Sorry, Natalie, but the flavor of the week this week at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is man love.
For months, there have been whispers about the predilections and preferences of Donald Trump. He has repeatedly posted AI-generated images of himself surrounded by young muscular men with glistening torsos. He has often commented publicly on how manly and attractive athletes in his presence were.
None of this can have been easy on the president’s resident stalker, Ms. Harp, forced to transcribe or promote such views.
Could it be true, she must have wondered? After all, he does show a huge interest in directing and tastes that can only be described as, well, flamboyant.
His mentor, Roy Cohn, was gay. And let’s be honest, the last straight man to be so obsessed with a ballroom and its many chandeliers was… well, to be honest, there has probably never been another straight man obsessed with such things. (Not that there is anything wrong with that.)
But this week, all questions were answered, all doubts were put aside.
Donald Trump is a man in love.
You could tell by the fact that he became the first president in more than half a century to go to provide a personal Washington, D.C., airport welcome for a foreign political leader.
He did it even though the man he was welcoming, the apple of his eye, a man about whom he has never spoken an unflattering word, Chinese President Xi Jinping, has never shown him the same courtesy.
You could tell by the way that Trump waited for Xi to arrive, getting to the airport extra early so as not to inconvenience the Chinese leader. You could tell by the way that Trump warmly welcomed Xi, by the extent of the trouble he went to offer pomp and ceremony to Xi.
Poignantly, Xi seemed dry and business-like when he encountered or posed with Trump whereas Trump grinned like he was posing for his prom photo.
Shortly after Xi arrived, Trump posted on a social media a statement saying that the object of our president’s affections look “strong, vibrant and fit - Better than ever.”
You can only imagine how hard it was for Natalie to post and input those words.
But they actually carried with them more meaning than most observers in the U.S. understood. In China, for days there has been speculation about Xi’s health, with some suggesting— without providing evidence—that recently he had suffered a stroke. Those concerns carried forward to the current trip and on Chinese social media some posts focused on whether Xi looked well or not, whether he seemed weak, whether he had to rely on his wife to help him down the stairs from the Air China 747 on which he arrived.
Thus, Trump’s compliments were not just the starry-eyed admiration of one who has long thought of Xi as the very model of a modern political strongman. There was also a knowing repudiation of the doubters. Trump understands better than most the toll whispers about the declining health of an aging political leader can take. He was standing up for his man.
The U.S. president’s efforts to ensure Xi felt warmly embraced… indeed, that he received the warmest embrace ever for a Chinese leader visiting the U.S. continued throughout a full day of meetings on Thursday. During these meetings, Trump made very sure to regularly flatter Xi, talk about how strong their relationship was, and to remove any hint of tension, discord, or differences between the two leaders. He even showed Xi that he too could crack down on press freedom with his efforts, since undone by the courts, to deny access to the White House to CNN, MS NOW, and Politico.
The U.S. announced that it would suspend trade conflict for another couple of months. Trump also said that the U.S. and China agreed not to interfere in the development of AI, which Trump took pains to remind everyone he now calls “superintelligence.” Trump gave Xi a private tour of his various White House construction projects and offered the kind of praise he reserves for only those he respects and cherishes—saying he could see Xi was a real aficionado of granite.
There were no public discussions of grievances.
Xi did not exactly reciprocate with gushy Trumpian effusiveness. He left no mistake about who was the “top” and who was the “bottom” in this relationship. He spoke of a relationship in which conflict was to be avoided but also of one in which China would continue to protect its equities and interests. He warned against the pitfalls of conflict between a rising power (clearly China) and a falling one (clearly the U.S.), a phenomenon known as “the Thucydides Trap.” He was strong and confident. Trump was anything but.
Observers wondered whether Trump’s dewy-eyed view of Xi would send a message that the U.S. president would look the other way should China seek to impose its will on Taiwan. But those who know Trump and his behavior, his long history of kow-towing to Xi, the short-lived nature of any disagreements between the two, did not really doubt. They knew Trump would fold.
Indeed, Trump’s expressed worldview on the sphere of interest of “great powers” is that strong countries should be able to impose their will on their neighbors—like Russia in Ukraine or the U.S. in Venezuela.
Surely, Xi has understood that message. He need only glance into Trump’s eyes to have it reinforced. Or look to the glitterati of MAGAworld that Trump invited to celebrate Xi in a state banquet on Thursday night—a real who’s who of U.S. oligarchs who want nothing so much as Trump’s aid in winning a bigger piece of the Chinese market.
The Trump Administration has long given mixed signals on its views of love meaning love. Trump has appointed gay Americans to senior posts, as he should, while offering a public hardline on the LGBTQ community.
But labels and political positions are rendered meaningless by the opportunity to witness the kind of deep and abiding affection displayed this week by America’s president for the world leader he admires most, and whose approval in return he so deeply covets.
You can only imagine how hard it all must have been to watch for someone else who clearly harbors the same kind of love for Trump but can never hope to offer him in return what another totalitarian leader can.
