Bill Mahrer has a point here, but it needs to be kept in perspective.
Most of us Boomers can remember when late-night comedy shows rarely had any political content. Johnny Carson’s viewers had no interest in the subject, and even if they did, how much entertainment value could the escapades of Gerald Ford or Jimmy Carter possibly provide?
The circumstances are completely different today. It’s true that Trump and his support base believe that Trump is an honest and effective servant of our country and is doing his best to make America great again. As such, they take offense at being the butt of jokes.
But the rest of the country understands that Trump is a criminal conman who is doing everything in his power to turn the Unites States into an autocratic nation. The entire purpose of his second term in office is to punish his enemies, make money, and stay out of prison. Now, we have many millions of people who think of this as the only news in America of any real importance at all. They look forward to a nightly blend of news and comedy along those lines before they head off to dreamland.
To simplify this, until Trump, there was neither demand for nor supply of sharp-tongued R-rated political humor. Now there is plenty of both. We need to let Americans have what they’re demanding. If it annoys the MAGA group, they’re free to tune into Fox News, NewsMax, and the rest of the ultra-right-wing propaganda machine.
Re: Late-Night TV Comedy, Let’s Give Americans What They Want
There really are threats to human civilization that seem to be mounting in intensity:
• World fascism. (If it can happen in the U.S., it could conceivably happen anywhere.)
• Environmental collapse.
• Malicious use of AI.
• Pandemics, as misinformation on vaccinations spread and the frozen tundra melts, releasing pathogens never seen by humans.
• Nuclear war.
Addressing the point made at left, is there any scenario in which world governments agree to cooperate so as to stave off the end of an organized society here on Earth? One supposes so, though it sounds far-fetched in today’s world in which the leaders of most of the 200+ sovereign nations are trying so desperately to cling to power.
Obviously, James Carville has been wrong before, but it appears that he’s onto something here.
An ever-increasing number of Americans are realizing that Trump is criminally insane, and is leading this nation to destruction.
It’s a pleasure to see that Dr. Brian Cox has people so popular, having joined the ranks for Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, and a few others. This phenomenon of celebrity physicists if one of very few bright spots in our modern world.
I would qualify what he says at left as follows: the only people who hate the economics here are those invested in fossil fuels. Clean energy and transportation are already huge industries, and they’re growing at an amazing pace–even in the face of heavy suppression by Big Oil and Donald Trump.
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