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Since the 2016 election of Donald Trump, I frequently think of the Arab fable “The Appointment in Samarra” as it was retold by the British author W. Somerset Maugham. The speaker in the story is Death, who, interestingly, is portrayed as a woman. Here is how the fable goes. There was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to the market to buy provisions. Soon after, the servant returned, white and trembling, and said, “Master, just now when I was in the marketplace, I was jostled by a woman in the crowd, and when I turned, I saw it was Death who jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture. Now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra, and there Death will not find me.” The merchant lent his servant his horse, and the servant mounted it. He dug his spurs in its flanks, and as fast as the horse could gallop, he went. Soon after, the merchant went down to the marketplace, and he saw me standing in the crowd. He came to me [Death] and said, “Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning?” “That was not a threatening gesture,” I said. “It was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”