One other small thought, laughter functions as a release valve not just for fear, but for rage. Late night comedians often receive comments from viewers "thanking" them for helping the viewers "stay sane" and "cope" during a deeply traumatizing decade of racist rightwing corruption and lawlessness, pandemic upheaval and the facistic nightmare that is now. Trump rids the airwaves of comedians at the risk of making himself the target of immediate public ire and economic pushback - like that megablast directed at Disney, ABC, Sinclair, and Nexstar. Humor is also an "opiate" of the masses and make no mistake - a huge number of us are in pain. Humor WAS a large part of Trump's initial appeal to MAGA. Trump was hilarious! His nicknames, his wacky impressions, his disco dad dancing! That said, "opiate or no", load me up. Shoot those late night jokes straight into my veins.
Murc's Law really puts in work for this fuckery. Normally a President taking himself too seriously would be an object of ridicule. Hell, even *Richard Nixon* went on Laugh-In. "Sock it to...ME?"
But as the pricktator is the champion of the unreconstructed, I guess he just is going to get widespread deference to attack and remove comedians from shows just for making fun of him. And he's such a target-rich environment for jokes. Seth Meyers pointed this out for years. The pricktator is WEIRD when he's not being creepy (such as his long best friendship with Jeffrey Epstein).
The execrable vice president is another one. I had forgotten about his "joke" about Caitlin Upton. He's another example of Schrödinger's Asshole...if you take offense he was just telling a 'joke,' man. Material Safety Data Sheets are funnier than that rented propagandist.
Alas, grace must only come from Democrats. This is also why Dems have to always choose their words carefully.
But really a lot of this is because a great many Americans enjoy seeing the pricktator stick it to (((Elites)))...that is, people who tell them their personally held bigotries suck, actually. They love to see him be fascistic against late night hosts because...well, the truth is "free speech" in America generally seems to be "freedom to hurl slurs at marginalized people without anyone calling me out for it."
Pity poor Tumpelthinskin. Not only too narcissistic but especially unintelligent. He never gets the joke and he likes to feel like he’s in charge. Without that power he’s impotent. And that means that we should point and laugh every single chance we get at this monster buffoon.
Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat noted that dictators and authoritarians are humorless because they fear ridicule. Ridicule strips away their projected image of invincibility and inevitability, making them appear vulnerable.
Humor breaks the culture of fear: It helps diminish the fear dictators rely on to maintain control, replacing it with ridicule and contempt.
Humor fosters critical thinking: By making a dictator the subject of jokes, the people are encouraged to question the dictator's power and authority, which is what tyrants fear most.
Humor reminds people they aren't alone: When jokes about a dictator are widely shared, it reveals that opposition is widespread, which can encourage resistance.
The 2011 WH Correspondents Dinner at which President Obama scorched Donny’s sorry ass remains one of my very favorite moments in recent US history. It will never get old. You can practically see the steam coming out of Donny’s ears. And then the very next day, the Obama administration took out Osama bin Laden. Good times, back when we had a real president.
These four words of yours are precisely the words I've been looking for, so, thank you: "MAGA’s tedious victim complex."
I noticed this tedious trend in 2016, after Trump was elected, and the Republican people I knew were still complaining about being canceled by liberals and being powerless. I asked them, "You have the presidency, Congress, the Supreme Court, all of South Carolina, so how exactly are you without power?"
Notice that the ratings obsessed trump rarely mentions his poll numbers, which are in the toilet, and when he does, he lies about them. And when he gets someone canceled or suspended (Kimmel was never canceled, so trump lied about that too), he gloats about it and claims that they have low ratings without backing up that claim. He wants the credit, but not really, because he's a coward. Both Colbert and Kimmel post clips of their shows online, and those are getting a lot of views, probably better than the broadcast shows.
A bigger point - trump wants us to fear him, but if people make jokes at his expense, and we all are laughing with them laughing AT him, we can't be afraid of him. Fear is paralyzing, humor helps alleviate fear and the resulting paralysis. No wonder trump hates late night comedians - they are helping many Americans not to be afraid, and to not let the fascists take over the country.
At the root of all this is Trump’s deep insecurity because despite what some of his critics say, he is very much aware of his shortcomings. He knows he’s stupid (and also may in fact have a severe learning disability that went untreated because he was afraid of his father finding out—notice how he cannot really read large passages), he’s obese, he’s uninteresting, and he’s long failed at various ventures only to be bailed out. He’s had to purchase his wives, he’s had to molest and rape because he knows no way to get consensual sex from those he wanted it from. His life has been a lot of humiliation. Even now he knows he’s being manipulated by human skin suits like Stephen Miller, who has his one chance to kill brown people.
And he never learned the grace to laugh about it, because he’s always seen these things as severe faults that he cannot overcome….even when twice becoming the most powerful man on earth.
I was thinking about this too and in contrast to W whom I also despise for his illegals wars and his breathtaking callousness to NOLA. But he never seemed insecure which was why he could take a joke. I always thought W felt he was doing the right thing. I just thought he was wrong. I think Trump doesn’t care about what’s right or wrong he just wants to revenge and look cool and powerful and handsome.
One other small thought, laughter functions as a release valve not just for fear, but for rage. Late night comedians often receive comments from viewers "thanking" them for helping the viewers "stay sane" and "cope" during a deeply traumatizing decade of racist rightwing corruption and lawlessness, pandemic upheaval and the facistic nightmare that is now. Trump rids the airwaves of comedians at the risk of making himself the target of immediate public ire and economic pushback - like that megablast directed at Disney, ABC, Sinclair, and Nexstar. Humor is also an "opiate" of the masses and make no mistake - a huge number of us are in pain. Humor WAS a large part of Trump's initial appeal to MAGA. Trump was hilarious! His nicknames, his wacky impressions, his disco dad dancing! That said, "opiate or no", load me up. Shoot those late night jokes straight into my veins.
Murc's Law really puts in work for this fuckery. Normally a President taking himself too seriously would be an object of ridicule. Hell, even *Richard Nixon* went on Laugh-In. "Sock it to...ME?"
But as the pricktator is the champion of the unreconstructed, I guess he just is going to get widespread deference to attack and remove comedians from shows just for making fun of him. And he's such a target-rich environment for jokes. Seth Meyers pointed this out for years. The pricktator is WEIRD when he's not being creepy (such as his long best friendship with Jeffrey Epstein).
The execrable vice president is another one. I had forgotten about his "joke" about Caitlin Upton. He's another example of Schrödinger's Asshole...if you take offense he was just telling a 'joke,' man. Material Safety Data Sheets are funnier than that rented propagandist.
Alas, grace must only come from Democrats. This is also why Dems have to always choose their words carefully.
But really a lot of this is because a great many Americans enjoy seeing the pricktator stick it to (((Elites)))...that is, people who tell them their personally held bigotries suck, actually. They love to see him be fascistic against late night hosts because...well, the truth is "free speech" in America generally seems to be "freedom to hurl slurs at marginalized people without anyone calling me out for it."
Pity poor Tumpelthinskin. Not only too narcissistic but especially unintelligent. He never gets the joke and he likes to feel like he’s in charge. Without that power he’s impotent. And that means that we should point and laugh every single chance we get at this monster buffoon.
Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat noted that dictators and authoritarians are humorless because they fear ridicule. Ridicule strips away their projected image of invincibility and inevitability, making them appear vulnerable.
Humor breaks the culture of fear: It helps diminish the fear dictators rely on to maintain control, replacing it with ridicule and contempt.
Humor fosters critical thinking: By making a dictator the subject of jokes, the people are encouraged to question the dictator's power and authority, which is what tyrants fear most.
Humor reminds people they aren't alone: When jokes about a dictator are widely shared, it reveals that opposition is widespread, which can encourage resistance.
I would also think that laughing and dancing in animal costumes is a good way to say fuck you ICE.
Yeah the Portland direct action is Good Trouble!
The 2011 WH Correspondents Dinner at which President Obama scorched Donny’s sorry ass remains one of my very favorite moments in recent US history. It will never get old. You can practically see the steam coming out of Donny’s ears. And then the very next day, the Obama administration took out Osama bin Laden. Good times, back when we had a real president.
These four words of yours are precisely the words I've been looking for, so, thank you: "MAGA’s tedious victim complex."
I noticed this tedious trend in 2016, after Trump was elected, and the Republican people I knew were still complaining about being canceled by liberals and being powerless. I asked them, "You have the presidency, Congress, the Supreme Court, all of South Carolina, so how exactly are you without power?"
Notice that the ratings obsessed trump rarely mentions his poll numbers, which are in the toilet, and when he does, he lies about them. And when he gets someone canceled or suspended (Kimmel was never canceled, so trump lied about that too), he gloats about it and claims that they have low ratings without backing up that claim. He wants the credit, but not really, because he's a coward. Both Colbert and Kimmel post clips of their shows online, and those are getting a lot of views, probably better than the broadcast shows.
A bigger point - trump wants us to fear him, but if people make jokes at his expense, and we all are laughing with them laughing AT him, we can't be afraid of him. Fear is paralyzing, humor helps alleviate fear and the resulting paralysis. No wonder trump hates late night comedians - they are helping many Americans not to be afraid, and to not let the fascists take over the country.
“Low ratings” is his comedian insult like “low IQ” is his Black woman insult.
At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if he peeled off his skin and revealed he's a lizard.
On a more positive note, I just filled out my yes on 50 ballot and will be dropping it off later today.
Dropped ours off on Monday!
At the root of all this is Trump’s deep insecurity because despite what some of his critics say, he is very much aware of his shortcomings. He knows he’s stupid (and also may in fact have a severe learning disability that went untreated because he was afraid of his father finding out—notice how he cannot really read large passages), he’s obese, he’s uninteresting, and he’s long failed at various ventures only to be bailed out. He’s had to purchase his wives, he’s had to molest and rape because he knows no way to get consensual sex from those he wanted it from. His life has been a lot of humiliation. Even now he knows he’s being manipulated by human skin suits like Stephen Miller, who has his one chance to kill brown people.
And he never learned the grace to laugh about it, because he’s always seen these things as severe faults that he cannot overcome….even when twice becoming the most powerful man on earth.
Nailed it, Brando G!
I was thinking about this too and in contrast to W whom I also despise for his illegals wars and his breathtaking callousness to NOLA. But he never seemed insecure which was why he could take a joke. I always thought W felt he was doing the right thing. I just thought he was wrong. I think Trump doesn’t care about what’s right or wrong he just wants to revenge and look cool and powerful and handsome.