Seven days from now, Donald J. Trump, who inherited his wealth and real-estate endeavors from his father and won the 2016 presidential election despite a deficit of 2.9 million votes, thanks to help from misinformation campaigns and narrow Electoral College margins in multiple states, will take the oath of office to become President of the United […]
Continue ReadingHere’s a clip from last night’s Daily Show, where Trevor Noah attempts to process Donald Trump’s bizarre press conference earlier this week where the president-elect admitted he won’t fully divest from his business while in office, used a phony prop table of blank file folders to prove his point, called a CNN reporter “fake news,” […]
Continue ReadingHere’s a clip from last night’s Late Night, where Seth Meyers moderates a segment called “Point, Counterpoint” featuring writers Amber Ruffin and Ally Hord. The two cover a bunch of important political topics like Trump changing his plan to make Mexico pay for the border wall, Ivanka Trump and nepotism laws, nuclear arsenals, and climate […]
Continue ReadingHere’s a clip from last night’s Full Frontal, where Samantha Bee covers Buzzfeed’s leaked “golden shower” Trump/Russia dossier — or as Bee calls it, “comedy Christmas.” “There is a high probability this story is bullshit, but the fact that it’s plausible bullshit is a terrifying statement about what our nation has come to,” Bee says. […]
Continue ReadingHere’s a clip from last night’s Late Night, where Seth Meyers shares a few thoughts about CNN’s recent report about Russia and Trump and Buzzfeed’s decision to publish the full unverified dossier alleging that Trump hired Russian prostitutes to pee on a hotel bed that the Obamas stayed in while in Moscow. “Look, nobody wants […]
Continue ReadingHow better to make sense of this turbulent year than through the art and literature it has produced? Our critics choose the works that sum up the last 12 months
If there is one film that holds a political key to understanding 2016, it is Ghostbusters: that funny, good-natured, easygoing female remake of the 1980s original. The movie, and the way it was received and viciously attacked online, told us something vital about the hive mind of the US’s reactionary right. It starred Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones. Wiig and McCarthy were already well known; McKinnon was the upcoming SNL superstar who was later in the year to become famous for her Hillary Clinton impersonation – but it was the African-American comic Jones who became the particular object of unpleasant abuse, reminiscent of #gamergate vitriol, naturally with a racist slant, though everyone was attacked, and all for daring to remake and allegedly “spoil” the original with a gender switch.
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