When I was a child, I would avoid watching or hearing and reading about my beloved New York Yankees. Part of it was superstition. If I ignored them, they would win. But mostly this was about my avoiding the pain of their losing. If I didn’t know it happened, it was as if it didn’t happen and they would remain perfect in my mind.
I may have often avoided fan heartbreak that way, but I also missed out on a lot of triumphs, too, being left to experience them after the fact on those rare occasions when I accidentally heard about them. Once I grew up and became a writer, however, and especially a critic and a novelist, I realized there was no way to avoid rejection and loss, and that if I were determined to succeed, they were the price I was going to have to pay. My desire to be a writer would have to trump my fear of failure.
I was reminded of this as Trump the noun, President Donald J., created a New York Times/Washington Post-free zone around the federal government. It’s a variation on my Yankees idea: The Times and WaPo are critical of the Trump Administration, so out of sight, out of mind.
Except, of course, that that’s not the way reality works, even for a former reality star. In the age of the internet, there’s nothing to stop people from reading the newspapers on their computers or their phones. (Try avoiding Yankee news or anything else nowadays.) But more important, just because you don’t acknowledge something doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. Besides, there is always someone willing to hold up a mirror to that reality.
Or more than just someone. Trump got an eye- and earful during Game Five of the World Series with the crowd booing and shouting “lock him up” as the president and first lady Melania appeared on the screens at RFK Stadium. In a column for The Times, contributing writer Jennifer Weiner wondered if it was wrong to feel schadenfreude over the Trumps’ forced confrontation with others’ hatred of them. But her guilt pangs didn’t last long, and why should they have ? Hatred of hate is not hate, and Trump has spewed a lot of hatred.
That he’s as good at taking it on the chin has yet to be observed. He sat there in default mode, his mouth a sulky upside-down “u.” Contrast this with President George W. Bush after 9/11. He wasn’t the most popular guy, particularly in New York. But he had the guts to take the mound for the ceremonial first pitch before Game Three of the World Series between the Yanks and the Arizona Diamondbacks, to own the moment. It was a gesture that not only said America wasn’t afraid of terrorists, but that he was comfortable enough in his own skin to be president even of those who didn’t vote for him.
Trump, on the other hand, has yet to learn that what you send out into the world, returns to you. That’s the Buddhist principle of karma, which is always a — well, rhymes with rich. Even if you live a good life, you cannot avoid unpleasantness or suffering. The best you can do is accept these with Bush-like grace and try not to inflict them on others.
Otherwise, if you’re going to dish it out, you better be prepared to take it.