A native of Pocahontas, Iowa, considers Sen. Warren’s claims and the enjoyment of politics

No doubt in the annals of American history, as well as in those of other lands, we actually find men and women who enjoy politics. They are not completely dotty, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. They savor the tang of sharp wit on display. Who can forget the Gilbert & Sullivan delight at the stuffiness of English politics? In America, we think of Mark Twain, Finley Peter Dunne’s Mr. Dooley, H. L. Mencken, or Art Buchwald. One of the Renaissance popes was famous for having said: “God gave us the papacy, let us enjoy it.”

I suspect that Mr. Trump, with his over-active Twitter account, participates in the same spirit. Malcolm Muggeridge remarked that the professional humorist’s lot was a difficult one because the reality of what went on in every day politics was funnier than any tale that humorist could concoct.{mosads}

The reason that I am interested in this most amusing exchange between Elizabeth Warren and the President is that I was born in “Pocahontas,” which names both a county and town in northwest Iowa. Locals called it “Pokey” for short. My grandparents, mother, uncles, aunts, and cousins are buried in the Schall and Shimon plots in the local cemetery. No Indian blood as far as I can tell raced through our collective veins. Anytime something concerning Pocahontas comes up, however, folks from there pay attention, even when the issue has little to do with the Iowa locality.

What I recall of my grammar school days in Iowa, itself a Dakota Indian tribal name, was the large amount of time we spent on studying the Indian tribes that were once located in the state. Many Iowa counties bear Indian names — Black Hawk, Cherokee, Pottawattamie, Sioux, and Mahaska, to name a few. I recall maps giving the location of the Sac and Fox Indians. I also recall that we spent a good deal of time on the Ice Age that saw Iowa covered with a glacier. We grew up more worried about earth cooling than earth warming.

We all now know about Elizabeth Warren’s famous Native American ancestry. Warren, of course, did not call herself “Pocahontas.” Pocahontas, the “Indian maiden,” was from Jamestown, Virginia; she married John Rolfe and departed for England, where she died.

Warren is dubbed “Pocahontas” in good humor at the idea of someone with obviously Caucasian ancestry telling people that she has native origins. It was not like her grandparents were members of some local tribe.

Although she claimed ancestry but not membership of the tribe, the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma has entered the fray. It does not think DNA testing established anything worthwhile. The President who now refers to Warren as “Pocahontas” is obviously enjoying it all, as I suspect is much of the nation. We all woke up to hear that Warren was anywhere 1/64 to 1/1024 Indian by uncertain DNA testing.

This statistic became even more amusing when we found out that the average person has at least some foreign genes in him. Warren’s best move would have been to change the subject as quickly as possible. She should have seen the absurdity of it and laughed with Mr. Trump at her own foibles.

But stubbornly basing herself on the letter of the law, Warren still insists that Trump should divvy up the $1 million to charity he’d promised since she did “prove” her native heritage. My sentiment in this case is that the President should pay the equivalent of $1 million divided by either 64 or 1024.

Some think the President – by calling her “Pocahontas” – was “mocking” the lady from Massachusetts. But seeing and enjoying the absurdity of it all is not really mocking.

We are becoming a country in which we can hardly laugh at one another without being accused of some kind of moral impropriety.

In the fourth book of his Ethics, Aristotle listed as a vice the inability to laugh at ourselves. But it is difficult to take Senator Warren’s heritage seriously. It is identity politics at its worst. The only way to deal with it is to treat the whole affair with the light-heartedness that it deserves. This is mostly what Mr. Trump was doing.

It is often said, probably among conservatives, that the left lacks a sense of humor.

The revolution has little time for mirth.

Mr. Trump recently spoke at the United Nations, another place usually too solemn for its own good. Trump told the astonished world professionals that he has gotten more done in two years than any previous president in a similar amount of time. This boasting drew a good laugh. Without backing down, Trump seemed to see the humor in his own claim.

The Rev. James V. Schall, S.J., author of “A Line Through the Human Heart: On Sinning & Being Forgiven,” is professor emeritus at Georgetown University. His latest book is “The Universe We Think In,” published by The Catholic University of America Press.