August 3, 2015

Donald Trump has invaded my dreams.

Yesterday, in "Hitting the wall," I confessed that I watched 4 of the Sunday talk shows and listened to at least 3 phoned-in Trump interviews, hashing and rehashing the same few questions.

Last night, I dreamed that I was talking to someone about Trump. I was expressing what seemed to be rather interesting theories, none of which I can remember now, probably because there were no actual theories in the dream, but only the perception that I was explaining an interesting theory. And then I look over and see that Donald Trump has been eavesdropping, listening to my theory, and I'm able to talk to him about what he thinks about it. The dream seemed to have 3 more scenes, in each of which I'm talking about Trump and then realize that he's here again, eavesdropping. How strange it was that this keeps happening to me!

That's beyond the point in a dream where I ought to get to the thought that this is a dream and then to achieve a lucid dream. I can achieve a lucid dream, once the thought occurs within a dream, by trying to look at my own hands. Then comes the fun. I can do anything I want, even things that would violate social (and legal!) norms in real life. But I didn't get there in that series of dreams, even though I had good reason to arrive at the threshold realization that this must be a dream.

If I had begun my lucid dream, what would I have done?

ADDED: In the comments, tim in vermont said: "Stop thinking about Trump. Think about Walker." And I said:
Unlike the rest of America, we the people of Wisconsin have been thinking about Walker for 5 years. I can't remember ever dreaming about him. I don't normally dream about celebrities. That's why this dreaming about Trump is freaky. 
That reminded me of an old Isthmus advice column, published in back in 2012, blogged here, with a letter from a woman who loathed Scott Walker but kept having dreams — sexual dreams — about him. She signed her letter "Violated." The advice columnist gives stupid advice, but Meade does a comment over there that still amuses me after all these years: "Dear Violated: First of all you have not been violated. You have been the violaTOR... of your marriage, of your husband's due respect, and of your own fantasies."

And speaking of still being amused after all these years, today is the 6th anniversary of the wedding of Meade and Althouse.

DSC_0032

ALSO: In the comments, Terry says: "It is not beyond possibility that Trump is using his psychic powers to invade the dreams of Althouse." And I say:
What if Trump is invading everyone's dreams? It's as good an explanation as any for what's been going on lately.

And have you ever considered that all of existence is a dream dreamed by Donald Trump? Perhaps we are all unreal, just scenery in his dream. The question then is whether he has achieved the lucid dream state and knows that he can do anything he wants to us, and what does he want?
UPDATE ADDED IN APRIL 2020: On May 9, 2016, I told you something extra about what I thought was this same dream:
I thanked him, effusively, for teaching us to have the courage to speak freely.
In that post, I also said:
I especially like the idea that Trump is teaching us that it works to speak forthrightly about what we think. That might not be true. It might work only for Trump — maybe he has some weird communication genius — but I hope people can absorb and process the lesson and make it work for themselves.
I did not go on to vote for Trump. I considered him too weird to be President (forcing me to vote for his opponent, whom I did not like at all). But he's meanT something important to me all this time, and I've been immunized from hating him. I always want to understand him, and I'm really listening to him.

55 comments:

Mike Sylwester said...

Stop thinking about Trump. Think about Walker.

tim in vermont said...

I want to hear garage tell us about Walker stalking his dreams.

Remember when Althouse was going to avoid talking about Trump and he was going to go away through sympathetic magic?

Ann Althouse said...

"Stop thinking about Trump. Think about Walker."

Unlike the rest of America, we the people of Wisconsin have been thinking about Walker for 5 years. I can't remember ever dreaming about him. I don't normally dream about celebrities. That's why this dreaming about Trump is freaky.

Original Mike said...

"If I had begun my lucid dream, what would I have done?"

Tie him up and stick him in a closet until after the election.

CStanley said...

I'm more interested in why you had this dream.

I would think, as a pretty well known blogger, that celebrities and politicians are sometimes aware of what you write....and that you probably sometimes feel that they are reacting to what you write. I'm struck by the idea that Trump was eavesdropping in your dream, as it seems similar to that possibility of him reading your blogposts and you having the ability to influence him through your writing.

So I guess what I'm suggesting is that perhaps your lucid dreaming could take the form of writing blogposts that cause him to do whatever it is you would wish for him to do.

robother said...

When you finally meet the Man of Your Dreams, the possibilities are endless.

Bob Ellison said...

I woke up yesterday morning doing the trumpet fingerings to "Do You Love Me?" from Fiddler on the Roof. Trump was not in that scene.

Bay Area Guy said...

I don't want to invade the province of Mr. Spatula, but it sounds like Ann has a crush on the Donald:)

Roughcoat said...

All dreams are about sex. Discuss.

Lewis Wetzel said...

It is not beyond possibility that Trump is using his psychic powers to invade the dreams of Althouse. To what purpose is yet unknown. Perhaps Trump wants to start a dream bowling team?
A good name for such a team would be "The Sandmen."


Say your prayers, little one
Don't forget, my son
To include everyone

Tuck you in, warm within
Keep you free from sin
Till the Sandman he comes

Sleep with one eye open
Gripping your pillow tight

Exit: light
Enter: night
Take my hand
We're off to never never land

Amexpat said...

Thinking of a series of dreams
Where the time and the tempo fly
And there’s no exit in any direction
’Cept the one that you can’t see with your eyes
Wasn’t making any great connection
Wasn’t falling for any intricate scheme
Nothing that would pass inspection
Just thinking of a series of dreams

Coconuss Network said...

Trump aside. Happy Anniversary Annie & Meade !!
Trump is a floodlight at the moment, but will dim some in time. He's definitely a character. I had another flying dream. Never often. And the dreams lately have been so vivid and I remember the dreams in the morning. Lots of chemistry, I guess.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

As predicted, all the women want him, consciously or unconsciously. It is going to be a Trumpocalypse™.

WisRich said...

21 days, 162 posts,

Now with two judicial restraint orders on PP, one of them from a Judge who was a bundler for Obama.

No interest from the Althouse blog on PP criminality? Not even the legal aspects of the restraint orders?

I can see why your dreaming about Trump.

ndspinelli said...

Was he on a big, white, horse?

Laslo Spatula said...

"If I had begun my lucid dream, what would I have done?"

You would have dressed him in short pants. That in itself would be a starting point for discussion.

I am Laslo

tim in vermont said...

@WisRich, If your position is that abortion is just the removal of a tissue mass, or that no human being is harmed during an abortion, then the PP video is a game changer. If your position is like mine, that abortion is infanticide, worse than throwing your baby in a dumpster where at least it has a chance, but that laws against it, to be effective, would be worse. Imagine homicide detectives hunting down young ladies who are suspected of having an abortion. And laws against it that are ineffective are hypocrisy, basically, the PP videos change nothing. I already knew that the practice has more than a passing resemblance to Nazi 'genetic sanitation' programs.

To me a much more powerful argument is that more black children were aborted than born in NYC last year. Another resemblance to Nazi programs.

khesanh0802 said...

"To me a much more powerful argument is that more black children were aborted than born in NYC last year. Another resemblance to Nazi programs." … and we thought eugenics were in disgrace on the left.

Hagar said...

A totally bankrupt Democrat Party moves to replace Hillary! as candidate with Joe Biden if there is one straw too many and the camel's back breaks.

Is a dream about a presidential race with The Donald against Slow Joe to be considered a dream or a nightmare?

sparrow said...

Tim

How would laws against abortion be worse than over 45 million dead? If you believe that the unborn are children, as I do , it's hard to imagine worse. Our society have developed, or rather tho courts have imposed, a very neat socially acceptable genocide. The scale and pervasiveness of it daunts me to be honest and I want desperately to minimize and ignore it but the reality is inescapable. Humanity is cruel and that cruelty is commonplace: so ordinary as to be unremarkable.

Michael said...

Wow, I had a dream about Trump last night too! I was interviewing him for a webcast but with only one camera pointed at me, and I kept wondering if people listening thought that is wasn't really him. But it was! And I remember thinking, how does Althouse get that split-screen setup for her videos? I said to him, "You know you're very much disliked by people on both sides. How do you expect to get elected?"

He was really nice.

policraticus said...

If you have Trump in a lucid dream and you don't closely investigate the true nature of his pompadour, then you will have squandored your gift. His hair, after all, is the most interesting thing about him.

chickelit said...

A sandy-colored clown they call the canned man
Tiptoes to your room every night
Just to sprinkle stardust and to whisper
'Go to sleep. Everything is all right.'

Ann Althouse said...

"It is not beyond possibility that Trump is using his psychic powers to invade the dreams of Althouse."

What if Trump is invading everyone's dreams? It's as good an explanation as any for what's been going on lately.

And have you ever considered that all of existence is a dream dreamed by Donald Trump? Perhaps we are all unreal, just scenery in his dream. The question then is whether he has achieved the lucid dream state and knows that he can do anything he wants to us, and what does he want?

mikee said...

Trump loses any debate in which an opposition candidate says something like, "If you aren't even honest enough with yourself to admit you're bald, why should the rest of the country trust you?"

chickelit said...

Has anyone considered that Donald Trump is a natural and completely predictable political reaction to the Obama Administration and its political privations?

MayBee said...

I'm happy for you that Trump sent Meade your way, and allowed you to marry 6 years ago. Happy Anniversary to the three of you!

chickelit said...

Trump loses any debate in which an opposition candidate says something like, "If you aren't even honest enough with yourself to admit you're bald, why should the rest of the country trust you?"

Has Biden joked about his own hair loss? I may have missed it.

MayBee said...

Has anyone considered that Donald Trump is a natural and completely predictable political reaction to the Obama Administration and its political privations?

chickelit- you hit the nail on the head. CNN is right this minute reporting on the phenomenon of Trump, immediately after having John Avalon (the Moderate!) on to praise Obama's joy in going all executive action. But they, I think, don't see the connection.

cubanbob said...

AReasonableMan said...

As predicted, all the women want him, consciously or unconsciously. It is going to be a Trumpocalypse™.

8/3/15, 8:20 AM

As the great Sophie Tucker once said "its just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as a poor man". She also once said "I've been rich and I've been poor and rich is better."

You know, you might be actually be on to something. My wife's theory is that Trump started out basically as a lark with no serious expectation of becoming a real candidate never mind the nominee and possible winner. Now that he has good poll numbers and real traction (for the moment) he just finally have realized it isn't just a fun game anymore but rather he has a real chance to win the nomination and be elected president. Its not for nothing that he is starting to organize a real campaign. I think she is right. I think Trump has had his Holy Shit! I could win this thing epiphany.

Laslo Spatula said...

What would an Althouse lucid dream about Laslo be like.

For now, I will use my imagination.


I am Laslo.

cubanbob said...

MayBee said...

Has anyone considered that Donald Trump is a natural and completely predictable political reaction to the Obama Administration and its political privations?

chickelit- you hit the nail on the head. CNN is right this minute reporting on the phenomenon of Trump, immediately after having John Avalon (the Moderate!) on to praise Obama's joy in going all executive action. But they, I think, don't see the connection.

8/3/15, 9:30 AM

Speaking of rule by executive action perhaps its projection on my part can anyone see any of the Republican candidates other than Trump with the stones to go straight to the oval office right after the inauguration and signing a presidential order that negates every presidential order and every regulation passed during the Obama Administration along with abrogating any deals Obama made and order a complete stop to every agency in issuing regulations for an indefinite period of time?

Pettifogger said...

Trump is fodder for nightmares:

Trump v. Clinton: Despair, despondency, converting assets to gold and burying them in the backyard.

Trump v. Sanders: See above only on an accelerated schedule.

Trump v. Webb: I might vote Democrat for the first time in 40 years. Then convert assets to gold and bury in the backyard.

MadisonMan said...

What if Trump is invading everyone's dreams?


Donald Trump as the Master. That story was done already.

Wilbur said...

Ted Cruz would have the stones to do it.

WisRich said...

tim in vermont said...

Thanks for the response. Looking back at my post it may have appeared my comment was directed at the posters here. They were not. They were directed at Ann.

This is a hot but very uncomfortable national topic although you wouldn't know it from watching and reading the MSM. They have put a virtual embargo on any news, democratic judges are trying suppress any information getting out, and we get one "harrowing" post from Ann along with goofy Hillary post.

I know people here are interested in the issue.

kcom said...

Men in shorts anywhere and everywhere.

Women in flip-flops anywhere and everywhere.

Is there a difference?

Mike Sylwester said...

Stop thinking about tim in vermont. Think about Mike Sylwester

Earnest Prole said...

Dear Mr. Fantasy play us a tune
Something to make us all happy
Do anything, take us out of this gloom
Sing a song, play guitar, make it snappy

Lewis Wetzel said...

Trump's father's middle name was "Christ."
In some blasphemous folklore, the Gospels' references the Holy Spirit are really a coded reference to the natural son of Christ. An immortal, uncrucified demi-god, he becomes the anti-christ who destroys the world and brings on the end of days.
I know this news will frighten some people. Remember it's only folklore and probably has nothing to do with this son of Christ who is running for president.

richard mcenroe said...

People make a big deal about Sarah Palin living rent free in proglodytes' heads all these years. What does it mean when theory can't get Donald Trump out of their heads?

Marc in Eugene said...

Tim in Vermont, Mr Huckabee managed, the other day, to raise the specter of the FBI pursuing mothers who've procured abortions (I think he made a valid enough point in his prepared remarks, which didn't involve the F.bs and the cops, but he then went on to answer questions for which he wasn't prepared etc etc)-- I'm surprised that wasn't on the front pages of the Timeses of the world. Nothing that's remotely possible in the Congress will result in the criminalisation of abortion-- it is a sign of how politically weak the Right is that the Congress can't even stop federal funding across the board and don't care to ensure that partial birth abortion doesn't happen.

William said...

Trump, undeniably, acts like a jerk on occasion. It enhances his appeal as an alpha male. Anyone can get their way if they present a reasonable argument in a polite, deferential way. But only a true alpha male can win an argument in which the alpha is not only wrong but obnoxious in the presentation of his arguments. In the way that limited intelligence or sanity can enhance the appeal of a gorgeous woman for a man so can jerkiness enhance the appeal of a rich man for a woman. Remember Daisy stuck with Buchanan........My guess is that mist women who want to play fifty shades of gray would prefer to play the game with someone like Trump rather than someone like Walker.

traditionalguy said...

Dream away. The inner mind of a hearer has a relationship with Trumps words spoken with the timing of a great comedian that disarms us and sets up his punch line. That's addictive stuff.

The only defense to Trump is playing half of one of his sentences with the wrong context set up by the announcer, which is such bad propaganda that it makes me laugh.

The MSNBC and CNN interview wimps are unable to stop his answers try as they may blurting new questions meant to cut him off. Trump just says excuse me and keeps on talking.

But if a full 30 to 40 seconds of Trumpeses gets aired at once he gets a crafted message into the listeners.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rhhardin said...

My gf was mad about what I'd done in her dream.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

It's only when I have dreams about sex that I fully comprehend what I really want out of life.

walter said...

Was part of the dream Trump slowwwwlly screwing in a lightbulb..single-handedly?

Meade said...

And after all these years, I know so little about you. Just the fact that you had your teeth straightened. Heh..

hombre said...

Congratulations on your anniversary, Meade and Althouse. .

Does the dream signify that we have to begin to take Trump seriously? The Trump polls don't make the Democrats any less "the Evil Party," but they do cement the Republicans as "the Stupid Party" by bringing the rank and file Repubs, who should know better, into the mix. Think of it: Bush on the one side and Trump on the other. Shit!

If Bush gets the nomination and Trump goes third party, the Señora and I don't vote for POTUS. (We are apostate Democrats and don't vote for Democrats.) It will confirm my suspicions that the country is in the crapper. Imagine, Bush, Trump and Clinton? Biden? Bernie? Really??

traditionalguy said...

Donald Trump's Dream is emerging out of the inner most Althouse mind, and it has the word TRUMP written boldly onto Air Force One and Marine One and it has gold plated fixtures in the new Trump House at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

But the music is sad as Trump sings a Presidential ballad, "Many a year has past and gone, many a gamble has been lost and won and many a road taken by many a first friend and each one I've never seen again." He deported them all.

Michael K said...

Happy Anniversary, Ann and Meade.

My wife and I were married 36 years ago last month. Unfortunately, we were divorced 25 years ago but are back together. She has a grandson old enough to have kids and we were wondering if we should wait to get married again until a kid can say "I went to my great gramma's wedding the other day." Probably asking for trouble.

"Has Biden joked about his own hair loss? I may have missed it."

Hair plugs and not a word.

Siduri said...

Last week, this happened to me. I've been a conservative/libertarian woman all my life. I especially vote for Reagan conservatives, and I despise George H.W. Bush Republicans - they're just not my type.

I've also been very happily married for 21 years.

I dreamed that Donald Trump and I were - you know - doing it.

It was absolutely awful. I haven't even been *paying attention* to news stories about him. I usually look at his face, wince, and move on.

But I still have nightmares about Ross Perot. When I was in college, I took one listen to Bill Clinton on TV and he absolutely grossed me out. I knew him for a predator. So when he won because of Perot, I was absolutely furious.

Maybe this all is related somehow.

I actually pray now that I WILL NOT dream about Donald Trump. Agh.

chickelit said...

Siduri writes: I dreamed that Donald Trump and I were - you know - doing it.

Just to stretch the notion a bit--weren't sexual fantasies about Barack Obama quite common over the past couple election cycles (if people like Lena Dunham are to be believed). Why was that any more acceptable (or less repulsive), especially in view of Meade's comment:

"You have been the violaTOR... of your marriage, of your husband's due respect, and of your own fantasies."

a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...

There's a Freudian/ psychoanalytic term 'phallic narcissism.' Probably an equivalent common term for someone with an excess might be called a 'd-head.' One's narcissism is bound up in a sense of self and how one sees oneself reflected in the world. Perhaps if one felt neglected as an infant, inadequately seen as worthy to live, then in the later phallic phase, one would compensate by seeking to see oneself as especially worthy in a masculine or phallic way. Others might respond to the phallic presentation.