When pundits and politicians call Donald Trump a clown they mean it negatively. But for the native Americans clowns are sacred.   Hard as it is to  see porn star loving Trump as scared it’s helpful to see Trump as Lakota Heyoka clown.

It’s easy to see Trump’s Heyoka trickster nature in this clipping from Wikipedia:

“The Heyókȟa is thought of as being backwards-forwards, upside-down, or contrary in nature. This manifests by their doing things backwards or unconventionally — riding a horse backwards, wearing clothes inside-out, or speaking in a backwards language. For example, if food is scarce, a heyókȟa may sit around and complain about how full he is; during a baking hot heat wave, a heyókȟa might shiver with cold and put on gloves and cover himself with a thick blanket. Similarly, when it is freezing he might wander around naked, complaining that it is too hot. A unique example is the famous heyókȟa sacred clown called “the Straighten-Outer”:

He was always running around with a hammer trying to flatten round and curvy things (soup bowls, eggs, wagon wheels, etc.), thus making them straight.

— John Fire Lame Deer^[2]

The heyókȟa symbolizes and portrays many aspects of the sacred beings, the Wakȟáŋ. His satire presents important questions by fooling around. They ask difficult questions, and say things others are too afraid to say. Their behavior poses questions as do Zen koans. By reading between the lines, the audience is able to think about things not usually thought about, or to look at things in a different way.

Principally, the heyókȟa functions both as a mirror and a teacher, using extreme behaviors to mirror others, and forcing them to examine their own doubts, fears, hatreds, and weaknesses. Heyókȟa have the power to heal emotional pain; such power comes from the experience of shame — they sing of shameful events in their lives, beg for food, and live as clowns. They provoke laughter in distressing situations of despair, and provoke fear and chaos when people feel complacent and overly secure, to keep them from taking themselves too seriously or believing they are more powerful than they are.^[3]“

Watch the news any day and the most backward of contrarian thing Trump said or did and you see why I think Donald has a lot Heyoka in his stirring up the system. And don’t count him out.  Most people love clowns and other are terrified of them.  I used to tease my son when he was little and told me he was afraid of clowns. No more.  I get it now.

Talk about Trump’s Heyoka confirmation.  We all know politicians score pool points kissing babies. This is about as sacred clown backwards as it gets!  “What a baby!”

Adding to this post, the Heyoka know as Trump went to far with his “joke” about Second Amendment people at an August 9th rally. This bit of sarcasm could knock the backward Heyoka horse rider off his presidential horse.

Update August 12th.  The Daily Show agrees Trump is clown/comedian.  Skip ahead to 5:25 in the excellent piece of Heyoka Trump.