News Satire Roundup: August 12th-August 16th

Sunday, August 12 – First up was a catch-all topic on racists, from the Unite the Right 2 rally to 49% of Americans thinking Trump is racist (I agreed with John that that number was both monstrously high and improbably low,) and David Duke praising a Fox News story.  Quick bit on Saudi Arabia feuding with Canada, then the hilarious tourism ad-campaign for Lithuania’s capital, touting it as the hard-to-find-but-amazing “G-Spot of Europe.”  Interesting main story on “astroturfing,” fake grassroots activism groups started by corporations to push their agendas.  John went through the various tactics they employ, from “experts” in their pocket to fake protesters, and the show naturally closed with an attack ad using astroturfers’ own tricks against them.  The doctor claiming multiple “instances” of babies being burned after their mothers left lit candles in their cribs (to push for flameretardant chemicals in furniture) was insane.

Monday, August 13 – We started with Omarosa making the rounds for her new tell-all book, revealing inside info like “the president is a racist” (who knew?) and sharing taped conversations that, as Trevor pointed out, mostly just make her look bad – Ronny came on later in the piece for his own variation on that bit.  I loved the joke about how many people are secretly taping Trump.  Next was the Unite the Right 2 rally.  I agreed with Trevor that there are few things more ironic than a white supremacist asking a Black cop for a favor, and I liked the bit about there being more cops than marchers.  The white supremacist theme continued with the interview, as guest Spike Lee and Trevor discussed BlacKkKlansman.  They talked about the initial pitch Lee received that sold him on the concept, the timeliness of the story, and the reaction it’s been receiving in the theaters.

Tuesday, August 14 – First up, charmingly, was Sarah Huckabee Sanders being unable to guarantee that there was no recording of Trump saying the N-word.  Quick blurbs on a 14-year-old running for governor of Vermont (I liked Trevor’s joke that it’s the only way to get in before the scandals start) and a video of a guy spanking a hippo.  Trevor’s attempt to report on National Creamsicle Day with Dulce veered into a story on Black women’s need for equal pay – the joke that, if Kerry Washington was on 24, they’d need to call it 39 was awesome.  Next was a story on Imran Khan, Pakistan’s newly-elected Trumpian leader.  I especially liked Trevor calling him “brown Trump” and then pitching a movie about Trump suddenly “waking up brown” and building a wall around himself.  Omarosa Manigault Newman was the guest.  Trevor praised her “secret tape-recording” skills, which she successfully avoided talking about.

Wednesday, August 15 – Nice point that the people whose security clearances Trump was revoking were basically just his enemies list, and on the piece about the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal, I liked Trevor imagining inter-priest mutual confessions.  Fun bit on a video of a kid dancing with a TSA agent – “30 people missed their flights, but it was adorable!”  More on a potential “N-word tape” from Trump, with Roy noting that there are already lots of smoking guns on Trump’s racism.  I loved Trevor’s reaction to a pundit who argued that “just one” N-word wouldn’t be “enough,” responding that there’s no “free pass” on the N-word.  A story on the administration removing guidelines for for-profit colleges led into “Deregulation Station,” a kids-show-style lesson from Ronny and a puppet.  The guest, Jimmy O. Yang, talked about filming Crazy Rich Asians and gave Trevor some fun dirt on Ronny (also in the movie.)

Thursday, August 16 – We stared with designs for the Apple Car (an iPhone on wheels?), Alex Jones’s “time out” from Twitter, and New York governor incumbent Andrew Cuomo proving that “opposite of Trump” doesn’t always automatically equal “good.”  Interesting story on Peter Strzok getting hundreds of thousands of dollars for legal fees from a GoFundMe page, with Trevor railing against repeatedly raising your goal after you’ve met it and Michael soliciting donations for his “efforts” to protect people from giving to opportunists.  Hasan, making his exit from the show, did a final piece on MoviePass.  When Trevor pointed out that it had similar issues as Obamacare, Hasan had the “brilliant” idea of combining the two.  Guest D.L. Hughley discussed police violence.  I appreciated the intersectionality he brought up, looking at Black people with autism, cognitive disabilities, or mental health issues interacting with the police.