Moron. Traitor. Compulsive liar. Commander-in-Chief. TV critic.
President Trump can add that last descriptor to the list of his roles after his critique of the television program that has made its stinging parodies of Trump and his administration a standard feature of its cold open each week, Saturday Night Live.
While presidents have been fair game for TV comedy and late night talk show hosts as long as the medium has existed, most have gamely accepted that being the butt of humorists is simply par for the course when in a high profile public position.
None have been as thin-skinned as Donald Trump, however, who squeals like a lobster being dunked into a pot of boiling water at the tiniest bit of criticism or ridicule, no matter how justified or accurate the parody of his behavior may be.
Trump was so offended by last night’s opening sketch on SNL that lampooned his rambling and incoherent declaration of a national emergency earlier this week that he fired off an angry tweet paranoically questioning the value of the First Amendment freedoms when they result in laughs at his own expense.
Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC! Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution? Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real Collusion!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2019
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Trump’s reference to “Fake News NBC” — which adds the network to the same category as every other journalistic organization that accurately reports on his actions, pointedly excluding the right-wing propaganda outlets like Fox News, Breitbart, and other “news” groups that serve as his lie-propagation machinery — demonstrates his contempt for any media that dares question his web of deceit and manipulation.
It is the ridicule, rather than the mere reporting of the falsity of his statements, that stings the most for the president.
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The question that Trump poses — “how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution?” — has a simple answer that is rooted in the document that the president swore at his inauguration to uphold, yet has likely never even read, the U.S. Constitution, more specifically in the First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of the press.
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Trump’s persecution complex is exposed with his accusation that TV comedy’s penchant for pointing its fingers at him and laughing is the “real Collusion,” not the documented interactions between his campaign and agents of the Kremlin that has resulted in multiple indictments against so many senior members of his campaign staff with more indictments — including, hopefully, his own — likely to come.
Trump’s attacks on America’s freedom of speech demonstrate his complete unsuitability for the presidency and represent a clear and present danger to our democracy.
His behavior is very unfair and should be looked into. Oh, wait. Special Counsel Mueller is already on the case.
You can see the SNL sketch that set off Trump’s blast of retribution in the video clip below.
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