Sunday, April 3 – I loved the
description of the nuclear summit as the one place you want to see Putin, and Obama’s remarks about Trump’s grasp of
foreign policy were terrific. Good piece
on the Yankees as well, with their snobbish aversion to fans reselling tickets,
lest people in the premium seats be forced to sit with the proles – keep it
classy, Yankees! The main story was on
congressional fundraising, i.e., what our representatives spend 50-60% of
their time doing. Some of the statistics
were insane (the ideal schedule for a representative includes four hours of cold calls a day?!), and I loved the stuff about all
the fundraisers at Taylor Swift concerts.
What’s really wild, though, is how much people on both sides of the
aisle absolutely hate this part of the job, but neither side seems willing to
change it. The Cold War analogy was apt,
as was John’s point that we at least got a moon landing and the third-best Rocky villain out of that!
Monday, April 4 – So-so opening on the growing
friction between Clinton and Sanders. My favorite part was the bit on
Sanders bringing up the Clinton black marks he “wasn’t” mentioning. Interesting to have the guest, DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, on in the second segment – wonder if we’ll be seeing
that more often? I liked her comments on her counterpart at the RNC, but
she leaned too hard on using the Republican race to distract from DNC issues.
Love the story on South African president Jacob Zuma, especially the crack
about missing Zuma’s corruption red flags because South Africans try not to
“see color” post-apartheid and so they “only saw flags.” This led nicely to
an overview of the Panama Papers. I enjoyed Trevor’s utter non-shock at
Putin being corrupt and his despair at Jackie Chan being implicated. “Remember,
approach Jackie Chan as a group, but then fight him one at a time.” Ha!
Tuesday, April 5 – Really
enjoyed tonight’s show. Great commentary on wage inequality between the
US men and women’s soccer teams. $.25 on the dollar is such a staggering
disparity, and Trevor shut down every possible argument against paying the
much-more successful women’s team equally. The second story was another
piece from the “Trump archives,” an old interview clip in which he objectified
his 1-year-old daughter – I know. Obviously, the clip itself was horrendous
(the show had to cleanse our mental palates afterwards with shots of puppies
and flowers,) but I really like the deeper point Trevor made with it: Trump’s
misogyny is so automatic that he doesn’t even think about reducing his own
infant daughter to a collection of body parts. Nice interview with Jerrod Carmichael of The Carmichael Show. I’ve never seen it, but he may have convinced
me to check it out; I’m intrigued.
Wednesday, April 6 – Fantastic show. Other
than a quick piece on the Wisconsin primary (as a thank-you for not voting for
Trump, Trevor made it rain with cheese,) the episode focused on the trans community.
Trevor lambasted bathroom bills as being insane, hateful, and
impractical; I loved his remarks on the Kansas bill (that thing is so
crazy,) and the bigotry-Ebola comparison was perfect. Jessica did a field
piece on a trans woman who was arrested for checking into a hotel (yeah,) and
she also spoke to a panel talking about the “trans panic” at the heart of this
discrimination. It was especially effective when they bombarded Jessica with
common intrusive questions, from “Do you have a dick?” to “What's your real
name?” The guest, Angelica Ross, runs a tech organization for trans
people. It serves as both a safe space for Internet access and a training
center to boost tech skills and increase employability. In short, she was
awesome.
Thursday, April 7 – We opened on a gun that looks
like a smartphone, featuring Trevor’s many ways to accidentally shoot yourself.
Next was Cruz campaigning in New York, a.ka. getting insulted by New
Yorkers; who doesn’t enjoy a good “Everybody Hates Cruz” segment? A piece
on Trump’s issues with women broadened into a larger story on politicians using their wives to appeal to female voters, with new correspondent Michelle highlighting
the caveman logic of, “You woman. Me have woman. You vote
me!” Another Third Month Mania segment, in which Trump supporters were named
the most infuriating subject. I did like
Roy and Hasan dragging out Jordan to accept the award since; as the show’s only
white male regular, he was the closest thing they had to a Trump supporter.
Guest Juan Williams discussed his book that expands the idea of “founders”
to those who have shaped the US, for better or worse, all through its history.
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