It’s A Wonderful White House
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:
A REAL scandal is the one sided coverage, hour by hour, of networks like NBC & Democrat spin machines like Saturday Night Live. It is all nothing less than unfair news coverage and Dem commercials. Should be tested in courts, can’t be legal? Only defame & belittle! Collusion?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 16, 2018
Yes, that’s right. The President wants to take Saturday Night Live to court for making fun of him.
Wow. Just wow.
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!
SSDD.
@Mikey:
Two words:
RED WAVE!!!!!
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.
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.
I know this isn’t news to anyone here, but it’s helpful to remember the precedent Trump is protesting against:
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.
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.
@Kylopod:
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.
@One American: wow it’s our Russian troll showing he doesn’t know how to write English. Again.
@Individual One, Ugly American:..as stupid as…
You said it Hambone!
Those deplorables who voted for your Supreme Leader President Pud sure are stupid!
@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.
@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.
@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.
@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.
@One American:
Breitbart awaits you, tovarish.
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.
@dennis:
Good one.
@Kathy:
Speaking of Twitter, Trump is carrying on about the “boarder” wall this a.m.
@Resistance Ron: I agree. We shouldn’t take anything he says at face value. He’s just ranting to keep your attention.
@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.
@Kylopod:
I see what legal angle Trump is taking now. The parodies making him appear stupid are completely believable.
@CSK:
I had no idea El Dennison was a proud graduate of the Dan Quayele Skool of Spelin’.
@MarkedMan:
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.
… 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!
@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.)
@Kathy:
https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/23/nyregion/in-courtroom-laughter-at-fox-and-a-victory-for-al-franken.html
@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.
@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.
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!
@Kathy:
I loved the opening description of the Electric Monk in that book. The rest of the book, meh.
@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.
@Pylon:..He just has to do the appropriate penance.
What is the appropriate penance for this?
@Joe:
I remember little about the book other than the purpose of the Electric Monk.
@Pylon:
I mean as far as reading political comedies but not a science/philosophy book.