One of many things we’ll miss about President Obama is his wickedly sharp sense of humor. From the Al Smith Dinner in 2008: “Recently, one of John [McCain’s] top advisors told the "Daily News" that if we keep talking about the economy, McCain's going to lose, so tonight I'd like to talk about the economy” to the “Obama out” mike drop at the 2016 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Mr. Obama has set the standard for Presidential humor. But to me, his most inspired performance was his epic takedown of the birthers in general and Donald Trump in particular at the 2011 Correspondents’ Dinner. After playing “I am a real American” over the image of his long-form birth certificate, and a “birth video” from the Lion King, the President had this to say:
And I know just the guy to do it -– Donald Trump is here tonight! (Laughter and applause.) Now, I know that he’s taken some flak lately, but no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald. (Laughter.) And that’s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter –- like, did we fake the moon landing? (Laughter.) What really happened in Roswell? (Laughter.) And where are Biggie and Tupac? (Laughter and applause.)
But all kidding aside, obviously, we all know about your credentials and breadth of experience. (Laughter.) For example -- no, seriously, just recently, in an episode of Celebrity Apprentice -- (laughter) -- at the steakhouse, the men’s cooking team cooking did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around. But you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didn’t blame Lil’ Jon or Meatloaf. (Laughter.) You fired Gary Busey. (Laughter.) And these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. (Laughter and applause.) Well handled, sir. (Laughter.) Well handled.
The contrast between Trump’s utter lack of seriousness and credibility when compared to Mr. Obama was only heightened when we learned that this was the weekend that Osama Bin Laden was finally brought to justice.
We couldn’t see Trump too well on screen that night, but from what I could see, he didn’t look very amused, and this was confirmed by a 9/12/15 article by Adam Gropnik in the New Yorker:
What was really memorable about the event, though, was Trump’s response. Seated a few tables away from us magazine scribes, Trump’s humiliation was as absolute, and as visible, as any I have ever seen: his head set in place, like a man in a pillory, he barely moved or altered his expression as wave after wave of laughter struck him. There was not a trace of feigning good humor about him, not an ounce of the normal politician’s, or American regular guy’s “Hey, good one on me!” attitude—that thick-skinned cheerfulness that almost all American public people learn, however painfully, to cultivate. No head bobbing or hand-clapping or chin-shaking or sheepish grinning—he sat perfectly still, chin tight, in locked, unmovable rage. If he had not just embarked on so ugly an exercise in pure racism, one might almost have felt sorry for him.
I’ve idly wondered since whether Trump actually decided after this that he would run for President, but I just came across this Gropnik piece, and he got there first. After this description of Trump’s reaction, Gropnik said:
And this is where memories of the President’s performance come into play and take on a potency that one might not have understood at the time. For the politics of populist nationalism are almost entirely the politics of felt humiliation—the politics of shame. And one can’t help but suspect that, on that night, Trump’s own sense of public humiliation became so overwhelming that he decided, perhaps at first unconsciously, that he would, somehow, get his own back—perhaps even pursue the Presidency after all, no matter how nihilistically or absurdly, and redeem himself. Though he gave up the hunt for office in that campaign, it does not seem too far-fetched to imagine that the rage...implanted in him that night has fuelled him ever since. It was already easy to sense at the time that something very strange had happened – that the usual American ritual of the “roast” and the roasted had been weirdly and uniquely disrupted. But the consequences were hard to imagine. The micro-history of that night yet to be written might be devoted largely to the double life of Barack Obama as cool comedian and quiet commander—or it might be devoted to the moment when new life was fed into an old ideology, when Trump’s ambitions suddenly turned over to the potent politics of shame and vengeance. His even partial triumph in the primary still seems unlikely—but stranger jokes have been played on American philosophers over the centuries.
Note that this was written before the crazy campaign of 2016 began, and what Gropnik feared has come to pass.
Human motives are often complicated, and someone as narcissistic as Trump has sought the spotlight all his life. But it would be beyond irony if a humorous riff by one of the most decent people in public life had contributed to a run for the Presidency by one of the worst.