I didn’t have to watch Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live to know that he’d get a rave review from Fox & Friends Sunday morning.
Fox & Friends helped Trump take a victory lap Sunday morning. “People were on social media this morning saying you made SNL great again!” supposedly objective reporter Ed Henry enthused.
You have to wonder how long it took some Fox intern to find that tweet or Facebook post. Or maybe that’s who wrote it. Because the only reviews I could find were all bad. For example, The New York Times wrote:
It would be unfair to blame Mr. Trump alone for the deadness of the Nov. 7 episode. It’s hardly the first time the show has worked with a host who struggled with comedy line readings (some were professional actors). The bigger problem was the anodyne material. Mr. Trump said he hosted the episode to show he could “take a joke,” but “S.N.L.” hardly threw any his way. … (Some of Mr. Trump’s biggest applause came when he first introduced the musical guest, Sia. Maybe because it rhymed with, “See ya.”)
But cohost Anna Kooiman gushed, “The clips we’ve seen we think are hilarious.” She then added, “But the reviews online have been mixed. Some people think that you weren’t as funny as they expected and they like you better when you’re out on the campaign trail doing your own thing. What do you say to that?”
Trump thought was just more proof of how awesome he is. “Well, I think I’m honored by that,” he said. “If they would say they like me better in person than on some scripted show, I think that’s great.” He later insisted, “The reviews have been really good.”
Trump quipped that the few protesters that had shown up to Saturday Night Live had disappeared before the show started because “they all went home to watch the show.”
That got a hearty round of laughs from the totally unbiased hosts.
Not surprisingly, before long, they changed the subject. “We asked our viewers for questions,” Henry said, about what they’d like to see asked in the Fox Business debate coming up this week. In other words, not a dress rehearsal coming from Fox, just random questions selected by Fox, coming from Fox fans.
“I’d like to know how Mr. Trump feels about the rejected pipeline by the president,” was the first question. “As you answer that, can you be specific about what you would do now that he’s rejected the pipeline to actually create jobs,” Henry hinted, I mean asked.
Next question: ‘If you are not elected president, with your negotiating skills, don’t you think you’d be a great Secretary of State?” Cohost Tucker Carlson added, “Would you like that?” The Curvy Couch Crew beamed as Trump said he thought he would be a great Secretary of State.
Citing the possible terror attack that blew up a Russian airliner last week, Henry asked, “Do you think, as a potential commander-in-chief, that we’ve hit just a whole new phase here in the war on terror…?”
Kooiman asked, “What is Donald Trump’s position on marijuana and the legalization?”
It will be interesting to see if those same questions just happen to arise in the Fox debate, too.
Meanwhile, watch the hosts pretend Trump made SNL great again, below, from the November 8 Fox & Friends.
(H/T NewsHound Richard)
That’s the entirety of good moment, and that does include Sia’s sets. Normally I liked Sia, and she’s usually good live, but re-read above for why she wasn’t into it.
I’m surprised Fox isn’t calling for her deportation over that. And no, I don’t think the “drunk uncle” skit was funny, that joke’s older than dirt, and only a few people could do it right when it was new.
And nice to see that Brem couldn’t get the point if he tried- The reason Trump was such a big deal was that gays and minorities were offended he’d be given the spot, knowing his views. In their eyes, it was completely tonedeaf, and the press coverage was about that, not saying “oh, he can’t do it because he’s a Republican/Candidate/etc!”. No, that kind of talk was only said on Fox… For Hillary Clinton’s appearance. Not that he had a problem with that kind of attempted censorship.
Oh, and since Brem’s so hung up on free speech, how does he feel about Trump’s critics getting dragged out of his events? How does he feel about Trump’s protestors being beaten? How does he feel about Trump wanting Megyn Kelly’s Job, and a boycott of CNBC because he didn’t like their questions? How does he feel about Trump saying Starbucks doesn’t have the right to dictate their cups, or how they decorate their locations?
Oh, sorry- Those are just examples of what Brem considers to be Trump’s rapier wit. To a normal person, they’re a horrifying insight into how Trump really regards free speech, and when coupled with his views on women, minorities, and gays… But maybe we just don’t have a sense of humour.
And knock off the “lion’s den” crap- He got a lot of softballs, Clinton got a lot of softballs. No one entered a “lion’s den.”In fact, Google how pissed Fox News was that Clinton wasn’t ambushed, heavily protested, and badgered. Funny how it’s “librul biaz” for her, but “a sign of his character” for him.
I haven’t watched SNL since what I consider the classic years: Belushi, Curtain, Chase, Aykroyd, etc. SNL hasn’t been funny in years and I don’t know how it stays alive. So it’s no surprise Trump wasn’t funny on it. Nor will I gush – like partisan ‘fair and balanced’ GOPTV™ is over The Donald – should Hillary Clinton do an appearance just because I’m on her ‘team.’
Not to stuff words into Ellen’s mouth but isn’t that the point she’s making here? Partisan Fox News is pumping up an appearance by The Donald on SNL just because he’s a Republican. Clinton? They’ll pan. That’s how ‘fair and balanced’ works inside Fox’s right-wing bubble. Pure political team sports.
Trump has spent a lifetime building the brand. For example, the narcissist names most things after himself. Combine that with him playing the dog-whistle bigot card over ‘Mexicans’ and he’s the greatest Republican candidate. Or so he brags.
Playing on racial stereotypes, he characterizes illegal immigrants as “Mexicans” when, in fact they’re from a diverse mix of countries. Did you realize over 1,000,000 illegal immigrants aren’t even Latino but from Asia? Illegal immigrants from Mexico are only about 1/2 the total.
To further build upon racial stereotypes, he’s making up some b.s. conspiracy the Mexican government is sending us a bunch of criminals like it’s some sort of Mariel boatlift. This is a replay scary black man dog whistle politics conservatives like to play to smear civil rights groups like Black Lives Matter.
Naturally, talking about our immigrant forefathers, conservatives put down the dog whistle and gush how our white European forebearers were nothing but the best because only those with the strongest character left Europe for America. Yes, white Europeans created American exceptionalism so we can’t let it get ruined by those depraved “Mexicans” illegal immigrants who are nothing but the worst humanity has to offer.
Big whoop — SNL is television, they brought on a reality TV performer as host . . . of course they’re gonna have a lot of viewers . . .
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It was actually brilliant when SNL co-opted that group (you know the crazy one who actually thought an offensive video featuring foulmouthed kids was a great plea for: “Please don’t deport us even though we ignore and despise your laws”) that attempted to pay $5K for someone to yell out about Trump being a racist. They must have felt pretty burned when Larry David made a joke out of their efforts, to go with their joke of a crude video.
Who cares if Trump wasn’t that funny? He is funnier on the campaign trail, ad lib, but so what? SNL got the best ratings in years (a win for them) and Trump got the publicity he wanted, and showed he could go into the liberal lion’s den and come out without a scratch (a win for him). NBC got a win for saving from face for prematurely dumping Trump over a nothing burger. Have you seen how much Macy’s stock went down since they did the same thing?
It’s good that SNL didn’t cave into threats against free speech, since all of this is based on media myth. Trump never disparaged legal immigrants or Mexicans. He spoke about U.S. sovereignty and rule of law, which some find offensive, the way I feel offended by the existence of “sanctuary cities.” Watch his announcement speech or read an accurate transcript. He railed against crimes committed by illegal immigrants. Since “illegal immigrant” is not a race, the comment is not racist.
Fox Business News’ debate is going to be the greatest! Just like Fox News’!
The other GOP debates? The Republican candidates were great and substantive but it was all ruined by being on rival liberal networks. So sad!
The Democratic debates? They completely suck. Democrats are incapable of substance and the liberal moderators are the worst.
This predictable GOPTV™ narrative could just be phoned in every presidential election cycle by the Fox clowns. Geez!
