Opinion The hell with it

President Donald Trump (AP Photo)

The faithful aspire to heaven and revile “hell” as a swear word. So invitees at the National Prayer Breakfast may have choked on their omelettes when the president of the United States thanked the White House chaplain for his help with the event, asked if he was an appointee, if he was Democrat or Republican, and proceeded to reappoint him for a year, and “the hell with it”. He also used the opportunity to tell his guests to be cool about the tough phone calls they have been hearing about. It was time for America to play tough. Reportedly, his guests did not protest. It was too early in the day.

But another man that POTUS dissed in absentia shot back immediately over the internet. While previous presidents have used the annual multi-faith gathering for high-minded purposes like promoting unity and dispelling fear, Donald Trump chose to pray for Arnold Schwarzenegger and the ratings of The Celebrity Apprentice, where he has taken over from the president. This is not the first time, either. American media has noted an unhealthy fascination in the White House with Trump’s successor on the show.

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The well-built former governator of California is no pushover. He has big-heartedly offered to swap places with POTUS if he is better on TV, and because Americans would be able to “sleep comfortably again.” Age seems to have tempered the world-view of the man who played Conan the Barbarian, who had a single-point life mission: “To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women.” Schwarzenegger also prayed to ABC News that Trump could “start improving his own approval ratings”, referring to his rather bizarre career in office so far. A lot of deeply rattled Americans — both Democrat and Republican — may join him in that particular prayer.