Analogies

Breaking it down.

A friend with kids of 13, 10 and 8 asked how to explain what is going on with President Trump to them because they don't understand what is happening but are hearing it all the time. The Trump indictments are coming up in some of their current events discussions at school and the kids are asking how someone who has been charged with crimes can still run for president. If you get the idea that the teachers are heavily favoring the idea that Trump can’t, you would not be wrong.

She is a single mom, smart, but not that political, so she was looking for an analogy her kids could understand.

This is what I told her:

You are at the airport and your flight is overbooked. It's you and Joe Biden waiting to board, both have tickets but there is only one seat left and one will have to be bumped. Joe suggests you flip a coin, you agree and you ask a random person standing in the gate area if they will help.

A woman volunteers, produces a quarter and flips it high in the air.

Joe calls heads, you have tails. When she reaches out to catch it, another person in the crowd reaches out and hits her arm, knocking the coin to the floor. As it rolls away into the crowd, another random person, three people deep into the crowd picks it up and yells, "I got it, it is heads! Joe wins!"

You protest because nobody saw the process or whether it really was heads or tails, and when you ask the person who has the coin to show it, he shoves it in his pocket and just says, "It was heads, I wouldn't lie." As he steps out of the crowd, he is wearing a "I'm Ridin' with Biden" t-shirt.

Joe starts to pick up his gear and head for the gate and you stop him and say "Hey, you need to stop. This wasn't fair." Biden pushes you back and says, "Hands off, fat. I won, you lost. That's a fact, Jack. Just ask him," as he points to the dude in the t-shirt.

The guy in the t-shirt screams, "I can't believe you would question my integrity just because I support Joe and you didn't see me pick up the coin! Just ask anyone out of the group of Democrats with whom I'm traveling!"

"Yeah, he's totally honest", said a woman with an "I'm With Her" backpack.

So, you appeal to the gate agent. She says she has no authority to order a investigation or redo a coin flip. As far as she is concerned the flip was legit.

You stop the airport security dudes and they refuse to listen because the don't get involved in coin flips - but they do tell you if you continue to make a scene, they will detain you and turn you over to the local authorities.

You immediately ask to see the station manager of the airline as Joe flips you the bird, yells "See, I told you I won!", spins on his heel and walks down the Jetway to board the flight. You yell, "Hey!" and start toward the gate but the airport rent-a-cops grab your wrists, take you into custody, saying "We told you to calm down."

Then the local cops come. You try to tell your story, and they tell you it is too late, they must enforce the law and the airport mall cops said you broke the law.

The airport management team of Bragg, Willis and Smith, presses charges of creating a public disturbance but instead of getting a ticket, they release you on $5000 bond, tell you that you can't fly until the trial is over and then set a trial date right smack in the middle of the biggest revenue generating convention for your business, which was the reason you were traveling in the first place.

And that's where we are.