Although Donald Trump’s detractors often dismiss him as a clown, a real-life clown is crying foul at that description — no joke.

In a new op-ed for The Washington Post titled, “Donald Trump is not a clown. I should know,” Tim Cunningham, a board member for Clowns Without Borders, an organization that works to share joy and laughter in zones of conflict and crisis around the world, explains why tagging Trump as a clown is inaccurate on many levels.

Cunningham notes that many Trump critics often use the word “clown” as an insult.

For instance, back in March, never-Trumper George Conway criticized the president’s inconsistent tariff policy by calling him “an incredibly incompetent clown.”

In April, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell said that Trump’s failed attempt to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made him look like a “humiliated clown.”

Cunningham doesn’t think Trump is a clown since clowns “help people relax, heal and prompt others to think differently about the world.”

He then gripes about how his chosen profession gets mocked whenever politics takes center stage.

“Every election season, the word ‘clown’ resurfaces to compare tumultuous Washington politics to a circus,” Cunningham wrote. “Political commentators and social media users are not the only ones who wrongfully sling this jibe. ‘Clown’ is used by almost everyone to belittle those seen as foolish or incompetent.”

He then emphasized the real problem with calling Trump the C-word.

“The more we mistreat the word, the more we lose understanding of a sacred art form,” Cunningham said, before asking readers to “find a better metaphor to despise and depose fascism.”

“Keep Clown out of Trumpian comparisons, and for that matter, all politics,” he said. “Offer Clown the respect it deserves and invoke us for good: in alliance with other artists, activists and humans who believe in a better, happier world.”

Cunningham ended his op-ed by noting that clowns have been uniting people in laughter, levity and creativity for centuries, and then offered an alternative word that he believes expresses Trump’s unique qualities without tarnishing his chosen art form.

“If you’re still stuck on the broken comparison ingrained in our national dialogue, here’s an alternative: Try ‘buffoon,’” he said.

Many people weren’t sure how to take Cunningham’s piece, including White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson.

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