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Home Trump and Obama at the Barbershop

Trump and Obama at the Barbershop

Trump is shaking Obama's hand on the fuzzy screen of the big television hanging precariously over an empty barbershop chair.

It's a hot day outside. The limp flag of the barbershop hangs low. Inside a circle of black and Latino men peer up at the television and shake their heads. "Sheeit," one says, dragging the sound out.

It's not hostile. It's as much wonderment as anything else. Like the rest of us, they are seeing the impossible.

"It's like a miracle," another says. "I stayed up all night and I couldn't believe it."

The noise of three barbers, black men working their trade in the second most hallowed neighborhood institution after the Baptist church, makes it hard to hear what Obama and Trump are saying to each other.

Despite the best efforts of the Democratic Party machine, there's no hostility toward Trump here. There's bafflement, amusement and respect. "Sick" is a common term of approbation for him.

The media had sought to depict Trump's birth certificate comments as racist, but few here buy that.

"He did what he had to do," one says. "He played the game."

There's nothing personal about it. Trump did what he had to do to win. Just like they do what they have to do. The election was a rap battle where you can say anything you want about the other guy, but it doesn't matter. It's just machismo and bravado. It's a game. Trump was a player. And they're not gonna be playa haters. Even if it's the biggest game in the world.

Trump and Obama compliment each other in a scene that strikes much of the country as surreal. But not at the barbershop.

"When it's out there, they fighting. When it's just the two of them, they good," one says.

"They gonna smoke a blunt together," another says and laughs.

There's a holographic picture of Obama at his first inauguration on the wall. When you tilt your head, he almost seems to be coming out of it. Next to him is an old black and white of Martin Luther King. To reflect the neighborhood's changing demographics, there's another one of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, one of Caesar Chavez and an Asian man in a khaki suit that I can't even begin to identify.

The live Obama on the television looks old and shrunken compared to his holographic doppleganger. Like today's Bill Clinton, you wonder that he ever seemed so vital a nemesis once upon a time.

Obama is still an icon in the black community. He's the first black president. But nobody here expected that to last forever. They still like him and his picture will hang on walls for generations.

But they're also moving on.

Trump is the kind of Republican they can understand and respect. "We need money," one man chants. "We don't wanna be on welfare. We want the money."

A barber takes a call while working on a customer. "Gotta get that money," he says apologetically.

The Koch Brothers flavor of free market education would fall flat here. But Trump's kind of capitalism they can get behind.

"He's got his own plane. He's got an air force," a customer observes.

"If I were a billionaire, I'd be an asshole too," says another.

Trump thanks Obama. The event wraps up. "That's all," Obama tells the press.

"You tell 'em to get out," a barber shouts. "That's right."

The media tried to get men like this to hate Trump. But black turnout lagged. At the barbershop they don't hate Trump. They didn't vote for him, but they respect him. They want to pull together now.

They want the country fixed and made right again.

The violent freeway protests, the shutdowns and fires, the vandalized police cars, baffle them. "What are they trying to do?" they wonder.

The left has lost nationally. But its grip even in places like this was always shaky. The left excelled at manipulation. It played on grievances and offered freebies. But there's a hard ambition here and a culture that the left never had a grip on. The barbershop is one of the more conservative outposts of the black community, but it'll never fly the elephant or vote GOP. But it has much more culturally in common with Trump and his voters than it does with the left that waged war against him.

Black culture has been crippled and twisted, but it's still about ambition and achievement. The left has seduced the black community, but it doesn't truly understand it or control it.

Comments

  1. Anonymous10/11/16

    Daniel,

    thank you for all your hard work in frontpagemag leading up to the election!

    could you please explain why the popular vote is 60.1M for clinton and only 59.8M for trump? where is the silent majority? how can 60M people choose such evil? do you think it was rigged nonetheless and but a miracle occurred whereby the number of real voters overwhelmed the rigged margin?

    thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous10/11/16

    I've always said Trump was being maligned unfairly and was grossly misunderstood...first, he's an independent not a Republican..and second and most importantly he's not as divisive as everyone thinks...

    Trump is a deal maker, a man who compromises...and as of now he may be the perfect man for the job for this crazy mixed up country.

    After his gracious speech where he told the Democrats to present a "to do" list and his meeting with Obama which Obama said was excellent it is becoming apparent Donald is a true American patriot...

    He went into the White House and set Obama straight...and not by a hard line approach...

    they misunderstood what America First meant...its for ALL Americans...

    he's a smoothie, this guy....if he has one drawback at this point he may disappoint his base by his willingness to compromise as his allure has been his tapping into a vein of anger that many white Americans felt...

    his base needs to get this point out there to help him...if they can do that Trump may set the standard for future American leaders...and shame the evil, race baiting left and reveal to those in the middle just what these radical elements are fomenting against...if they go on in their trespasses then we need to stand up for him, for these fascist protests, while they may just be venting, should be met with overwhelming numbers to show these evil trouble makers enough is enough...

    the white man needs to get off his couch and help heal the country through strength, while we still can...we've had it easy long enough, we need to pay the price like our ancestors did for our wonderful way of life...we OWE it to them...to protect their reputations is first and foremost...the country needs us, our children needs us

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10/11/16

    absolutely brilliant analysis...the Sultan goes where others can't

    ReplyDelete
  4. Y. Ben-David10/11/16

    I usually agree with you but I can't get it out of my mind that Trump got less than 50% of the vote and fewer popular votes than Hillary. The country is deeply divided. I don't believe the Left is going to take this defeat lying down. Although we saw that the unprecedented Soviet-style media campaign against Trump (on an average day during the campaign, the Washington Post had an average of SEVEN hostile headlines on their web site against Trump, i.e. "Trump is evil", "Trump is dangerous", "All Republicans hate Trump, "Trump is a fascist", etc, etc) I think were will see an unremitting campaign against him and his administration, on a daily basis.
    This is what happened in Israel in 1996. Only a few months after Rabin's assassination, Netanyahu was elected Prime Minister even though the Leftist-controlled media wrongly, and despicably claimed he was indirectly responsible for what happened. They were on his case every day and it eroded his political base, even turning erstwhile political allies against him, leading to his defeat three years later, in spite of the fact that his government's policies were successful.
    I am afraid we are going to see a repeat of these Left-wing tactics. Yes, Obama talked about "national unity" and how Trump was the legitimately elected President, but we all know that they disparage their political opponents and do not truly feel loyalty to America as a nation of ALL its citizens. Those who support the "people's uprising" you described must remain on their guard and not be taken in by the anti-conservative campaign I fear is coming/

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Dow Industrial Average is headed much higher, impelled by better business conditions for all, including barber shops. Trump the supposed protectionist is about to rewrite the manual for trade agreements. Forget the veiled threats and high-tariff buzz -- he's going to do deals that everyone will see as win-win. And even before he dumps Obamacare, a stroke of the pen will greatly alleviate the burden it has placed on small businesses. It's hard to imagine any individual taking on the press and winning. But Trump's many detractors are about to be cowed into silence by his success, and by that of a Congress which will finally be able to get things done.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you dearest Most High. You answered our prayers. I am so grateful. "I got a room at the top of the world tonight. And I ain't comin' down!" Thank you dearest Mr. Greenfield for your eloquence and truth. God bless America.

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  7. I forgot to credit Tom Petty. He wrote "Room at the Top." I played Tom's song Wednesday morning and cried in disbelief.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Just a Common 'tater11/11/16

    The working folks you described in your post are not the guys protesting on the streets. They will be seen as uncle Toms, Oreos, and similar because they did not actively support the local thugs and "activists." The left is just getting started. HRC gave the go ahead when she vowed to continue the fight. The well moneyed Silicon Valley super liberals (the new self-appointed ruling elite) are seriously trying to get a California secession movement going. Note the big red star on the flag.

    No folks, the real working Black, Latino, and Asian groups that did not vote or go along as "directed" by the activists will be the first to feel the squeeze. I seriously doubt the left will drop the issue.

    We have only been through the first two rounds of what promises to be a 10 round MMA style cage fight. The greatest danger time is from now until DT can seal the border, get our defenses back on track, and get the economy moving in the right direction.

    We will need more than luck. Perhaps there was some Divine intervention to date. I hope so, we will probably need more of it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous11/11/16


    Those mature men at the barbershop have a low-key dignity, revered in their circle, invisible to elites. Being pandered to is an affront. They know the futility of pinning their hope on the condescender du jour.

    They understand: tough but fair, fighter, keep promises, straight talk. Rare in any politician. They're watching...

    ABSJ1136

    ReplyDelete
  10. "could you please explain why the popular vote is 60.1M for clinton and only 59.8M for trump?"

    Concerning the popular vote totals -- Steve Feinstein at American Thinker: Hillary Wins the Popular Vote -- Not

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous12/11/16

    If leftists are not defanged with some sort of modern times HUAC they will rise up again bolder than ever, consider that after HRC there is a vacancy not self-respecting leftist wouldn't die for.

    ReplyDelete
  12. AesopFan12/11/16

    There's nothing personal about it. Trump did what he had to do to win. Just like they do what they have to do. The election was a rap battle where you can say anything you want about the other guy, but it doesn't matter. It's just machismo and bravado. It's a game. Trump was a player. And they're not gonna be playa haters. Even if it's the biggest game in the world.

    * * *
    They understood Trump's persona during the WWE schtick and as The Apprentice boss; most of the GOP leaders and the primary candidates did not. And this guy agrees with me!
    http://www.centraljersey.com/news/around-the-horn-trump-expertly-executed-the-greatest-professional-wrestling/article_0f898e1e-a83e-11e6-8fd1-173430757555.html

    ReplyDelete
  13. Possible or probable explanation of popular vote is here:
    http://www.hackingdemocracy.com/

    Bev Harris work:explanation of USA voting machines 80% digital
    http://blackboxvoting.org/

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous13/11/16

    Steve Feinstein at American Thinker is wrong, ALL absentee ballots are counted...http://www.uselections.com/faq_absentee.htm#3

    ReplyDelete

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