As regular readers of this column know, A) I’m not a fan of this president’s behavior – his impulsive vindictiveness, his narcissism, his dishonesty, and B) I’ve long been intrigued that despite all that, millions and millions of Americans don’t just like him – they adore him.

You’ll recall when candidate Trump said he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue in New York and not lose any votes.  He was right, at least as far as his legion of loving true believers was concerned.

But I’m more than intrigued, I’m downright fascinated by how even his biggest detractors – the ones who wake up each morning and wish he’d get hit by a bus – are under the control of Donald Trump’s Svengali like magic.  The same power he has over his most loyal friends, he has over his most resentful enemies.

Take Robert De Niro.  Please!

At the recent Tony awards in Manhattan, De Niro walked onto the stage and announced:  I’m gonna say one thing:  F*** Trump!” A few seconds later: “It’s no longer down with Trump, it’s f*** Trump!”

And the grinning progressive Trump haters in the audience gave Bobby a standing ovation.

De Niro hates Trump for many reasons; one of them surely is Mr. Trump’s vulgarity.  So how does De Niro respond?  With an F bomb.  Brilliant! De Niro is under the spell of the evil Mr. Trump and doesn’t even know it!

Then there’s Bill Maher, who told his HBO audience that he was rooting for a great big recession.  “I’m hoping for it because one way you get rid of Trump is a crashing economy. So please, bring on the recession,” Maher said. “Sorry if that hurts people but it’s either root for a recession or you lose your democracy. … I feel like the bottom has to fall out at some point.”

So what if ordinary Americans lose their jobs and can’t pay their rent or mortgage. Hey, nothing comes cheap, right?  And recession and the misery that comes along with it is a price well worth paying to get right of the monster in the White House.

Never mind small details, like the one about how Maher won’t be paying any price if the economy tanks.  He’s got enough stashed away to ride out the storm he wishes upon everyone else.  Let everyone else suffer.  Once again, Brilliant! And Maher thinks Trump is unhinged?

And let’s not forget the forgettable Samantha Bee, who tossed the c word at the president’s daughter, Ivanka.  You see the power this president has over people like Ms. Bee?  She thinks he’s mentally unstable so his very existence makes her mentally unstable.

The thing about true believers either side of the line is that they’re so enamored with their own brilliance that they figure that anyone who doesn’t see things the way they do is a moron – or worse. Usually worse.  I mean who could disagree with De Niro or Maher or Samantha Bee? How about at least half the country?

Remember when in 2012 Congressman Todd Akin said abortions wouldn’t be necessary for rape victims because,“If it’s legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down.” A nanosecond later, liberals were tarring every Republican this side of Mars with that idiotic remark.

What if ordinary Americans, even the ones who aren’t fans of this president, start wondering if De Niro and Maher and Bee are the voices of progressivism in America?  You think that would hurt Donald Trump?  Or help him?

What I can’t figure out is how supposedly smart people really believe President Trump is a dictator and a tyrant and an authoritarian bent on destroying our democracy.  Do any of these progressives geniuses really believe they could have said F*** Hitler or Pol Pot or Kim Jong-un and get away with it?  Do they think they could wish for a financial collapse under a real dictatorship and have a TV show?  Do they think they could call a tyrant’s daughter a c*** and not be hanged in the public square?

They can yell dictator, tyrant, and Hitler all they want.  Ordinary Americans aren’t buying it.  Liberals said the world would come to an end if Donald Trump were elected.  It hasn’t.  Normal people notice such things.

So here’s some free advice for all the Trump haters: Keep it up.  Every time you say F You to the president or wish for a collapse of the economy or drop the c word on his daughter, you win converts to his side.

I don’t know if he’ll run again in 2020, but if he does, and if he wins, he can thank his most loyal supporters for the victory … and his most passionate enemies.  Svengali looks like a snowflake by comparison to this president.