Satire on Standby
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Garry B. Trudeau biographer Joshua Kendall for The Boston Globe (or here) compares the attitudes of Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton with the current resident of The Oval Office.
[In 1974 Nixon] wrote Trudeau to request a signed copy of the “ill health resignation” comic strip. And it hung in his office ever since.
In June of 2000, President Clinton introduced the cartoonist at a White House event as someone who made fun of him for a living. “I felt so proud to be an American,” Trudeau said..
Today, political satire is on life support. Last July, after Stephen Colbert … announced that his show was being canceled. In response, the president gleefully noted on Truth Social, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.”
Though Kendall does at one point step into a fantasy world of wishful thinking:
On Saturday night, for the first time as president, Trump is scheduled to attend the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents’ Association, which traditionally brings the media, politicians, and the president together. If the evening passes without grievance or retaliation by Trump [emphasis added], it could mark a small step back toward a healthier political culture.
feature image by G. B. Trudeau – August 9, 2020
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