Hi,
As you found out, you cannot pass a Var element to initiate another element. This is because all the new* commands (but not their corresponding blocks of commands) are evaluated at the very beginning of the experiment, at which point the Var elements have not been set in the yet-to-come flow of trial events.
What you can do instead is use the .text command of the Text element, like this:
newVar("RT").set( v=>Date.now() )
,
newButton("Click!").print().wait()
,
getVar("RT").set( v=>Date.now()-v )
,
newText().text( getVar("RT") ).print()
Jeremy