News Satire Roundup: September 4th-September 6th

Tuesday, September 4 – Quick bits on Bob Woodward’s upcoming book and the unfortunately-timed “we now return you to your regularly-scheduled program” moment after the announcement of John McCain’s death on NBC.  Next was a strong story on recent anger and boycotts over certain things, from First Man to the New Yorker Festival to Nike, over political issues.  I enjoyed Trevor’s laughter at people burning their shoes to protest Nike’s Colin Kaepernick ad, and I loved his impression of Neil Armstrong doing an air-guitar solo after claiming the moon for “Murica.”  Next up was the start of week-long coverage of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing – the “42,000 pages of documents” thing is so shady, and petty.  DeRay McKesson of Black Lives Matter was the guest, discussing his new book that addresses some of the myths around police violence.

Wednesday, September 5 – Opening blurbs:  an attempted shaming of an actor’s day job leading to a happy ending, a pair of Florida priests caught going at it in a car (I loved Trevor’s delight at a Catholic church sex scandal involving consenting adults,) and a pole-dancer at a Chinese elementary school(?)  This was followed by the anonymous op-ed claiming that members of the Trump administration undermine him from within.  I’m totally with Trevor’s bewilderment at the idea that what we’ve seen so far is the “watered-down Trump.”  More on Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing; I loved the point that “Supreme Court Justice” is apparently the only job for which answering the interview questions isn’t a must.  The guest, White House correspondent April Ryan, talked about the combative nature of the administration’s press briefings, especially the animosity directed specifically toward her.

Thursday, September 6 – We started with Trump’s irate reaction to the anonymous op-ed, then China’s promise to give 60 billion dollars to countries in Africa (with Trevor pointing out that colonization might’ve gone over better the first time if Europe had offered that kind of cash.)  Next up was a story on claims that social media is out to silence conservative voices, fueled by claims from Trump – who, Trevor naturally points out, basically became president due to Twitter; I liked Trevor’s saga about the post everyone has that they’re sure is going to blow up that doesn’t.  The latest piece on Kavanaugh looked at speculation about an agreement between Kavanaugh and Trump’s law firm that he’ll protect Trump in exchange for the justice seat, with Kavanaugh doing almost nothing to counter Kamala Harris as she questioned him about that possibility.  Guest Maggie Gyllenhaal was on to promote the new season of The Deuce.