Donald Trump has faced comedic takedowns on social media and late night television since his campaign announcement in June, 2015. To Trump’s dismay, the jokes aimed in the direction of him and his new administration did not cease when he officially took office in January. These are eight of the best tactical comedic critiques of the Trump/ Pence administration as of yet.
1. Alec Baldwin playing Donald Trump in pretty much every Saturday Night Live skit
Let’s be real, Alec Baldwin’s impression of Donald Trump is scarily accurate. Every skit, whether it be throughout the election or after the inauguration, is a nightmare combination of parody and reality that is far too close to the reality side of the scale.
Baldwin’s impression of the Donald has gained major traction since his first parody impression in 2015, and has done wonders for Saturday Night Live’s recent ratings. Despite the huge bump in SNL’s ratings, Alec Baldwin only earns $1,400 per Trump skit. While $1,400 may seem like a large amount to us college students, this is a relatively low paycheck for the famous actor to accept for his popular recurring role.
Donald Trump also despises the impression, making the entire mockery even funnier.
2. Donations being made to Planned Parenthood in Mike Pence’s name
After the Trump/ Pence ticket won the presidential election, people across the country began to fear for the existence of Planned Parenthood. In resistance to the anti-woman/anti-Planned Parenthood stance of these newly elected conservative political leaders, donations to the family planning organization started rolling in posthaste, many being made in Mike Pence’s name.
Considering Pence is well known for his pro-life/ anti-choice stance on women’s reproductive rights, the overabundance of donations (totaling over 82,000 donations in Pence’s name) for the pro-choice organization is both a powerful and sassy way to send a message.
3. The queer dance party that was thrown outside of Mike Pence’s DC home
In an even funnier response to the extremely conservative views of Mike Pence towards the LGBTQ community, a queer dance party was thrown by LGBTQ rights activists outside of the Vice President’s house.
The Facebook event page for the dance party stated in the description, “get ready to WERK it and tell Daddy Pence: homo/transphobia is not tolerated in our country!”
4. The meme-storm that ensued after Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative facts” debacle
After Kellyanne Conway tried to excuse Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, lying about the inauguration turnout as being “alternative facts,” social media users had a field day with memes mocking the reframing of blatant lies as being “alternative facts.”
5. Melissa McCarthy playing Sean Spicer on Saturday Night Live
Melissa McCarthy’s impression of Sean Spicer as the White House press secretary is especially hilarious because it is nearly as accurate as Alec Baldwin playing Donald Trump. McCarthy’s mockery of the loud and hostile press secretary accurately incorporates Spicer’s intense demeanor and aggressive responses to Glenn Thrush of the New York Times.
The public dislike towards Melissa McCarthy’s impression of Spicer by Donald Trump makes the impression somehow funnier, especially because Trump dislikes that a woman is the one portraying the male press secretary.
6. Nordstrom versus Ivanka Trump
Nordstrom department stores found themselves caught up in a feud with the president after deciding to no longer sell Ivanka Trump products. The department store management claims their actions were due to low product sales from Ivanka Trump’s brand, and other department stores such as Neiman Marcus soon followed suit and took Ivanka’s collection off their shelves and off their websites.
The #GrabYourWallet movement, a social media-inspired protest to stop the public from buying products that benefit the Trump family, claims this perceived shade being thrown at the Trumps by these department stores as a serious victory.
7. Steve Bannon as the real president on Saturday Night Live
The Trump/Pence administration has skyrocketed the recent performance of Saturday Night Live, and their Trump and Spicer impressions are not the only ones to receive praise and attention. SNL’s impression of Steve Bannon, for example, has also been well taken by their audiences, with Bannon portrayed as the Grim Reaper.
One February skit in particular has Steve Bannon telling Trump to prank call foreign leaders, and ends with Bannon taking his seat back as the real United States President, while Donald sits in a child’s desk playing with some toys.
While Trump already hates how SNL portrays himself and his entire administration, he would probably be even angrier if the late night television show eventually ended up having Rosie O’Donnell playing Steve Bannon, as she has publicly requested to do so.
While the Trump/ Pence administration has been a nightmare for millions of Americans everywhere, it has at the very least been comedic gold for savage takedowns on the internet and television alike.