It happens to the best of us: Bill’s bewitching

It happens to the best of us: Bill’s bewitching

I have a confession to make: I like Bill Maher. Not in the way one likes a statesman or a saint, but in the way one appreciates wit and insight. And humor too.

Maher has long positioned himself as a skeptic-in-chief, a man immune to nonsense, with forty years of comic success to boot. But even the most seasoned can disappoint, and Maher’s retelling of his dinner with Donald Trump reveals that he, too, is vulnerable to the oldest enchantment of all: charm. I know — most liberals like me cannot imagine a charming Donald Trump, but Maher would argue that this is the first telltale sign of our foolish approach to American politics.

But I digress —

According to Maher, the person he met that enchanting evening was not the bully the world sees, but an altogether different man — one who laughed at himself, who was open-minded, who listened more than he spoke. He even wanted to know Maher’s opinion about Iran! According to Maher, the real Trump is “gracious and measured.” The brutish persona is merely an act, a bit of theatre for the masses. And Maher, veteran of a thousand audiences, insists he was not fooled.

What hubris.

In his haste to find “common ground,” Maher made a fatal error. He accepted Trump’s behavior as authentic.

The bombast? The apparent racism? The name-calling? The public vulgarity? The denigration of immigrants? The excessive lies? The rank disregard for the rule of law or decorum? The attempted humiliation of Canada? According to Maher, these are merely for public consumption. Just an actor on a stage, mouthing lines. To be ignored by well-informed folks like him.

But of course, there is a word for people who say one thing and mean another: liars. And a nation cannot thrive if the prevailing attitude must be, “I know what he said, but he doesn’t mean it.” As a practical matter, words, especially when uttered by an American President, are never without consequences. They shape policies, inspire or embolden movements, and endanger lives.

Additionally, Maher’s dismissal of Trump’s words is patronizing: the critics would do much better if only they could look beyond his words to what really matters… But we have front-row seats to the President’s deeds. He really did dismantle USAID programs that saved lives. He really did allow people without clearance to access sensitive national information. He really did threaten institutions of higher learning. He really did appoint dreadful people to key positions. He really is determined to deport LEGAL immigrants. He really did order his Justice Department to defend him in the assault case brought by E. Jean Carroll. He really does abuse judges who rule against him. These are not words. They are not jokes. They are actions.

Maher’s failure, then, is twofold. First, he mistook hospitality for authenticity. He should have known better. Trump is a politician, and well before that, he was a salesman for nearly half a century. He can put on a show.

Second, and more crucially, Maher never wondered why Trump plays the ogre for the cameras if he is, in fact, a reasonable, grounded human being. The answer is obvious. For his base, the ride-or-die crowd, cruelty is the point. They revel in it. They demand it. They do not want a unifier. They want a chainsaw-wielding warrior, someone who constantly shocks and denigrates the “other”: the Democratic Party, racial or sexual minorities, immigrants from certain countries, intellectuals and scientists, Hollywood, and non-right-wing media outlets. He is not free to be the president Maher met at the White House. His ugliness is not a misstep. It is strategy. He is, in the end, just another politician, but one tailored to a more openly sinister audience.

And what are we to conclude about a “reasonable” man who offers safe harbor to base impulses? Is he preferable to one who genuinely holds unspeakable sentiments?

Maher, uniquely positioned as someone who “doesn’t carry water” for either side, should have raised that question.

Instead, he left Trump’s table utterly bewitched. And therefore diminished.