News Satire Roundup: February 26th-March 2nd

Sunday, February 26 – This week’s Trump update included his plans for cracking down on immigration and rolling back the federal guidance on schools’ treatment of trans kids – awesome.  I loved John’s line about Trump keeping his promise to “to make entire subsets of the American citizenry concerned about their safety and well-being again.”  The main story was on the Affordable Care Act:  its beneficial and problematic aspects, the extreme hate for it among many congressional Republicans, and what little has been said so far about the plan to repeal/replace it.  I appreciated John going through the phrases brought up by Paul Ryan and co., explaining what each means and what the result could be, particularly for lower-income families.  Lastly, John’s plan to cast a lobster as Neil Gorsuch in his all-dog Supreme Court (as a reminder of the partisan game-playing that will have gotten him there in the first place) was excellent.

Monday, February 27 – After a quick Oscar bit (more on that later,) we got the next chapter in the ongoing saga of Trump vs. the media, focusing was on leaks from inside the White House.  I loved the montage of Trump singing the praises of WikiLeaks back when they were to his advantage, and the bit about a secret meeting to crack down on leaks (which was immediately leaked) was great.  Roy expanded on the Oscars in a piece positing that we’re in a time of “peak Blackness,” which helped make way for Moonlight’s victory.  He had some great examples, and I loved his point about how a white film being given something a Black film had earned was instantly rectified, whereas you’d normally have to make a movie about a Black injustice to get it acknowledged.  John Oliver was the guest, and he and Trevor talked about what he sets out to do on his show compared to the verbal “eviscerations” he’s often credited with giving.

Tuesday, February 28 – I liked Trevor’s assessment of “the Conway picture,” particularly his riff on Kellyanne Conway obviously not having a Black grandmother if she puts her shoes on a couch without fear.  Next up was a good story on the unfriendly crowds that have met many GOP congressmen at town hall meetings.  Highlights included a crowd chanting “Shame!” Game of Thrones style and a 7-year-old boy wanting to know why Trump is taking funding from PBS Kids “just to build a wall.”  This led into the topic of so-called “paid protesters” and a field piece from Desi outside a town hall in Birmingham.  It went down how these pieces usually do, with people touting groundless conspiracy theories who are completely tone-deaf to the glaring contradictions in their own statements – ayiyi.  The guests, rappers Run the Jewels, discussed making music for free public consumption and being woke while maintaining rap cred.

Wednesday, March 1 – I don’t think Trump’s address was quite as presentable as Trevor made it out to be, but I really Trevor’s point here, that the “presidential-sounding” speech about optimism, cooperation, and combating hate flies in the face of most of what Trump says/does, including things he said/did earlier that day.  Trevor’s list of contradictory Trump talking points was excellent, as was the comparison with a heist movie.  In the second segment, also on Trump’s address, I appreciated Trevor for calling out how surprised and impressed the media gets whenever Trump breaks out the “presidential” routine, reminding us that this has happened before and they seem to keep falling for it.  Having CNN’s Jake Tapper as the guest continued the night’s theme, with Tapper touching on the address as well as talking about how to report in an era when saying things the president doesn’t like gets equated with being “fake news.”

Thursday, March 2 – Good opening on Africa’s Mo Ibrahim leadership prize, awarded to a leader who peaceably steps down (in theory, Trevor points out, since no African leaders did that this year.)  More on Trump and Russia, this time with Jeff Sessions getting in on the unfortunate action; I don’t even know what to do with this anymore.  All the Sessions-is-a-hobbit jokes were fun, especially Jordan reporting live from his office in the Shire.  Adam made an appearance to talk about the recent rash of anti-Semitic threats and attacks, along with the administration’s extremely overdue/tepid response.  “Hey, Jews – it’s Adam from camp” made me laugh so hard.  Evan Osnos of The New Yorker was the guest, continuing the Russia discussion.  He laid out the situation as we know it pretty well, and I liked Trevor’s observation that the biggest story so far is mostly the fact that it feels like there’s a story here that hasn’t been uncovered yet.