Outside the Beltway

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It’s A Wonderful White House

Doug Mataconis
36

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Last night’s SNL Cold Open dreamed of a world where Donald Trump wasn’t President, bringing back nearly all of the stars — including Alec Baldwin as Trump, Ben Stiller as Michael Cohen. Matt Damon as Brett Kavanaugh, and Robert DeNiro as a pitch-perfect Robert Mueller — that have taken part in the show’s Trump-focused skits this year:

The only thing missing was Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton and Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer.

Apparently, this didn’t sit too well with the President:

Yes, that’s right. The President wants to take Saturday Night Live to court for making fun of him.

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36 responses to “It’s A Wonderful White House”

  1. Joe Avatar
    Joe

    Wow. Just wow.

    8
  2. Mikey Avatar
    Mikey

    Yes, that’s right. The President wants to take Saturday Night Live to court for making fun of him.

    I like how he threw “Collusion!” in there at the end. It’s a bad thing, right? He’s been accused of it, right? So he does his grade-school shit “I’M RUBBER AND YOU’RE GLUE NYAHNYAHNYAH!”

    He’s got a lot of names, but right now the best is “Trumpelthinskin.”

    And of course, there’s also the as-per-usual authoritarianism. That’s become so standard for him that it’s barely even newsworthy. SAD!

    13
  3. OzarkHillbilly Avatar
    OzarkHillbilly

    SSDD.

    3
  4. Kylopod Avatar
    Kylopod

    @Mikey:

    So he does his grade-school shit “I’M RUBBER AND YOU’RE GLUE NYAHNYAHNYAH!”

    Two words:

    RED WAVE!!!!!

    7
  5. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    I have yet to see the skit, but El Cheeto’s tweet seems funnier 🙂

    I urge him as strongly as I can to sue the pants off SNL for making fun of him. The resulting skit about the lawsuit would be priceless.

    14
  6. SenyorDave Avatar
    SenyorDave

    If I say that Trump is a corrupt, racist, amoral pig can he sue me. Or is the truth a defense. Because Trump is a corrupt, racist, amoral pig.

    10
  7. Kylopod Avatar
    Kylopod

    I know this isn’t news to anyone here, but it’s helpful to remember the precedent Trump is protesting against:

    In an 8–0 decision, the Court ruled in favor of Hustler magazine, holding that a parody ad published in the magazine depicting televangelist and political commentator Jerry Falwell as an incestuous drunk, was protected speech since Falwell was a public figure and the parody could not have been reasonably considered believable. Therefore, the Court held that the emotional distress inflicted on Falwell by the ad was not a sufficient reason to deny the First Amendment protection to speech that is critical of public officials and public figures.

    9
  8. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    I can’t decide if Trump is stupid enough to believe he has an actual case, or whether he only Tweeted this because he knows his cretin fans would believe he has a case.

    14
  9. Hal_10000 Avatar
    Hal_10000

    I found the sketch to be very predictable. There’s only been one It’s a Wonderful Life parody that was any good: Married with Children’s. And that was only because of Sam Kinison.

    4
  10. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    @Kylopod:

    Jerry Falwell as an incestuous drunk, was protected speech since Falwell was a public figure and the parody could not have been reasonably considered believable

    Is it Falwell’s son who brought in a cabana boy who he is clearly not sleeping with into the highest levels of their business? And, is it not our president who paid off a porn star to keep quiet about sad mushroom sex while his wife was recovering from childbirth?

    I’m just saying, that bright line of obvious parody has been pretty fuzzy lately.

    I eagerly await the legal argument that Hustler v. Falwell not apply to Donald Trump because he is such an odious person that there is no longer such a thing as obvious satire.

    3
  11. grumpy realist Avatar
    grumpy realist

    @One American: wow it’s our Russian troll showing he doesn’t know how to write English. Again.

    12
  12. Mister Bluster Avatar
    Mister Bluster

    @Individual One, Ugly American:..as stupid as…

    You said it Hambone!
    Those deplorables who voted for your Supreme Leader President Pud sure are stupid!

    7
  13. Kylopod Avatar
    Kylopod

    @One American wrote:
    “bathhouse barry”

    –but a moment later wrote–

    “it is you and yours reduced to juvenile name calling and disrespecting the President of the United States”

    Does. Not. Compute. Does. Not. Compute.

    17
  14. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    @Unamerican: Falwell’s kid’s fondness for a cabana boy is not illegal. Nor is sad mushroom sex.

    It does undermine the “obvious satire” argument, however. Do keep up.

    In this country, we have legal precedents, based on rationale. When the rationale change, the precedent can be undermined.

    10
  15. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    @Unamerican: I will say this about your bathhouse Barry comment… I would much rather see Obama naked that your beloved, bloated and mushroomed President with his terrible combover.

    I know you mean Bathhouse Barry as an insult, but I think he would do well there, better than your favorite at least.

    Also, if there was reputable information about him and gay bathhouses, it would have come out long before now, in reputable media. Obama was pretty squeaky clean boring with his personal life. And you are lying.

    14
  16. OzarkHillbilly Avatar
    OzarkHillbilly

    @One American: For some reason or other I find it highly unlikely you were even alive in the 70s. Something to do with your obvious juvenility.

    6
  17. dennis Avatar
    dennis

    @One American:

    Breitbart awaits you, tovarish.

    10
  18. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    Are you all trying to Turing-test the bot? It seems like a waste of time to me.

    Back on topic, I saw the skit, and definitely El Cheeto’s tantrum Tweet was funnier. For one thing there’s this patently ridiculous matter of suing SNL. For another, he seems to refer to and SNL skit of a hypothetical situation as news coverage.

    12
  19. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    @dennis:

    Good one.

    3
  20. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    @Kathy:

    Speaking of Twitter, Trump is carrying on about the “boarder” wall this a.m.

    6
  21. Just nutha ignint cracker Avatar
    Just nutha ignint cracker

    @Resistance Ron: I agree. We shouldn’t take anything he says at face value. He’s just ranting to keep your attention.

    3
  22. MarkedMan Avatar
    MarkedMan

    @Kathy: The “but he’s no longer president” comment struck me as too referential to be a bot, but I could be wrong. But it makes me wonder how long it will be before comments sections like this are obsolete. In 10 years we could end up with nothing but bots arguing with each other.

    4
  23. Franklin Avatar
    Franklin

    @Kylopod:

    was protected speech since Falwell was a public figure and the parody could not have been reasonably considered believable

    I see what legal angle Trump is taking now. The parodies making him appear stupid are completely believable.

    5
  24. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @CSK:

    I had no idea El Dennison was a proud graduate of the Dan Quayele Skool of Spelin’.

    1
  25. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @MarkedMan:

    In 10 years we could end up with nothing but bots arguing with each other.

    There was a video making the rounds of “social” media a few months ago, of Alexa talking to Google Assistant. I didn’t see it.

    Obligatory Sci-Fi reference:

    In Douglas Adams’ “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency,” one character is the Electric Monk. Adams explains him thus: first people developed VCRs so the machines would watch TV for them; then they developed the Electric Monk, so he could believe in their stead all the stuff going on TV (very rough paraphrasing; Adams is actually funny).

    It could work that way, with people buying bot apps to argue for them.

    1
  26. Mister Bluster Avatar
    Mister Bluster

    … juvenile name calling and disrespecting the President of the United States.

    Sit up straight at attention as he has demanded of you.
    …I moved on her like a bitch…I see her…and now she has the big phoney tits…you can do anything…grab them by the pvssy…source

    This is your Pervert-in-Chief Donald Trump.
    He does not deserve any respect.
    He is a pig!

    2
  27. grumpy realist Avatar
    grumpy realist

    @Kathy: I think it’s reported in Godel Escher Bach, but at one point someone decided to try out what would happen if two ELIZA programs were turned on each other. The first few exchanges are pretty funny, but IIRC both sides quickly ran down into quiescence.

    (Looks like the Russians decided to grab an AI bot and load it with Breitbart comment threads. Either that, or it’s a 12 year old boy who thinks he’s being hilarious. He isn’t. He’s just tedious.)

    1
  28. Pylon Avatar
    Pylon

    @Kathy:
    https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/23/nyregion/in-courtroom-laughter-at-fox-and-a-victory-for-al-franken.html

    1
  29. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @grumpy realist:

    I’ve been meaning to read that book for a while now. I’ve been told, though, one should get the printed version (no ebook or audiobook). The problem is I work 12 hour days and have little time to read. That’s why audiobooks and podcasts are such lifesavers. I read during the 1-3 hours a day I’m stuck in traffic, plus when I cook, do the wash, etc.

  30. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @Pylon:

    This is a bit embarrassing given my previous post, plus who the author is, but I’ve read that book. Years ago my brother got several Al Franken political satires, including on where he runs for president. We worked together at the time, and he left them scattered around the office.

  31. Mister Bluster Avatar
    Mister Bluster

    One American responding to Kylopod exposing OA’s hypocrisy by calling out
    President Obama: “he is no longer the president.”

    Rudy Giuliani on Cohen: “He’s changed his story four or five times.”
    George Stephanopoulos: “So has the President”
    G Man: “The President’s not under oath.”

    Same unhinged thinking from OA and GMan…
    Could they be One In The Same? AAARRRRGH!

  32. Joe Avatar
    Joe

    @Kathy:

    I loved the opening description of the Electric Monk in that book. The rest of the book, meh.

    1
  33. Pylon Avatar
    Pylon

    @Kathy:

    There’s nothing embarrassing about reading that book. Al Franken is tarnished certainly, but I can separate that stuff from the books (and also the good stuff he did in the Senate). One day, I think he will emerge as a decent left side bomb thrower on CNN or somesuch. He just has to do the appropriate penance.

    1
  34. Mister Bluster Avatar
    Mister Bluster

    @Pylon:..He just has to do the appropriate penance.

    What is the appropriate penance for this?

  35. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @Joe:

    I remember little about the book other than the purpose of the Electric Monk.

  36. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @Pylon:

    I mean as far as reading political comedies but not a science/philosophy book.

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