The saying says “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy” may need to be amended to allow for the weeks of stormy political news that have hit the United State public in recent weeks. The latest news from CNN on Friday that sections of the controversial leaked report on alleged Russian interference of the presidential campaign have been confirmed and that Senior White House adviser Michael Flynn may have broken a law about contacting foreign diplomats when he frequently spoke with Russian Ambassador during the transition period only made the political climate even stormier.
Relief on television
Luckily the relief has come in the form of "Saturday Night Live" which has become a stunning opposition to the misadventures of an unorthodox #Donald Trump Administration that is struggling to abandon the campaign rhetoric to face up to the realities of bureaucracy and the constitutional limits placed on power.
On the latest episode overnight the Alec Baldwin’s “Trump White House” has expanded to included not only Melissa McCarthy once more than as “Sean Spicer”, but also Sallyanne Conway impersonated by Kate McKinnon with Beck Bennett’s ersatz Vladimir Putin putting in an appearance as a character witness in a fake trial in front of a judge played by Cecily Strong. As in real life Baldwin’s Trump lost his case.
Message not only to the White House
As with the wave of memes and jokes now spreading around the world via the social medial, the constant sketches by 'SNL' are also a message to Donald Trump and his staff that the message they are giving is not one of strength, but of confusion of programmes and the incapacity to follow the basic rules that govern the leaders of the United States.
While Donald Trump may rage at the impersonations, as stated in numerous leaks, he has yet to confront the losses in the courts for what they truly are. The loss of the appeal in the Ninth Circuit Court upholding Judge Robart’s previous decision on the Moslem Ban which led the President to define him in as a “so called judge” in a now famous and controversial tweet is a clear message to the White House that its behaviour is going beyond the its job description.
'SNL' simply puts this message into another more entertaining context.
To make matters worse for President Donald Trump and which affects his international image, these sketches make their way around the world in real time as viewers and news sites put on line the most salient and funniest sketches of the night. In this way the international public that has been worried by political developments in the United States can see that these worries are shared by many of America’s citizens, as testified by 'SNL’s' viewing figures which have reached their highest levels in twenty years.
Images and perceptions
Images and perceptions are an important part of the art of Politics. The public must see their leaders as competent and serious, but also having a human face.
Since the Inauguration this is not the image that has come out of the White House. Some of the decisions made by the new Administration have been greeted with glee by hard core Trump supporters, but even Republican politicians such as John McCain and Marco Rubio to name only two have publicly stated their opposition to some of these actions.
'Saturday Night Live' has once again played its role of entertaining the public, but even more it has emphasized a fact that Donald Trump and his staff have clearly forgotten. Politics is fought not only in the Oval Office, the Senate and Congress, at times also in the courts where he has already lost battles, but also with the public. In the end it will be the public that will make the final judgment on President Donald Trump and his staff. 'SNL’s' ratings show that the White House is losing this battle as well.
