases)

An advocate should have warned him 

Against the fickle nature of the

Electorate who might warm to him 

Early on but would not support him

Once they began to see his positions.

“Ben, you can’t reasonably maintain

People chose their sexual preferences.

Read the literature. You’re a man of 

Science, don’t forget. And you’ve no

Background in foreign affairs. They 

Will eat you alive. Is that what you

Want people to remember about you?”

Now the second case will be much 

More difficult. Somebody has to be

Able to stand up to Mr. Trump and

Not be intimidated: I would suggest

An NBC ratings monitor exec Donald

Couldn’t afford to push around. He 

Needs his shows for the adulation

If not the money. “Donald,” I’d have

Him say, “the whole country will

Laugh you off the stage the minute

You open your mouth. We may not 

Think they’re very bright but

Except for hustling a bunch of

Hungarian broads for a green card

What have you got to offer the 

Average voting Joe & Ginny

Six-Pack? You might push a 

Short senator around but mention

That wall and you’ll have to wait 

Till November for the giggling

To stop. What if they bring up all

Your failed efforts, or the lawsuits?

You know the saying how it’s

Better to let people think you’re

Stupid than open your mouth

And remove all doubt? This is

Your old pal, Donny. We go ‘way

Back. I’m not gonna let you hurt

Yourself this way. Bow out gracefully

Now. Say you didn’t realize how

Much time and energy it would take

And you really want to spend that

Time with the family. I beg you,

For your own sake.” But for all

I know some confidant did make

Such appeals in a genuine last-minute

Attempt to keep the train from

Plowing into the mountain where

Someone had painted a tunnel

Entrance. But maybe it was like

Those hangers-on who couldn’t

Control Michael Jackson with 

Well-placed words of caution. 

If they did speak up—they’re out. 

Or maybe because they needed 

The money celebrities pay for 

Yes-men, they didn’t speak up. 

So much for devotion.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016