Donald Trump wants celebrities to kiss the ring. Bill Maher did: who’ll be next? | Emma Brockes

After the apparent defanging of the once critical talkshow host, can the president get more stars onside? Some nuts will be tougher to crack than others

If President Trump invited you to the White House, would you go? This is the question US hacks and other media personalities have been asking themselves since the inauguration, an American version of that self-flattering British perennial: when Buckingham Palace calls, will you be buying a fascinator to accept the OBE? In both cases, no matter how pluckily anti-establishment an individual may have been to that point, the answer is often a resounding: you bet!

First, the rationalisations. In the US context, respect for the office of the president", for which there is no British equivalent that doesn't prompt sniggering, is taken seriously enough that if the president calls, you don't turn him down. There's the standard argument in favour of engagement over boycott as a more constructive path to account-holding. And there is, for hacks, the perfectly reasonable rationale of pursuing the story. Of course, you're going to say yes if Trump calls. How could you not?

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist