News Satire Roundup: September 10th-September 14th

Sunday, September 10 – This week’s Trump catch-all included his debt-ceiling deal with Republicans and his decision to end DACA.  Both served to highlight John’s point of Trump plainly not knowing what he’s doing, and he exposed Trump’s “tell” for when he has no plan:  describing his policy/stance/plan merely as “everyone’s gonna be so happy.”  After a brief contrast of the NFL’s hesitance toward Colin Kaepernick with their acceptance of other players despite various crimes committed, it was onto the main story.  John looked tonight at Joe Arpaio and Trump’s pardon of him.  He delved deeply into the overall despicable things going on in Arpaio’s jails and departments, bringing up some particularly awful things that I hadn’t heard about yet, and he worried about Trump’s characterization that a man who was flagrantly violating the Constitution was “just doing his job.”

Monday, September 11 – Cute opening bit on Sloane Stephens’s US Open win (she was so much fun!), then it was onto Hurricane Irma.  There was some good footage of people stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the storm, as well as some nice commentary on the point of showing reporters in hurricanes while conveying the point that no one should be out in the hurricane.  Desi, Hasan, and Roy sent up that idea quite handily.  Good piece on Steve Bannon’s recent 60 Minutes interview; all the clips Trevor included were slimy, but Bannon’s repeated description of the release of the Access Hollywood tape as “Billy Bush weekend” really was some powerfully-revolting rebranding.  Guest Idris Elba was on to promote The Mountain between Us.  So-so interview, I thought, though I did like Trevor wondering if the movie was just about a Black man fighting snow.

Tuesday, September 12 – I laughed so hard at Trevor’s supposition that the accidental “like” of a porn video on Ted Cruz’sTwitter page was just a botched attempt to prove he was a human.  Good story on the Equifax data breach, covering the enormity of the breach, the potential ramifications, and the company’s shady reaction to what happened.  I loved Trevor imagining us trying to pull the same thing on a corporate entity, and the fake commercial of Equifax spinning the data breach in their favor cracked me up.  Michelle had a great piece on the Miss America pageant, taking contestants’ responses in the short-answer portion (on topics ranging from Charlottesville to the Paris agreement to the Russia investigation) and comparing their clear, concise, rapid-fire answers to Trump’s evasive ramblings on the subjects.  The guest was Maria Sharapova (lots of tennis lately,) promoting her new memoir.

Wednesday, September 13 – After a couple of opening bits (including a chainsaw-wielding nun helping with Hurricane Irma clean-up!), Trevor looked at the recent vandalization of a Christopher Columbus statue.  Michael did a field piece hosting a “problematic statues” tour of New York, asking tourists to weigh in on whether the statues should stay or go.  I thought the story on Myanmar and the persecution of the Rohingya people was good; Trevor covered the surprising aspects of the story (violent Buddhists, the persecution happening on the watch of a former Nobel Peace Prize winner) and didn’t give Aung Sang Suu Kyi any slack on the issue – “She just ‘both sided’ ethnic cleansing!”  Musicians Chuck D. and Tom Morello were the guests, talking music, politics (Morello talked about his history working for a congressman – really interesting,) and their new collaboration as Prophets of Rage.

Thursday, September 14 – I agree with Trevor; after the last couple of years, there’s nothing particularly outrageous about Kid Rock’s first stump speech for Senate.  I really enjoyed the story about Trump’s baffling meeting with Democrats on immigration, especially Trevor’s end-of-his-rope frustration toward Trump’s gaslighting remarks about DACA on Twitter.  Roy came on to discuss Jemele Hill’s comments about Trump on Twitter, and more specifically, the White House’s call for her to be fired over them and the unsettling implications of that move.  Bonus points for the clip of Fox News anchors crying double standard, asking what would have happened if a public figure had tweeted something like that about Obama (cut to Trump tweeting that Obama is a racist.)  The guest was Transparent creator Jill Soloway.  They talked with Trevor about the show’s inception, its newest season, and their own experience being nonbinary.