As of Thursday morning, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are locked in a bitter election fight, with the incumbent threatening lawsuits as his rival inches closer to victory.
But it didn’t have to be this way, according to a 17-year-old from Arizona, who wrote a short story titled “That one where Joe Biden is a French teacher and Donald Trump thinks they’re rivals.”
Slate interviewed the anonymous teen, whose story casts Trump as a college student at the University of Pennsylvania and Biden as his French professor. The two eventually fall in love, because of course they do.
Asked by Slate why he decided to have the two politicians develop feels for each other, he said, “Partially just out of spite, and also because I thought it would be funnier that way. I can’t imagine if Trump or Biden ever heard about something like this, they’d be too pleased, especially Trump.”
The young author, who said he reluctantly supports Biden, seems to have a sense of humor about his story, tagging it “I’m not tagging this dumpster fire” and adding a note above the second chapter that reads, “I can’t believe you’re still reading this. The election hit you hard too? God. Go get some therapy. You’ll need it after this.”
And you really might, because the ending isn’t exactly a happily-ever-after one: “And then they grow up, grow apart, become horrible men, and in 30 years run for president and destroy America.”
Ah, vive l’amour.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
