Donald Trump Is Weirdly Starstruck, and Mel Gibson Looks Like the Latest Beneficiary

Republicans might be the “shut-up-and-sing” party when it comes to celebrities dabbling in politics, but their leader has a different attitude toward stars — if, that is, they support him.

That’s the backdrop to reports that thanks to his “personal relationship” with President Donald Trump, Mel Gibson, the star of the “Lethal Weapon” franchise, could be regaining access to his lethal weapons.

Trump gets written about constantly — he is the president, after all — but a few aspects of his personality go underreported, perhaps none more so than the ample evidence of just how weirdly starstruck he is.

According to the New York Times, the lawyer in charge of pardons at the Justice Department was fired not long after refusing to restore Gibson’s gun-ownership rights, which were stripped after he pleaded no contest to domestic violence charges in 2011.

The link between celebrity and politics has always been strong — from Nixon and Elvis to the stars who flocked to interact with Barack Obama. But Trump in many ways feels unique, in part because of his background hosting “The Celebrity Apprentice,” but primarily because his infatuations with the famous often go unrequited. Thanks to the entertainment community’s leftward tilt, many of those the president might otherwise admire loathe what he represents politically, as evidenced by the A-list actors and musicians who lined up behind Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

Yet while Trump’s biggest supporters have adopted the familiar, “Who cares what celebrities think?” line of attack, Trump’s passion for star power seems unabated, which might explain why he’s so eager to embrace the relative few who love him back.

Enter Gibson, whose career arc has been complicated by any measure, going from mega-star to pariah to being accepted back into Hollywood, if not at the same stratospheric level.

Trump, however, prizes loyalty above all else, and has been outspoken about the fact he tends to like people, from world leaders to entertainers, who like him back. To Trump, Gibson is one of the “good” stars, and thus worthy of the benefits that can provide.

Although the administration denied the New York Times story, which quoted the attorney involved, extending special treatment to Gibson would be very much on brand with Trump’s approach, which owes a debt to the famous quote, “For my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law.” That line is attributed to Getulio Vargas, the president of Brazil in the 1940s, and conveys the not-so-vague threat of using levers of government to reward friends and punish perceived enemies.

To Trump, Gibson falls squarely into the former camp, having expressed support for him during the campaign. As president-elect, Trump responded by giving the actor/director an honorary title as one of his “ambassadors” to Hollywood.

If the gesture appeared largely ceremonial, the Times report involves a more tangible benefit, with the ousted lawyer saying she was advised to make a recommendation on Gibson’s behalf because he had “a personal relationship with President Trump.”

That assistance aside, the news regarding it will surely come as a double-edged sword for Gibson — who sat with Trump’s new FBI director, Kash Patel, at a UFC event over the weekend — because it invites reporters to dredge up the scandals in which he’s been involved, beginning with the details in that particular case.

To recap, Gibson pleaded no contest to misdemeanor spousal battery of former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, having been accused of striking her in 2010. He was sentenced to probation, counseling and community service.

Gibson was also recorded making antisemitic comments during a drunk-driving arrest in 2006 — at one point saying, “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world” — and heard using the N-word while fighting with Grigorieva in a leaked tape in which he also threatened her with violence.

After some time in the wilderness, Gibson was nevertheless able to return to filmmaking, receiving an Oscar nomination for his 2016 war film “Hacksaw Ridge.” His latest movie, the thriller “Flight Risk,” premiered in January.

Before entering politics, Trump regularly hobnobbed with celebrities, and all indications are he has felt — and certainly noticed — the sting of their rejection since leaving his TV career behind to become the GOP standard bearer. During his first term, he said he was “not surprised” that “liberal movie people” would criticize him, proceeding to level Twitter attacks at the likes of Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt, along with Hollywood in general.

As the campaign made abundantly clear, Democrats hold a lopsided advantage in the celebrity realm (for all the good that did them), with Gibson representing one of the bigger names in terms of public profile to support Trump.

Whatever the outcome regarding his gun rights, this latest episode offers another window into how Trump sees the world — a place where the president has many people he considers enemies, and being seen as a friend is, in some respects, the best ammunition.

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