TRUMP AND MAHER: THE LARGER GAME AT PLAY

Wizard met comedian: which one do you think won?

A lot of attention is being given to the fact that Bill Maher went to the White House and had a great dinner with President Trump. Maher reported that Trump came across as thoughtful, even self-aware, and was generous to his guest.

I am not at all surprised.

Back in the 1980’s, Trump was interviewed on television quite a bit: with Oprah, Barbara Walters, and others. If you had told me then that he might be president someday, I would not have been horrified. I might have rolled my eyes, given the grandiosity and vulgarity of TrumpWorld, but that didn’t cancel out for me his obvious thoughtfulness about political matters.

I have never forgotten that. It mystified me, and mystifies me still. I’ve lived enough to have seen personalities change, and have a lot of ideas about what makes that happen. But I’ve had no doubt that if I were to meet with the President, he would probably be a perfect gentleman. He knows people. He is a wizard with people. He knows exactly what to do to neutralize his prey. Unlike many I have known, I have never, ever underestimated the power of his psychological sorcery.

Spiritually, I’ve needed to not hate Trump. I’ve worked for years to discipline myself to remember: God loves President Trump no more and no less than he loves me or anyone else. There is the Light of God within him as there is within everyone. It isn’t for his sake, but for mine, that I strive to remember that.

It also seems clear to me that all the hatred shown to him has contributed to the increased and increasing mendacity of his political personality. I sometimes ask myself, what if all of us agreed to love him for a day, pray for him for a day, forgive him for a day? Would it open the flood gates to the torrential storm of fascistic policies already emanating from the Oval Office? Or would it serve to re-mind him of a higher truth?

I’ve decided two things can be true at once. Human beings are infinitely complex, and I’ve known several people who know Trump and have told me he can be normal, even charming, when he wants to be. He’s made a decision to be otherwise. He’s made a decision to be the President he is. A lovely dinner doesn’t change that.

If I were to meet with the President, I would treat him with the respect rightly accorded his office. That in no way, however, lessens the extent to which I am dedicated to the defense of my country against the policies he has chosen to pursue. He has made a decision to be a tyrant, because he doesn’t view tyranny as a bad thing as long as he’s the one in charge. He thinks Victor Orban is a great man, and many conservatives agree with him. He praised Orban in a debate with Harris, saying Orban is called a “strong man” without apparently knowing that in political terms that is the furthest thing from a compliment. Victor Orban runs a mafia state and Trump’s idea of the best way to go about things is to run America that way too.

So okay, the race is on. I do pray for him, because I believe in miracles. I keep thinking, “Perhaps he’ll wake up one day and think, ‘I really don’t have to do this. I’m already the most powerful man in the world; I could lighten up, instill love instead of fear in people.’” That’s my prayer for this Passover and Easter: Dear God, please heal the heart of the most powerful man in the world.

Bill Maher liked the Donald Trump that showed up for dinner. I might have liked him too, the way I can like the performance of a great actor playing Othello. But I would know I was in the presence of someone playing a part, weaving in and out of whatever character makes me the biggest chump. To him, psychologically, that is the art of the deal; he is, after all, a master of the Dark Arts. The morning after, we would both get back to work: him to pursue his draconian policies and me to try to block them.

In his own way, the President would probably appreciate that. He must know that there are wizards on the other side too. If for no other reason than to play them, it’s no surprise he would invite them to dine.