Revenge is a Dish that's Served Cold

In 2012, Barack Obama publicly humiliated Trump at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

Trump was one of the prominent supporters of the theory that Obama was not born in the US, but in Kenya, and therefore was elected president in violation of the Constitution. During the dinner, Obama showed journalists his birth certificate and other documents proving his American origin. But he didn’t stop there, and turned to Trump, who was sitting in the audience.

Adam Gopnik in his article “Trump and Obama: a Night to Remember” explains what happened next: “Having referred to that act, /Obama/ then gently but acutely mocked Trump’s Presidential ambitions: “I know that he’s taken some flack lately—no one is prouder to put this birth-certificate matter to rest than the Donald. And that’s because he can finally get back to the issues that matter, like: did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And—where are Biggie and Tupac?” The President went on, “We all know about your credentials and breadth of experience. For example—no, seriously—just recently, in an episode of Celebrity Apprentice”—there was laughter at the mention of the program’s name. Obama explained that, when a team did not impress, Trump “didn’t blame Lil Jon or Meatloaf—you fired Gary Busey. And these are the kinds of decisions that would keep me up at night.”

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!” “The 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…”

And Obama kept having fun. He promised journalists to show the official video of his own birth, but when the lights went out in the room, the screen showed scenes from the animated film “The Lion King” — the ones where Mufasa raises the newborn heir Simba above his head.

14 years have passed. And Donald Trump, who recently called for Obama’s immediate arrest in the Rushgate case, published a video on his social network Truth Social about the 2020 election fraud, in which Barack and Michelle Obama are depicted as monkeys. Meanwhile, the music… from the animated film “The Lion King” is playing. The message is clear: you’re not Mufasa, you’re a thieving monkey. The only king here is me!

And even though the video, which was on Truth Social for 12 hours, has now been removed, the damage has been done.

The dish has gone cold.