Los Angeles Times op-ed explains how to cast a 'binding' spell on Donald Trump

Apparently, some liberals will go to great lengths — including engaging in witchcraft — to try to stop President Donald Trump.

The Los Angeles Times ran an op-ed Tuesday titled, “I put a spell on you, Mr. President” by Diana Wagman, a California-based novelist and essayist. In the op-ed, Wagman details her experience casting “‘A Spell to Bind Donald Trump and All Those Who Abet Him’ under the waning crescent moon last month.”

The Times columnist first encountered the spellbinding opportunity when she received an email from the “Oracle of Los Angeles” with the subject line, “Bind Trump, not your breasts.”

The “binding-spell movement,” according to Wagman, began with a Medium post by magician Michael M. Hughes, who wrote the initial spell “to be performed at midnight on every waning crescent moon until [Trump] is removed from office.”

“I don’t believe in the devil, but I do believe our country has gone to hell,” Wagman wrote, “and I am willing to try anything to save us.”

Before beginning the ritual, Wagman said she “researched” binding spells because she “didn’t want to send bad vibes into the universe” since “there is enough evil in Washington already.”

Ultimately, Wagman decided she saw no difference between “spells, meditation, mindfulness, the oms I say in yoga, [and] the prayers my Episcopalian family send my way,” so she took the plunge and joined some of her fellow liberals in casting a spell against the president of the United States.

Here’s how she did it:

I found an orange candle in a box of multicolored ones we use for our Hanukkah menorah. I printed the required tarot card off the Internet and propped it up. I cut an unflattering photo of POTUS out of the newspaper, and I burned it while chanting the words of the spell. My husband was watching “SportsCenter” in the other room. I stood at the kitchen sink. It took less than five minutes. More time was required to get the components together, although that wasn’t difficult — no eye of newt or boiling cauldron required.

At first, Wagman said she was “discouraged” because shortly after she recited the spell, the House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act, the first step toward walking back former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The novelist made it clear she doesn’t believe in the devil, but noted her confidence that “insurance companies are his spawn.”

But fear not, recent events have renewed Wagman’s hope in her spell-casting abilities.

She cited the backlash over former FBI Director James Comey’s surprising ouster, Trump’s erratic Twitter behavior, and the continued concerns over the president’s engagement with Russian officials as proof of the spell’s success.

The moral of Wagman’s op-ed: Onward, liberal soldier.

“The next waning crescent moon will be May 23 [Tuesday],” Wagman wrote. “I plan to complete the ritual again, but that’s not all. I’ll keep signing petitions, calling my representatives, sending donations to the American Civil Liberties Union, and marching to City Hall.”

“A binding spell is fine,” she said, “but it’s not enough.”

Trump has for months claimed to be the subject of a politically motivated “witch hunt,” but it’s doubtful this is what he had in mind.