News Satire Roundup: November 28th-December 1st

Didn't get a chance to post yesterday.  Here's Friday's News Satire Roundup, and I'll put up Saturday's post in a bit.

Monday, December 1 –Trevor touched on Jill Stein’s push for a recount, highlighting Trump’s rejoinder that bizarrely included an unfounded claim that “millions” voted illegally for Clinton.  Great story on Trump’s what-conflict-of-interest? business dealings and the deals that are “coincidentally” getting made as he contacts world leaders for “presidential reasons.”  Trevor’s comments about President Duterte cozying up to Trump’s business guy in the Philippines were really sharp, and I appreciated his obvious disdain for the fact that we spent most most of the campaign looking at emails and have no idea what’s going to happen with Trump’s business interests.  Quick piece on reactions to Castro’s death, which featured a fun bit of Trevor-as-Castro doing The Most Interesting Dictator in the World.  Opera singer Ryan Speedo Green was the guest, promoting his new book about his life, from rough beginnings all the way to the Met.

Tuesday, December 2 – Trump doubling down on claims of mass voter fraud led into a story about Trump’s total rejection of all things fact.  Trevor covered some excellent angles here – there’s no way to win an argument against someone who doesn’t care about facts (the toddler analogy was spot-on,) this is a departure from politicians’ typical strategy of using facts to lie, and the media is at a complete loss on how to deal with it.  Adam talked with Trevor about a horrifically-bizarre story involving a Russian (Ice Skating) with the Stars show where two contestants did an honest-to-goodness Holocaust ice-dancing routine – there are just no words.  Mahershala Ali was the guest, because I wasn’t lamenting the fact that Moonlight isn’t playing anywhere near me enough.  I enjoyed Ali’s comments about the challenge of filming it concurrently with House of Cards and Luke Cage, working to keep all his characters distinct.

Wednesday, December 3 – Mitt Romney's dinner with Trump gave Trevor the chance to comment of rich-white-guy degrees of passive aggression.  Two stories on Trump appointees, Jeff Sessions as attorney general (this could’ve been better – Jordan’s bit on it was just meh) and Steven Mnuchin as treasury secretary (I enjoyed Roy’s analysis based on the movies he’s helped produce.)  But pride of place goes to the interview with incendiary conservative talk-show host Tomi Lahren.  Trevor was on fire.  Whether Lahren was making accusations about Black Lives Matter or sneering at Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protests, Trevor’s responses were quick, well-put-together, and measured; I have no idea how he kept his cool so well.  My favorite part was the several minutes he spent trying to get her to answer the question, if marching/protesting/kneeling are “the wrong way” for Black people to air grievances, then how?

Thursday, December 4 – We opened on India – both the loss of their two most common rupee denominations and a new law requiring the national anthem to be played before every movie showing.  Nice story on the Dakota Access Pipeline, especially the emphasis on the original plan for it to go through the mostly-white town of Bismarck, which moved downriver to the native land after Bismarck residents worried about leaks; really sharp satire there.  Another Trump-nominee profile, this time on Michael Flynn as national security advisor.  There’s, of course, “Lock Her Up” Trump naming a guy knowing for mishandling classified information, but Hasan brought particular attention to his misinformation/suspicions about Islam.  Great piece, especially Hasan’s dismay at finding out he has “God cancer.”  Chelsea Handler was the guest.  So-so, though Trevor’s fanboy tendencies always amuse me.