Remember those shows earlier in the Trump Administration, oh, about 10,000 lies ago – the ones that satirized the President and his lackeys. There was “The President Show” and “The Cartoon President.” They were very funny. But, sadly, they were from a time when Trump could be satirized. Those days are gone.
Satire is an exaggeration of reality. You take a quality that a person exhibits and you stretch it to a place where it looks ridiculous. The thing is, with Trump now, he can’t be stretched any further than he has stretched himself. An Amherst College law professor who is the author of the new book called “Will He Go” about whether Trump will leave office even if he loses, put it this way, “We’re pretty used to Trump making statements that leave us all gobsmacked at this point.” This truism is startling in two ways – that our President regularly makes outrageous statements, but, even more so, that we are so used to it.
So, how do you satirize a person like that?
Suppose SNL did a skit where Alec Baldwin, as the President, sends in the army with armor and tear gas to rough up a peaceful crowd just so he could walk across the street, go to the front of a church, say and do nothing but hold up a Bible. In ordinary times, that would exaggerate a sane President’s tyrannical tendencies and it would be funny. Not now. Obviously, this insane President has already done it.
So, take this test. Which of these things did Orange Julius actually say, and which are made up exaggerations? The answers are below. Don’t Trump it and cheat by peeking.
- We had the greatest economy in the history of any country.
- I was great at football and could have played in the NFL and I would never have knelt down for the great national anthem.
- I have done more for black Americans that any President since Lincoln.
- They make fun of my hair and my ties. They only wish they were as good looking as I am.
- I’ve saved their second amendment. You wouldn’t have a second amendment right now if it wasn’t for me.
- The Constitution lets me do whatever I want to do. That’s what it means to be President.
Answers:
- He has said this 335 times.
- This one is made up.
- He said this most recently on June 5, 2020
- This one is made up.
- He said this on May 5, 2020
- This one is made up.
So, how did you do? If this little quiz was the least bit difficult, it is a testament to the fact-less, fictional reality that this feckless, fractious leader has created.
We were right 