Sunday, March 12 – John commemorated
International Women’s Day with several clips of men putting their feet in their
mouth talking about women, from Putin literally talking about women smiling
more to a co-anchor-less local news host segueing into “bikini bods.” Next up was the CIA stuff on WikiLeaks,
sharing some silly secret-project code names and picking apart leading news
coverage that made the intel seem a lot more shocking than it actually is. The main story circled back around to
healthcare again, this time covering some of the content of the American HealthCare Act. Even though it was a bit of a
retread, it was still an excellent story.
Much was made of the fact that the bill has been getting harsh criticism
on both sides, John mocked the pages spent on disenrolling
previously-low-income lottery winners by imaging a “Freaky Friday proviso,” and
Paul Ryan creeped us out with his palpable joy at taking money from poor
people.
Monday, March 13 – Trevor opened on a
hilarious gaffe from a news piece on the impeachment of South Korea’s
president: a man whose home
broadcast for the BBC was interrupted first by his toddler, then his baby bursting into his
study, with his wife racing in to extract the kids. I could’ve died laughing at that, and I loved
Trevor’s admiration for the wife’s kid-wrangling skills. Next up was Trump’s wiretapping accusations
and the zero evidence provided to support them.
Good stuff on the White House staff forced to defend the crap Trump
spouts, especially Sean Spicer’s insistence that “illegal wiretapping” was
clearly a metaphor for a broad range of general surveillance. Roy and Hasan introduced this year’s “Third Month Mania,” pitting Trump tweets against each other. Lee Daniels was the guest; I was interested
in his comments about what it’s like being a gay man in close contact with the
hip-hop world (due to Empire.)
Wednesday, March 15 – After a brief
snow-day hiatus, the show was back, opening on a couple highlights from Rachel
Maddow’s less-than-bombshell “reveal” of two pages of Trump’s tax returns from
twelve years ago and Trump’s own people admitting there’s no evidence for his
wiretapping claims. Then, it was back to
healthcare, this time challenging Trump’s support of the GOP bill given that it
doesn’t do virtually anything he promised it would. I especially liked Paul Ryan’s attempt to
pull Trump “under the bus” and Trevor’s mirth at the thought of Trump helping
to write legislation. Ronny did a piece
on snazzy new technology; I enjoyed how unimpressed he was with the current
craze to make everything “smart.” Nice
interview with Jesse Williams. He
discussed his community outreach work, and he and Trevor bonded over their
tendency to be constantly mistaken for other light-skinned PoC, including each
other.
Thursday, March 16 – I liked Trevor’s
prediction that Trump’s Muslim bans will forever be undone by his insistence on
announcing his motives. Nice story on
the Netherlands’ election, more notable for Geert Wilders’s loss than Mark
Rutte’s victory. Some good angles here,
especially America’s position as a cautionary tale and Trevor’s theory that
xenophobic populist politicians are actually being mind-controlled by aliens
that look like bad hair. The centrist
prime minister acquiescing to some populist/nativist notes was disturbing. New correspondent Gina had a good first story
on Brexit. Her explanation of what’s
happened to the pound post-Brexit was really good, and I liked her pointing out
that Idris Elba isn’t the only Black person in the U.K. Mixed feelings on the guest, former DNC chair
Donna Brazile. Her responses seemed slippery
to me, and even as she was getting at good points, I felt like she was
obfuscating.
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