News Satire Roundup: November 6th-November 10th

Sunday, November 6 – John opened with last-minute campaigning from Trump and Clinton (complete with Trump giving himself a pep talk onstage and the FBI’s eleventh-hour “all clear” on the latest Clinton emails.)  He also gave his own final appeal to vote and unearthed a Daily Show clip from several years ago in which he (oh so misguidedly) begged Trump to run, for his sake as a comedian.  A quick montage of morning news anchors in terrible Halloween costumes, and it was on to the main story.  It was a reprieve from the election, instead focusing on the much “breezier” subject of multilevel marketing.  Unsurprisingly, these “not-pyramid schemes” totally are; I felt for the people featured who lost so much money to businesses like Herbalife and Mary Kay, especially those who realized their friends got them buried in this quagmire in a desperate attempt to keep themselves from going under. 

Monday, November 7 – Like John, Trevor fumed about the FBI throwing so much uncertainty on Clinton and then going “psych!” at the last minute (after millions have already voted,) and he had a delightful time questioning Trump’s basic understanding of technology re: the FBI’s ability to assess the new emails in a few days.  We were also treated to Beyoncé and Jay Z performing in support of Clinton – I loved Trevor’s wish that Jay Z would intro any future State of the Union addresses in Clinton’s future.  The satire was dropped briefly as Trevor gave an earnest call to vote.  I loved his arguments against complacency, reminding us that 1) leading in the polls doesn’t always equal a win (as Clinton found in the Michigan primary) and 2) Trump’s extreme supporters, like the KKK, certainly won’t be complacent.  “Dapper” journalist Jonathan Capehart was the guest, trying to assuage Trevor’s election worries before the big day.

Tuesday, November 8 – And here it was.  A hour-long live show, and even though the writing was already apparent on the wall, it was still a gutpunch to see how dejected and sad Trevor was (but, after hours of impartial news coverage, it was also a relief to just see someone reacting honestly.)  Kudos to Trevor and the whole news team for being pros and keeping the show going despite the palpable heartache, even managing to find a few (dark) jokes in the whole mess.  Roy gave increasingly-dire updates on the election results and repeatedly referred to Trump as “the hot wing,” and Ronny came on to complain about how medieval the voting process feels given 21^st-century technology.  Desi and Jordan reported from Clinton and Trump headquarters respectively – I did love Jordan’s line about how Trump’s aides were running around frantically asking supporters for ideas about something “so much better” than Obamacare.  Jordan and Desi also had field pieces.  Jordan visited both a Trump and Clinton rally endeavoring to get supporters at either to say something positive about the other, in the name of moving forward together after the election (which was the opposite of a resounding success.)  Desi’s, meanwhile, was about Trump’s call for his supporters to “watch” polling places to prevent fraud.  After an amusing/disturbing soundbite from “racist Indiana Jones,” she went for the full skinhead and interviewed a national socialist – frankly, I’m impressed that she was able to do it.  There were also three guests.  Ana Marie Cox from MTV News shared how heartbroken she felt over it all, and Douglas Brinkley from CNN tried to contextualize it within American history.  And Keegan Michael-Key, while really wishing he was on a different episode, discussed what Obama means to him and gave us one more Obama Anger Translator.

Wednesday, November 9 – I nodded along with Trevor’s lingering disbelief, and I felt for him when he said that hearing Obama say it was what finally made it real.  It felt fitting to give the floor to both Michelle (a woman) and Hasan (a Muslim.)  While both made some commendable jokes, they were also very affecting.  Michelle got me when, talking about Clinton’s concession speech, she lamented that we still need to be reminded that little girls have value.  As for Hasan, what hit me the hardest was his point about people who voted for Trump that don’t agree with his bigotry but were nevertheless undeterred by it – that it feels like they’re saying, “I don’t hate you, I just don’t care about you.”  The guest, Buzzfeed’s John Stanton, undermined my self-reassurances about how check and balances will keep Trump in line.  As he noted, it’s not as if the Republicans haven’t been constantly caving to Trump.  Why stop now?  (Shudder.)

Thursday, November 10 – First was the “not my president” protests.  I liked Trevor’s take on it as a demonstration to the world that not all Americans condone this, even as he warned against the urge toward violence.  Fine story on Trump and Obama’s ignore-the-awkwardness meeting, complete with the bust of MLK on the table behind Trump and inner-monologue montages of both men recalling everything the other has said about him.  I appreciated Trevor’s empathy for out-of-work Midwest industrial workers who helped elect Trump, both that they’ve felt voiceless and thought they had no other way to express their discontent, and that Trump can’t actually bring back the jobs they’re looking for.  Secretaries of the Air Force and Army, Deborah Lee Jones and Eric Fanning, tag-teamed as the guests.  Fairly interesting, and I liked Jones’s response to the prospect of a president who’s not down with women or trans people serving.