Bob Dylan, Dionne Warwick, Liza Minelli and more give 80th birthday advice to Donald Trump
In a recent New York Times feature, notable octogenarian artists shared a few nuggets of wisdom for the sitting U.S. President.
Photos by Kevin Winter/Samuel Corum/Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images
With every passing year, President Donald Trump proves that only the good die young. In honor of the president’s 80th birthday, the New York Times called upon some notable octogenarian artists to share a few nuggets of wisdom for the president, who joined the club yesterday and celebrated by hosting a UFC fight on the White House lawn. The general consensus among them—from Robert De Niro to Art Garfunkel to Gloria Steinem—was that getting older is a blessing, that it brings with it perspective and wisdom that you only gain through sticking around on this earth for long enough, and that the worst part is the inevitable but always painful loss of loved ones.
Bob Dylan’s response was particularly moving. He shared: “The best thing about being 80 is that you outlive the clocks that have been chasing you. It’s freedom from that lie that anything was ever under control. You don’t chase the parade anymore. You’re an old king from some vanished country. You’re harder to program. You’re not rushing to become anything and you’re not haunted by things that you did. You’re haunted by how little of it really mattered in the way you thought it would.”
In addition to asking each contributor’s favorite and least favorite thing about being over 80, the Times prompted them to share a piece of advice for President Trump. De Niro saw this question as moot, saying that the Commander in Chief “doesn’t listen to advice” and doubting that any decent advice would be able to “pierce the shell of cruelty, greed, corruption and stupidity.” Okay, bars. Gloria Steinem kept it short and sweet with the second-best answer of the bunch: “Resign.”
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