What Would You Do?

The tension radiates from the head down.

At the top, sits the most profoundly ignorant and grotesque president in American history. Does engaging with him, in any way, normalize the abnormal?

There seem to be two distinct realms; the arguably necessary and the apparently entirely optional.

In the first realm are visits from the likes of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Like it or not, the rotten head of our executive branch can make life miserable for other nations. Carney threaded the needle with great skill and emerged with his dignity intact, a feat no Republicans can manage. Carney was clear during his recent campaign that he had no affection for Trump and his absurd lust to annex Canada. His firm stand may have sealed his victory.

In the Oval Office meeting, Carney pleasantly absorbed Trump’s fawning gestures of friendship, yet directly dismissed the 51st state overtures. He did what he had to do, despite what I’m sure is deep disdain for Trump’s crude, boorish, unethical self.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been equally deft, even when JD Vance, Trump and others in the CCC (clown car cabinet) humiliated him in a White House ambush. Zelenskyy, even more than Carney and others, must walk a tightrope in the interest of his country.

There are other obvious examples of the arguably necessary. But what about optional interactions?

I omit a class of optional ass-kissing, consisting of rich people who want to be richer. That class has too many members to count. One can only surmise that a majority of corporate or financial wizards are several levels of magnitude smarter than Trump and think him a pompous fool. But members of that same majority have likely splattered chunks of their integrity along the road to their conspicuous success. What’s a little more compromise when the payoff is so enticing?

A controversial case in point was comedian/arrogant pundit Bill Maher’s White House dinner. Maher characterized it as necessary in order to bridge the trench and stench of partisan divide in the country.

In response, comedian/writer and equally arrogant pundit Larry David penned a sharp New York Times essay titled “My Dinner With Adolf.” In David’s characteristically sardonic voice, the parody body-slammed Maher’s choice to sit with the oaf, hoping to either understand the monstrosity or set an example of getting to know your MAGA neighbor.

Another needless example was the April 28th White House event for the Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles. Some players declined, but made inoffensive excuses. No one, to my knowledge, said they refused to meet with a racist tyrant. Did management set some rules?

And finally, the optional-choices-once-removed.

Members of the Leonard Bernstein family co-authored a NYT piece justifying their decision to sanction performances of Bernstein’s works at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Other performers have opted out, not wanting to be associated with the Center following Trump’s self-appointment as Chairman and filling Board seats with an assemblage of sycophants.

Part of the family’s justification, rather presumptuously in my estimation, was that Lenny would have wanted his music played. As with some of his lesser compositions, that record is not clear. (Apologies for the mess of a double meaning.) Their other argument was that great musical works can be uplifting and/or carry meaning of value - even subversive - at a time of existential crisis. Shostakovich and Stalin come to mind. The difference, and a great distinction indeed, is that Shostakovich composed at the time of and in direct defiance of Stalin. Bernstein did no such thing.

Staying at a Trump hotel or playing at a Trump golf course would be among many other optional-once-removed examples.

And finally closer to home - literally. Should we visit with MAGA neighbors over the back fence or at neighborhood gatherings? Will that mend fences or change minds?

A reader may be grateful or confused by my failure to offer my own opinion, although a semi-astute glance might reveal it by way of my word choices.

FWIW, my words and actions would lean - run away - from any gesture that holds any risk of normalizing. I can say “hello” in response to a cheerful greeting from a MAGA neighbor, but no dinner date or neighborhood gathering. I would not play at the Kennedy Center or go to the White House.

Any person, with or without power or position, who supports this descent into undemocratic indecency, is complicit.

I seldom receive comments, but I would really like to hear from you. There are legitimate arguments on both sides.