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Reader question: Please explain “choke artist” in this headline: Is Donald Trump a choke artist? My comments: “Artist” being pejorative (meaning it’s not a compliment), the headline questions: Will Trump fail at the last hurdle? In other words, will Trump, the Republic presidential nominee who seems to have been doing so exceedingly well thus far, fail in his bid to become the next President of the United States? Essentially, that’s the question. A choke artist is someone who chokes, like, big time. Let’s take someone who chokes on food drink for an example. If you are quaffing down mouthfuls of food without taking your time chewing, you might choke, i.e. suffocate yourself as the food down your throat blocks the windpipe, thus leaving you unable to breathe. Understandably, when one chokes one cannot go on eating. Hence, by extension, if you’re in the middle of doing something and then choke, then figuratively speaking you are failing and cannot continue on with the work. As a result you won’t be able to get the job done. Choking always seems to happen at the inopportune moment, when you’re really enjoying the food (or drink) for example. Therefore, people who are called chokers are those who always seem to manage to fail at the last hurdle when victory is to be taken by the collar and ensured. So, in our question, the headline asks whether Trump will choke at the last moment. | 
