The chance of a beloved black rapper cooing kind things about President Donald Trump is about as likely as North and South Korea being willing to settle their differences.
Well.
Some might suggest the potential of the two instances occurring is a sign of the end of times. We prefer to think of it as the beginning of times.
What if?
What if North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is serious about a denuclearized Korean Peninsula? What if he really believes two Koreas could exist in harmony, or that a single Korea is possible? Maybe we're jumping the gun, but imagine Kim himself imagining his regime as a westernized country, a full trading partner, a country without sanctions against it, a nation whose people are able to think and do and be what they want.
Imagining and being are two different things, of course. But nobody thought they'd see the leaders of these countries - in an actual war or a cold war with each other for nearly 70 years - meet at the demilitarized zone, shake hands, talk for hours and deliver a joint declaration Friday with the "mutual goal" of pursuing "complete denuclearization" of the peninsula.
The document that emerged from Friday's meeting also declares "there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula," the countries "will not use any form of force against each other" and they would agree "to gradually realize arms reduction."
In the United States, meanwhile, rap star Kanye West has set off a firestorm from celebrities and fans about his tolerance for Trump, whose often bellicose, off-the-cuff and ill-considered remarks lead people to conclude he is racist, bigoted, homophobic, xenophobic and doesn't like baby animals.
What if?
What if West sees through the media portrayals of the president? What if he is courageous enough to see beyond the bias against Trump to see what he is trying to do? Maybe we're jumping the gun, but imagine the highly popular West starting a groundswell of people to think independently, to consider who really has their back, to determine which party is more results and which is more rhetoric.
"You don't have to agree with [Trump]," he tweeted, "but the mob can't make me not love him. He is my brother. I love everyone."
West, prompted by wife Kim Kardashian, tweeted that he didn't agree with everything Trump did and, in fact, only agreed with himself 100 percent of the time. In that, though, he and the president are alike.
Just as many experts have ridiculed the possibility of eventual and long-lasting peace between the Koreas, the rapper's embrace of the president has been ridiculed. In fact, some have said it is a sign of mental illness.
The latter suggestion justifiably angered Kardashian.
"To the media trying to demonize my husband let me just say this ," she tweeted, "your commentary on Kanye being erratic & his tweets being disturbing is actually scary. So quick to label him as having mental health issues for just being himself when he has always been expressive is not fair. He's a free thinker, is that not allowed in America? Because some of his ideas differ from yours you have to throw in the mental health card? That's just not fair."
Chance the Rapper had the temerity to take "free thinking" one step farther.
"Black people," he tweeted, "don't have to be Democrats."
One who knows is Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson.
"I am thrilled to see someone like [West] have the courage ," he said on WMAL radio in Washington, "because it takes a lot of courage to go against the grain and have people say horrible things about you. I appreciate the fact that he is willing to come out and take that stand. I hope others will too and begin to recognize what we want to do is empower people."
Skeptics about both Kim (Jong Un, not Kardashian) and West might be missing the point. Sure, previous North Korean leaders have vowed peace and delivered only broken promises. And after the 2016 election, West said positive things about Trump, then two weeks into his presidency removed all the positive tweets from his account because he was unhappy about some of the things Trump had done.
Indeed, we're not going to bet our home on permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula or a brotherhood of love between Trump and West.
But must we automatically assume it can't happen? In the last 50 years, we've seen Richard Nixon open China to the West, Jimmy Carter broker peace between Egypt and Israel, Ronald Reagan conclude nuclear arms agreements with the then-Soviet Union, and Libya give up its nuclear and chemical weapons.
Over the same period, we've seen blacks become baseball's home run king, lead the Joint Chiefs of Staff, be appointed secretary of state and be inaugurated president of the United States.
Dare we think a dictator of a totalitarian regime could want peace? Dare we think a black rapper could tolerate a white president?
In this day of partisanship, bitterness and hate, if we want the better world we say we do, dare we not think it?