Trump Calls NBC “Democratic Spin Machine” After SNL Skit
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This past Saturday, legendary comedy skit show ‘Saturday Night Live’ aired a bit about Trump as its cold open. Staying in line with the theme of the season, the skit was written as a parody of the 1946 Christmas movie, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’
It depicted a reality where Trump lost the election back in 2016 and what became of his cabinet. Sarah Sanders (played by Aidy Bryant) was shown to be working with Facebook in Public Relations. Meanwhile, Mike Pence (played by Beck Bennett) humorously ended up as a DJ in his post-political career. Alec Baldwin reprised his role as Trump, Matt Damon reprised his role as Brett Kavanaugh, Ben Stiller played Michael Cohen, and Robert DeNiro played Robert Mueller.
Kenan Thompson played the angel, and the world he guided Trump through showed everyone as better off, even throwing in jabs directed at certain things in the current world. For example, Kellyanne Conway (Kate McKinnon) has a line where she says, “I have to go find my husband, who I speak to now,” which is a reference to real-life Conway’s marital troubles of late. Similarly, Robert Mueller says he has more time to spend with his grandson because he doesn’t “have to investigate some idiot for treason.”
Trump’s Reaction
Unsurprisingly, everything about this skit was taken as a personal insult by President Trump. He took to Twitter to air his grievances against the skit, the show and the network. His exact tweet reads:
“A REAL scandal is the one sided coverage, hour by hour, of networks like NBC & Democrat spin machines like Saturday Night Live. It is all nothing less than unfair news coverage and Dem commercials. Should be tested in courts, can’t be legal? Only defame & belittle! Collusion?”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 16, 2018
Trump also went on to lash out at his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen calling him weak. Cohen is presently facing 3 years of jail time for paying two women to stay silent about their alleged sexual history with Trump. These women were former adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Cohen was not amused by Trump’s remarks and stood up for himself, saying that his only weakness was feeling a sense of obligation to “cover up [Trump’s] dirty deeds and not listen to [his] own inner voice and [his] own moral compass.”
Legal Standing
It seems odd that a comedy show like Saturday Night Live is being classified as news coverage. Even so, Trump implied that legal action was on his mind by using words like “defame.” Even if the show counted as news coverage, Trump wouldn’t be able to take his complaints to court due to the fact that former President Ronald Reagan’s 1987 FCC is still in place. This FCC made it possible for networks to discuss political issues without having to be completely balanced as it eliminated the fairness doctrine.
Aside from that, the fact that Saturday Night Live is known for parodying political stories means that it’s impossible for Trump to make a case for himself and win. Parody is protected by the constitution under the first amendment as part of free speech.