News Satire Roundup: November 12th-November 16th

Sunday, November 12 – After the briefest of references to the events of the week, it was straight onto the main story.  Once again, we focused solely on Trump, on three particular tools he employs in his rhetoric:  delegitimizing the media, “whataboutism,” and trolling.  There were plenty of examples of each, and what’s more, John looked at the ways various people on Team Trump employ them as well, pointing out the power Trump has as president to reshape the tenor of the national discourse.  Also, he highlighted the importance of reading extended Trump quotes, of seeing just what utter, jumbled word salad so many of his statements are – he’s mind-boggling enough in person, but when you just look at the words themselves, it’s staggering.  To illustrate this point, John created a Trump statement entirely out of predictive text suggestions, and it was shocking how Trumpian it seemed.

Monday, November 13 – Good opening jokes on Colin Kaepernick being named GQ’s Citizen of the Year, followed by a great piece on Roy Moore’s sexual misconduct allegations.  Trevor did a fine job breaking down the insanity of political tribalism so strong it leads purported Christians to support an accused pedophile over a Democrat; I especially liked Trevor’s response to Moore denying his way into a confession with Sean Hannity.  More on Trump’s Asia trip with his visit to Vietnam – walking past the world leader he was supposed to be shaking hands with was so depressingly Trump, and his bizarre attempts to deny-not-really his claims about Putin were crazy.  Hari Kondabolu was the guest, promoting his documentary The Problem with Apu.  I liked what he said about the post-9/11, pre-Aziz-and-Mindy world having only two options for brown representation:  Apu or terrorist.

Tuesday, November 14 – I loved Trevor’s reaction to digital “snitch pills” that automatically send your health stats to your doctor.  We wrapped up Trump’s Asia trip, ending in the Philippines.  Rodrigo Duterte serenading Trump was so bizarre, and I laughed at the joke that you can tell he’s a ruthless dictator because no one’s ever told him what a terrible singer he is.  There were also some good points about how Trump’s isolationist stance is paving the way for China to take America’s place as a major superpower, and I enjoyed Ronny’s counterargument that it’s better to be #2 and to let China deal with the hassles (I also liked him pointedly mentioning to Trevor at the start of the piece that he wasn’t from China.)  Depressingly, even more on Roy Moore, with new details about past creepy behavior going after teenage girls – yecch.  The guest, 2 Chainz, promoted his show getting a glimpse at the toys of the uber-rich.

Wednesday, November 15 – Good opening bit on Zimbabwe, with Trevor pointing out that overthrowing a 93-year-old man isn’t exactly a coup.  Next was the most ridiculous clip of Trump drinking water during a speech – what even was that?!  Good story on Congress’s latest doings, especially the meeting to discuss ways to limit the president’s nuclear powers.  Trevor’s “nuclear chessboard” designed to deter Trump from setting off nukes was hilarious.  The show covered the latest in sexual harassment, now in Congress.  Trevor’s breakdown of the procedure for charging Congress members with sexual harassment was as insane as it was horrible, and Michelle did a great job offering tips for guys on how not to harass women.  The guest was filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon, talking about her new documentary and the many separate pieces that need to come together to combat the opiod epidemic.

Thursday, November 16 – Fun jokes on the Pope’s Lamborghini, followed by the depressing, disheartening news about Al Franken.  Trevor reiterated that sexual harassment isn’t a partisan thing, and I appreciated what he said about it not just being a “celebrity”/“man in power” thing, either, pointing out that someone was taking that picture.  This was followed, naturally, by more on Roy Moore (with an assist from an old friend.)  Thankfully, next up was a nice “In Other News” featuring highly-satisfied gay lions, Australia’s people voting in favor of same-sex marriage, and Drake shutting down sexual harassment at one of his concerts (I liked Trevor’s point about the irony of Drake admonishing the guy to respect women and then going back to rapping about “all my bitches and my hos.”)  Jordan Peele was on to talk Get Out and next projects; I loved what he said about making the movie that he wished existed.