Satire Briefing Paper IV

Jenna DePellegrini and Christina McAlister

With only 42 days left until Election Day and after the tragic loss of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Americans are not left with much to laugh at or smile about. The stress of this unique political climate we are in has allowed satirists to not only make jokes, but to actively participate in public opinion and social activism. By using their platforms as a call to action, comedians such as Bill Maher, Trevor Noah, Seth Meyers, and many others just reinforce how serious this current political moment is. However, this week in satire still brought laughs to audiences across all political ideologies. While conservative-leaning Adam Yenser made fun of former Vice President Joe Biden for being “mostly dead” , liberal-leaning Jimmy Fallon joked about how ABC is now calling President Trump’s appearance at the town hall in the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia “disaster-ish.” As stated before, political satirists offer more than laughs and this week is no different-- these comedians talked about Trump’s disregard for the California wildfires, how Biden pandered to Latinx voters with “Despacito”, how blue states are being blamed for COVID-19 deaths, and even more.

Unlike previous weeks, Biden has become the punchline of many jokes made by political satirists this week. In Bill Maher’s cold open, he joked that Biden is “out of the basement, he’s out campaigning” and how out-of-touch Biden looked among young people, especially young Latinx, when he made an appearance in Florida. When talking about Trump’s appearance at the ABC town hall, Jimmy Fallon also made a jab at Biden. During the town hall in Philadelphia, Trump blamed Biden for not mandating masks across the country at which Fallon said, “Even Biden was like ‘Wait, am I the President?’” Although these satirists point out the flaws in the Biden campaign and him as a candidate, it does give Biden the attention he has lacked up until now. Trump’s rhetoric of Biden being sleepy, afraid to leave his basement, and too old clearly worked now that comedians are using this same phrasing when crafting their jokes about Biden. However, now that Biden is campaigning, this could be his time to prove that he is less of a joke than Trump is.

This was made readily apparent when Seth Meyers commented on how “Trump and his allies have been using the language of war to describe people who challenge his authority.” Analyzed previously in our other briefing papers, Trump and other conservative media platforms have been increasingly blazé about the current wildfires rampaging throughout California and the increasing death toll from COVID-19 (now over 248,000 in the United States) and more aggressive in how they describe protestors, Democratic politicians, and Joe Biden. This contrast in diction “is the culmination of an increasingly unhinged and aberrant right-wing movement that sees its political opponents as illegitimate and seeks to punish them,” according to Meyers. However, we can also consider factors like the pandemic, increased partisanship, and a lack of tolerance towards political differences as other reasons why this contrast in language is occurring.

The increase in political intolerance is certainly echoed in these comedians’ late night talk shows. Bill Maher, on his show “Real Time with Bill Maher”, pointed out how Trump made the comment that if blue states didn’t exist, then the pandemic would be over “as if [people who live in blue states] deaths don’t count.” Maher went on to say “California gave you over 4 million votes last time Mr. President. Mississippi, Utah, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Alaska, you combine all those votes, not as many as the people in California who voted for you.” Seth Meyers, too, explained how America’s intense partisanship has caused Trump not to care about blue states. Comedians are noticing the imbalance in America’s voting system and are using their jokes as well as late night shows to unveil this skewed political landscape.

This contrast in language and severe lack of attention to issues concerning the environment, healthcare, and civil rights from the Trump Administration combined with the recent passing of Justice Ruth Bayder Ginsberg have resulted in more media attention for the Biden campaign; this allows Biden to portray himself as a more level-headed candidate who takes issues like this seriously and with full attention. It can be argued that this has no effect except on undecided and swing voters, but with the recent passing of “The Notorious RBG,” and the political circumstances around nominating and appointing a new Supreme Court Justice and Republican hypocrisy surrounding the appointment, Biden may have the opportunity to promote and gain more positive media coverage than before.

However, as Trevor Noah notes, “Trump’s legacy will be in the White House for decades after he leaves,” and Biden’s plea for Republican Senators to “follow their conscience” is falling on deaf ears. With Trump using this vacancy in the Supreme Court to potentially help win over suburban women, moderate, and Christian voters, who would like to see more conservative decisions from the Supreme Court, Biden needs to work hard to come up with strategies that will help him win voters over in the upcoming debates. As Election Day draws nearer, there is more political tension, scandals, and plot twists than a soap opera, so the final determining factor in this election could be the first debate.