The 2016 U. S. Presidential Campaign has been in full swing since March 2015, when Texas Senator Ted Cruz became the first person to announce his candidacy. Since that time, the primaries of the Republican and Democratic parties have divided many in the country. Not left out of this turmoil are some of poker’s biggest names, who have landed on both sides of the issue.
Most recently, poker professional Mike Matusow has been derided for adding his thoughts on the 2016 campaign, mostly because of the outlet and because he sounded completely unknowledgeable. On Infowars.com, the alt-right website that fully immerses itself in conspiracy theories (on such subjects as the 9/11 “truther” movement, the supposed New World Order, the Boston Marathon bombing and the Sandy Hook massacre), an article has appeared that claims Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was using hand signals during the first debate of the Presidential campaign to debate moderator Lester Holt, indicating what course to take during the 90-minute session. The video cited in the story claims that “(Clinton) used this gesture (scratching the side of her nose) to signal Holt on six different occasions.”
Writer Mike Cernovich, another conspiracy theorist, then asked Matusow directly over Twitter whether he saw “the signaling” between Clinton and Holt. Matusow then embarrasses himself by saying “I’ve watched the debate 3 times and never noticed!” Literally without any evidence, Matusow continues, “I felt the whole time she had the questions (another conspiracy theory amongst Trump supporters) but after watching that (writer’s note: remember, he said he watched it “three times and didn’t notice”) she definitely signals.” Elsewhere on his Twitter feed Matusow demonstrates full-blown tinfoil haberdashery range by claiming that a “cleaner” came in, took a folder from Clinton’s podium and handed it to Holt, among other things.
Matusow isn’t the only one diving into the political spectrum. Another rumble between poker powerhouses emerged when Doyle Brunson and Vanessa Selbst squared off over the debate forum of Twitter (and if you can’t figure out who was on what side, perhaps you aren’t as knowledgeable on your poker professionals as you profess). The battle began after Brunson chirped over Twitter in a reply to Erik Seidel saying Republican nominee Donald Trump was “like a cartoon villain, awful in every way” that he could “bet a lot of money (that he could name and prove)…many lies Hillary has said.”
This seemed to raise the ire of Selbst, who fired off to Brunson, “You’re just like the rest of the ignorant masses. Recycling talking points, making assertions, avoiding actual facts and logic.” The “Twitter war” was on at that point, with Brunson retorting that Selbst should unfollow him and that she “showed me (her) character when you welshed (sic) on Jason (Mercier during the famous “triple bracelet” World Series of Poker bet this year).” Selbst was undaunted, coming back by saying, “Yeah, paying $100K = welching. I doubt you want to start a debate about ethics in poker.” The debate continued, with Brunson getting ridiculed for his support of the late “Amarillo Slim” Preston during his child molestation case (and Brunson saying “F**k you” and calling someone a “piece of s**t” for bringing it up) and Selbst getting chastised for “not respecting her elders.”
A look across the social media of many poker professionals reveals a significant divide that often sparks intense discussions. On Trump’s side (along with Brunson and Matusow) are such players as Richard Sklar, Dusty ‘Leatherass’ Schmidt and Marcel Luske (an odd voice as he has no dog in the election of a U. S. president as a Dutch citizen) and many more. On Clinton’s side are recently naturalized U. S. citizen Daniel Negreanu (who has made political discussion a hot topic on his Twitter feed), Edward Moncada and presumably Seidel and Selbst, among others.
There is less than six weeks to Election Day, when the decision will be made and either Clinton or Trump will be elected (currently some books have Clinton a -245 prohibitive favorite for election). Whether the animosity between everyday U. S. citizens – and, by extension, those in the poker community – can be healed is difficult to ascertain.
