‘His Soul Is Just So Damaged’: Broadway Legend Betty Buckley Reacts to News That Trump Aide Would Play ‘Memory’ From Cats to Calm Him Down

One of the weirdest — and flat-out funniest — revelations from Stephanie Grisham’s tell-all book about her time working in the White House was about an unnamed aide, dubbed the “Music Man,” who would play the song “Memory” from the musical Cats in order to soothe former President Donald Trump’s infamous temper.

Actress Betty Buckley won a Tony in 1983 for her portrayal of Grizabella, the character who memorably (pun totally intended) croons the aforementioned tune, in the original Broadway production of Cats, and she spoke with CNN’s Jim Acosta on Saturday about this latest news about her beloved song.

Acosta thanked Buckley for joining the show, calling it “an honor” and “so wonderful” to speak with her. “I have to ask you, Betty, what was your reaction when you heard this bonkers story that they played your music to calm [Trump] down?”

Buckley said she had been on set in New Mexico working on a television series when she woke up and found lots of messages from friends on her phone, “and they were saying thank you for saving the world and I was like, oh, my God.”

She mentioned how she, along with Cats composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, had objected to Trump using her recording of “Memory” at his rallies, sending his campaign cease and desist letters. “It was such an aberration,” she said, for that song “to be associated with his politics, with his rallies.”

Trump had ignored their letters, as he had done with similar letters sent by other musical artists, said Buckley. “So when this book came out and I understood that they were literally using the song to calm him down in his fits of rage, somehow, it all made sense to me. I was like, oh, man.”

“You know, the guy is so wounded,” she continued. “His soul is so damaged, and I feel that on some level, this beautiful lyric… resonates with what remains of the window into whatever soul he might actually have.”

Trump, she said, had “this insatiable need to be loved because daddy just didn’t, you know, and neither did mommy, so he’s really mad at the world about that.”

Acosta brought up how someone had tweeted, “Betty, you may have prevented nuclear war.”

“I hope it wasn’t that close, but my goodness, you just never know,” he added.

“Well, as I said, I’m willing to do my part,” Buckley replied, “you know, if that’s what it takes.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.

This article has been updated to correct the year Buckley won the Tony for Cats. She received the award in 1983, not 1973.