Getting a Laugh Out of Politics

The other day, I asked several AI engines for a list of funny things the two presidential candidates have said so far on the campaign trail.

Trump and Harris don’t say funny things – and AI doesn’t understand humor, either

I did not expect much. I had not seen anything to bring a smile to my lips. But surely, I thought, Donald Trump or Kamala Harris had said something a little bit funny that I had missed. I was wrong. I stumped AI. Like the shuffling of a sixth-grade student who had not done the homework, the AI machines came up with a few lame lines:

For Trump, they quoted a comment he made about himself, “Nobody has done more for the Black community than Donald Trump. With the exception of Abraham Lincoln, nobody has done what I’ve done.” AI said people in the audience laughed.

For Harris, AI noted that Trump had called her the “Crazy Laugh” lady. Her funny response, according to AI, was, “If you’ve something to say to my face, say it!”

Apparently, AI doesn’t know how to tell a good joke, either.

We don’t want buffoons for presidents. Nor should we measure them by their scores on the giggle meter (a real thing for scholars who study laughing). On the other hand, a good joke or a witty comment now and then would be welcome. The absence of witticisms is an alert to a larger problem with the nature of our politics right now. And it is no laughing matter.

Before getting into all of that, however, let’s be precise about Trump and Harris. Both are funny in their own special ways.

The Don Rickles of American politics

Start with former President Trump. My friend (and editor) Carl Cannon notes that if Trump were not running, he would be “a natural” as a New York insult comic. It’s a good point. Trump is the Don Rickles of American politics. Newsweek called Rickles “the merchant of venom.”

Rickles specialized in gratuitous meanness. Referring to the overweight actor-director Orson Welles, he said, “Welles has been a great star for so many years. This man was married to a great many women in his life. … They’re all flat now.”

What about Vice President Harris? Like AI, I have never heard her crack a good joke. If she were in comedy, she would be the straight woman to the funny partner – like Bud Abbott to Lou Costello.

Abbott: How stupid can you get?

Costello: How stupid do you want me to be?

Harris’ straight-woman persona showed in a debate when she was running for California Attorney General. If her opponent Steve Cooley won the election, he would have had a government pension from his job as a district attorney and also his AG salary, altogether about $400,000. When asked about this double dipping by the moderator, Cooley provided a too-long explanation that ended with the defiant, “I earned it!”

Harris, who had been watching in bemused silence, was asked to respond. “Go for it, Steve,” she said and then laughed her signature laugh. “You earned it!” The moment was a turning point. She was losing the race, until then.

Interest in Presidents’ personal lives

The public shows keen interest in presidents’ personal lives. Books on presidential pets sell very well, judging by the number of them that are published. Two new books deal with other aspects of presidents’ personal lives: Alex Prud’homme’s “Dinner with the President: Food, Politics, and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House” and Theodore Pappas’ “Combing Through the White House: Hair and Its Shocking Impact on the Politics, Private Lives, and Legacies of the Presidents.”

This last book has some relevance to political success, although an element of the bizarre creeps in (such as the long-ago mania for collecting presidential hair).  The common wisdom is that you can’t get elected without some hair. Biden has transplants. Trump has a combover. You can’t have too much hair, either. The last bearded man to have the nomination was Charles Evans Hughes. His Jovian beard was off-putting for some. He lost to Woodrow Wilson by a whisker. Neither man, by the way, is remembered for zippy one-liners.

In terms of electability and performance in office, a sense of humor has been useful, while at the same time softening the blows of give-and-take politics.

Past candidates knew how to say funny things

Consider the time that presidential candidates Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale faced off in their 1984 presidential debate. When asked if he was too old to run for president, the 74-year-old Reagan quipped, “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” No one really cared if the line had been precooked for the actor-president to deliver. It was funny. Mondale laughed right along with everyone else.

President John Kennedy’s press conferences dealt with serious issues. But his handling of the press, with whom he often met, was full of deft, self-deprecating repartee. A reporter once asked what Kennedy thought of a resolution by the Republican National Committee that said he was “pretty much a failure.” With perfect timing, Kennedy replied, “I’m sure it was unanimous.” It was a simple, self-confident line delivered with a smile, not a rant. Again, everyone including Kennedy laughed.

When people go to dating sites, one of the most common characteristics they search for in a partner is a sense of humor. With so little drollness and so much vitriol in our politics, it is little wonder that so many people have become politically celibate. Besides, who wants to date someone whose facts have to be checked constantly? When people go online these days, they increasingly join safe-space interest groups that forbid political discussion.

The extremes drive the argument

At this fraught moment in time, our politics are driven by extremes. Every issue is framed as an existential one. A little light-heartedness won’t close all our political divisions, but it has virtues.

A sense of humor also shows balance. It shows that we see complexity in the world rather than absolute certainty on all points; that we can make fun of ourselves; that we have empathy; and that we are self-confident. It is a good tool to get people to work together.

Where does that leave us with our current two candidates? Harris likes to laugh, although hers is not what is usually expected with a presidential laugh. It hands Trump something to ridicule. As for Trump, he is not known for hearty laughs. His default look is a glower.

Speaking personally, I will take Bud Abbott over Don Rickles in the White House. But the problem here is not only about the candidates. It is about us just as much. As is often said, we get the candidates we deserve.

From Will Rogers

Will Rogers, a genuinely funny commentator on politics, once quipped, “Party politics is the most narrow-minded occupation in the World.” People on all sides want a better America. The issues are serious. But it won’t hurt, and really might help, if we laugh a bit more at ourselves and invite others to join in rather than tune out.

Maybe even AI will get funny in the process.

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.