Wow, did you enjoy the Summer Olympics that ended Sunday night in Paris?

I sure did. I didn’t nearly as much as a lot of you, but I got caught up in a bunch of the sports – particularly 3-on-3 basketball, swimming and sport climbing. My son has climbed at gyms in South Korea and Brooklyn, and his interest sparked mine in an event that I found riveting.

What also made it fun was the setting. Paris, like London in 2012 and Barcelona in 1992, is a great setting for the Games. The events are intertwined with the culture and history. (It’s one of the reasons why the IOC should give Tokyo another shot after the last games were screwed by the pandemic.)

The French people seemed to relish being hosts. It was a chance to show off what’s best about their country. Admit it, you and whoever you hang with have talked about visiting France at least one in the past two and-a-half weeks.

Here’s one reason for that: For all the political and social problems facing the French, the country’s face at the Games was Emmanuel Macron.

The French president had official responsibilities, uttering the mandated short sentence that welcomes athletes. 

But he also had symbolic responsibility as France’s head cheerleader. He was there when swimmer Leon Marchand won his fourth gold medal. He whipped off his jacket amid the tension as the French women just missed topping the Americans for the basketball good.

The athletes felt comfortable in France – and that inspired some iconic performances. The French seemed happy to have them. Macron had a little to do with that.

You know there has to be a counterpoint. But I’ll bet it has crossed your mind.

Four paragraphs up, I mention the official responsibilities of a country’s head of state – opening the Games with just a prescribed sentence. No big speech. Just “I declare open the Games of Paris celebrating the 33rd Olympiad of the modern era.”

Well, the next Games – as that folderol with Tom Cruise demonstrated – are in Los Angeles in 2028. And the President of the United States is expected to be there, kicking off the kind of celebration that Californians hinted at in the Snoop Dogg, Billie Eilish and Red Hot Chili Peppers performances.

So, on November 5, as if there wasn’t enough to think about, there’s this: Who will open the Games of the 34th Olympiad? And how will he or she set the tone for athletes from around the world?

If it’s she, I don’t think we have a problem. Kamela Harris is a Californian. She’s cheered on many of these athletes before. It’s likely that many of the stars of these Games, like Steph Curry, will support her campaign.

And that would set a positive tone for athletes around the world, including those from countries at loggerheads in one way or another with the United States. It’ll make it easier for Los Angeles to be the kind of welcoming host it has been twice before. 

Then, of course, there’s Donald Trump.

Think about all the things you’ve watched in Paris. Then, instead of inserting Macron or Harris, you replace them with Trump.

A little dissonant, eh? 

Can you imagine Trump playing second fiddle to the athletes? Would his ego allow that? 

Would he tell the world that he’s a golf champion, even if it’s on his course and under his rules? Would he complain loudly if Russian athletes were barred from carrying their nation’s flag for its aggression against Ukraine – or would he even try to force the IOC to lift a ban and invite Putin to the opening ceremonies?

Would he block athletes from Iran and China from attending? Would he badger a judge in a subjective sport who scored a white American athlete lower than an Asian or Black athlete from the rest of the world?

Would many of the American athletes want nothing to do with him? Would he embarrass them in front of the world by complaining that they’re disrespectful to him?

Would the Opening Ceremony celebrate the diversity of the United States? Would it be forced to go through a screening process by the Project 2025 yahoos that eliminates anything varying from the right-wing narrative? Could conservative athletes feel free to carry Confederate flags into the L.A. Coliseum?

Would Trump, if he’s not given the deference he believes he’s entitled to, even suggest canceling the Games or blocking federal funds to help defray some of the costs for Los Angeles, a place that isn’t likely to vote for him in 2024?

All of that stuff sounds crazy. But again, we’re talking about a guy who claims his opponent used AI to conjure images of people showing up at a rally that was broadcast live.

Right now, the United States, France and the rest of the world are basking in the afterglow of a successful Olympics. It obviously won’t last forever, but it’s nice while it’s here.

What should scare us is feeling the way the world felt on August 17, 1936, the day after Adolf Hitler used the Berlin Olympics to celebrate his Nazi regime. When Jewish athletes were blocked from participating by countries besides Germany for fear on not offending the host.

How we feel on July 31, 2028 will depend a lot on what we do on November 5, 2024. It’s far from the most important reason to consider our choices carefully.

But today does feel good – and that’s a powerful thing.