Humor and Trump

I just read an article in The Atlantic (How Late-Night Comedy Fueled the Rise of Trump) about how our favorite comedians—Trevor Noah, Samantha Bee, John Oliver and Stephen Colbert-- are possibly fueling the support for the Trump. The author, Caitlan Flanagan, points out, in particular, some of the episodes wherein the comedian includes interviews with Trump supporters and proceeds to make them look like fools, even one where Samantha Bee interviewed a young boy who did not realize that she would be making him look foolish—cruel it seems. Although making a very young boy look foolish is perhaps cruel, I have wondered often how and why the folks who allow themselves to look foolish on these comedy shows, do in fact signal a yes to being interviewed. Could it be that they do not know or understand who Samantha Bee, et al, are and what is their intent for such an interview? Are they perhaps so arrogant themselves that they believe they can outwit Samantha and make her look doltish?

The author has no particular recommendations, except maybe, stop doing what you are doing, because you may be inadvertently strengthening his hand.  Or perhaps, stop what you are doing because you have in fact simply become cruel. There may indeed be no further point to such interviews, since we all, on the right and on the left “know” each other so well that further evidence is no longer necessary.  I do wonder whether the author’s next article will be one in which she examines Fox News, or Alex Jones to discover whether they too are being cruel and fueling the “Resistance” building against the Trump monarchy.  But maybe not.  For apparently it is only the lefty intellectuals who are doing the devil’s work here in this poor benighted land of ours.

And I began thinking, maybe we need to begin thinking about our end as a great republic.  Because, we may now be witnessing the beginning of the end for America.  And our highly vaunted communications systems, including especially television, is bringing us to that end stage a little sooner than we might have wished. Perhaps the end will come when Trump supporters, all of whom are heavily armed, begin showing up at his rallies and shooting people, and then those anti-Trump folks—The Resistance—begin arming themselves and shooting back, leading to the last great Civil War in America, the one that brings down the Republic entirely.  Meanwhile, the Nation’s police forces, and the Nation’s armed forces sit on the sideline and watch it all happen, while President Trump sits in his palace at MaraLago, writing and sending inane Tweets about the glories of Americans fighting to support his honor.

Or perhaps we no longer have room in our society for humor of the political stripe. Maybe we need to return to Archie Bunker style humor, where we were allowed to make rednecks look foolish, or Jack Benny, where we made everyone seem foolish.  Maybe the lower middle classes no longer permit humor into their lives, which have been destroyed by the bankers and industrialists of the world, but who believe their lives have been destroyed by the globalist intellectuals of the land.

Trump, Marine LaPen, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage all play from similar playbooks, although most are not as psychiatrically unhinged as our President.  But that matters not at all apparently, since his troops do not care whether he is an unhinged malenfant.  But their playbook is globalism generally is terrible for you my supporters. The current systems whereby we allow relatively free trade among global economies, and allow unrestricted migration of the world’s desperates is the problem, and I will fix that problem.  That their playbook also includes telling repeated large lies to their adoring public is a matter of record, but again, seems not to matter to the supporters.  Farage repeatedly insisted that the treasured NHS would recover hundreds of millions of pounds back after a successful Brexit, and then said, “Oh, no we really didn’t mean that” seems not to have affected those pro-Brexit voters.  Similarly, Trump’s continual lies and deceptions (see Trump University, see the Trump fake health plan) when revealed, again have no effect on his supporters’ belief in his Presidency.

That he continues doing and saying monumentally stupid things, because he is entirely ignorant of the world around him, is, I assume, irrelevant.  So, what should we the Lefties of the world, do in response? Are we supposed to simply sit back and await World War IV, where we all disappear in a cloud of radioactive dust? And should we, prior to that eventuality, adopt a politically sensitive (politically correct is no longer acceptable apparently) attitude towards his wonderful, America Great supporters? Are we allowed, incidentally, to complain when his supporters eventually kill someone trying to protest one of his stupidities? Or must we now say, “oh, well that person should have known better than to protest at  or about a Trump affair”. And then we will be at peace within our formerly great nation.

Oh, and do get rid of those snarky comedians. Let us all get our humor directly from The Donald, and his support troops.