News Satire Roundup: Feburary 28th-March 3rd

Sunday, February 28 – Strong out of the gate with Egypt’s president entering on a two-mile-long red carpet before announcing massive cuts.  There was also some side-eying of Obama’s well-intentioned but nonspecific plans to close Guantanamo Bay and a bizarre bit of filibustering from a Kansas congressman.  The main story was on Donald Trump.  However, rather than addressing the racism, xenophobia, or warmongering, John kept it much more basic, systematically dismantling the various non-bigoted reasons people give for supporting Trump.  Under John’s laser-sharp commentary, Trump was given no leg to stand on as being frankly honest, tough, a man of the people, and a self-made success.  Rather, we were shown a serial liar who talks a big game but delivers nothing and is so notoriously changeable that we have no idea what he’d actually do as president.  Masterful takedown.

Monday, February 29 – All-around fantastic show.  A few gems on the Democratic primary in South Carolina, especially the graphic of Clinton as Madea.  The piece on Trump and fascism was perfect, similar to the “Trump is an African Dictator” parallels but with more “oh, crap, I’m not sure this is funny anymore” sentiment mixed with the humor.  The Trump clips chosen to illustrate the various elements of fascism were spot on, and the mini-stories – Trump not backing down on quoting Mussolini, vowing to ensure politicians can slap journalists with libel suits, and going to insane lengths not to denounce the KKK – were all great.  The hackneyed barbs traded by Trump and Rubio in the next story were ridiculous in their immaturity; it must be at least an unwritten rule that presidential candidates don’t make dick jokes.  And while I wasn’t familiar with guest Morris Chestnut, he was a lot of fun, personable and entertaining.

Tuesday, March 1 – In a bizarre twist, a Nation of Islam leader is the latest to endorse Trump.  I loved Trevor’s impression of bewildered Trump supporters no longer sure who to be prejudiced against.  I liked the story about a new law allowing kids in Iowa to use handguns.  There were some excellent lines there, and I loved the montage of tantrums to demonstrate why children might not be the best to trust with guns.  I was glad to see Kristen again, but her piece on body acceptance felt a little lacking.  I liked different parts of it, talking about the new Barbie body types and a plus-size model posing for Sports Illustrated, but it didn't quite come together.  The interview with comedian Neal Brennan, however, was interesting.  I liked that he and Trevor compared notes on having depression, as well as how people react in general to comedians with depression.

Wednesday, March 2 – A lot packed into tonight’s show.  Between the Inside Out-style cold open, Carson’s announcement to announce the date he’ll announce he’s dropping out of the race, and Cruz and Rubio’s desperate attempts to spin their unimpressive showings as successes, Super Tuesday had a lot to offer.  I adored the story comparing Trump to climate change, with GOP leaders denying both the existence of the problem and their culpability in it until it may be too late to stop it.  Trevor also made some good points on the Democratic side, questioning the logic of Sanders supporters accusing Clinton of “stealing” Sanders’s ideas, since smart money says she’ll be the eventual candidate and it’s to their benefit if she shares some of the same views.  The interview with model Chrissy Teigen was kind of all over the place but enjoyable; I’m not even sure I could articulate why I liked it as much as I did.

Thursday, March 3 – Nice finish to the week.  The shine was taken off Romney’s Trump-denunciation apple with a clip of Romney singing Trump’s praises when Tump endorsed him in the last election – whoops!  I really loved the piece on the KKK and how Democrats and Republicans have largely exchanged racial attitudes since the Civil War.  That history has always been interesting to me, and Trevor’s commentary on it was first-rate.  I especially liked the “shit/pizza” analogy (just watch it – it makes perfect sense in context, believe me.)  Jordan had a good field piece on gun violence and the ways the CDC is blocked from researching it; the “odd couple” of the CDC researcher and the reformed opponent of gun research that Jordan interviewed was really fun.  Decent interview New York mayor Bill de Blasio.  I liked his discussion with Trevor on new app services like Uber and AIRBNB.