Trump’s ‘Gold Card’ Citizenship Is a Classic Setup

In two weeks, President Trump plans to start selling an American citizenship “gold card” for “about $5 million.” A magician never shares his secrets, but this offers a chance to peel back the curtain on a classic trick where any outcome is a win — in this case, on his signature issue of immigration.Like the great illusionist, Harry Houdini, Mr. Trump laid out what we’re about to see in exciting terms. The gold card, he told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, would give “green card privileges” and “a route to citizenship.”A good magician draws the audience’s focus to one hand to conceal what the other is doing. “What the eye sees,” Houdini said, “the ear hears, and the mind believes.” This is at the core of Mr. Trump’s magic, a talent concealed by lots of smoke.The commerce secretary, Howard Lutnik, explained the details of replacing the 35-year-old EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, which offers a green card for $1.05 million investment in a business. He said the EB-5 “was full of nonsense, make-believe, and fraud.” Like any member of Houdini’s audience, worried about the risks. “Would a Russian oligarch,” one reporter asked, “be eligible for a gold card?” Mr. Trump chuckled and leaned into the death-defying act. “Yeah,” he said with a smile. “Possibly.” Mr. Lutnick stressed that all applicants would be “vetted” before the president shifted back to weaving the illusion. “If we sell a million,” Mr. Trump said, “that’s $5 trillion.” He envisioned “wealthy” and “successful” people “spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people.” He didn’t mention that only about 13,000 people apply for the cheaper EB-5 each year.“I think we will sell a lot” of the gold cards, Mr. Trump said, “because I think there’s really a thirst.” This evoked the kind of imagery that strategists are paid to achieve. “Hunger” or “desire” would’ve been weaker. “Thirst” conjures crawling through the desert.Next, like Houdini topping his escape from chains by doing it underwater, Mr. Trump raised the stakes. He said that selling 10 million gold cards might pay off the national debt. It “could be great. Maybe it will be fantastic.” The showmanship obscured obvious questions. Why pay five times as much for a gold card as the EB-5 and be subject to one of the world’s strictest tax systems? Plus, globally, only about 8.4 million people have net worths that reach $5 million. That 12 percent of the $5 million club will take Mr. Trump up on his offer is no more realistic than Houdini sawing a woman in half without killing her. But magicians count on the audience not looking too close and wanting to believe in magic. By laying out his proposal, Mr. Trump — who has made immigration his platform — has already succeeded. He fixed a price of $5 million on American citizenship. Why, this implied, give it away for free?Even if Mr. Trump’s gold card is punched, he’ll declare that it could have solved all of America’s revenue woes. That’s not an uncommon trick in politics. No matter what, the illusion will endure.Like Houdini, Mr. Trump always ensures that he’ll survive his death-defying feats. It’s key that those watching believe that there’s a real risk of failure. They need to buy into the premise that something big is at stake.“No other country can do this,” Mr. Trump said of the gold card, “because people don’t want to go to other countries. They want to come here.” He didn’t mention that a president cannot pull a new visa out of his hat. Congress will have to create the gold card via legislation.Opponents may succeed in defeating the proposal. They may point out, in addition to the facts above, that many countries offer “golden visas.” But calling out what Mr. Trump called “truthful hyperbole” in “The Art of the Deal” has never succeeded in breaking his magic wand.To defeat the gold card, critics will have to talk about it. Each time they do, the idea of citizenship being worth $5 million will be whispered into everyone’s ears. Mr. Trump even mentioned boosting the price to $10 million, making $5 million a this-deal-can’t-last bargain.Mr. Trump may have come to politics late, but he has been a performer all his life. The secret to understanding his act is not getting distracted by his sleight of hand. Instead, look through the smoke for what the audience is never meant to see — and remember that he always has a card up his sleeve.

Trump’s ‘Gold Card’ Citizenship Is a Classic Setup

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