Donald Trump‘s Sunday morning rage-tweet began with the suggestion of “retribution” against Saturday Night Live after the sketch show lampooned his “national emergency” press conference, in a pair of tweets that could serve as the script for next week’s show.
Trump slammed SNL and “many other shows,” called for “retribution,” and suggested that comedy shows be investigated for “collusion.”
“Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC! Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution? Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real Collusion!”
Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC! Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution? Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real Collusion!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2019 [1]
Trump then followed up with an all-caps rendition of his favorite Stalinist phrase:
THE RIGGED AND CORRUPT MEDIA IS THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2019 [2]
Saturday night’s episode of SNL featured a cold-open that tore into the press conference at which Trump admitted his national emergence was not a national emergency while he was declaring a national emergency. There was also a biting segment during Weekend Update in which Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi rubbed Trump’s nose in the border compromise deal.
This is not the first time Trump has levelled accusations of “collusion” and suggested action against this particular television program. In December, Trump said that SNL and “unfair news coverage” should be “tested in courts.”
It is unclear what, exactly, Trump wants investigated, or what “retribution” he thinks is in order, but the First Amendment appears to protect comedy shows, even if they all make fun of the same guy.
Twitter had some thoughts:
Retribution? You tried to get me fired when you worked for NBC. That didn't work. Now you're president. Now what? https://t.co/4kdlxK8OJ1 [3]
— Lawrence O'Donnell (@Lawrence) February 17, 2019 [4]
Congrats to the writers at SNL. There's no better sign that you hit your target than the president absurdly accusing you of collusion and saying you should be investigated. https://t.co/runbqwVbvP [5]
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) February 17, 2019 [6]
how was your omelet sir https://t.co/uwtIR6SLtD [7]
— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) February 17, 2019 [8]
President seeks "retribution" against sketch comedians. You may think he's just nuts (and he is). But this is the ugly face of authoritarianism in purest form. We live in a world in which it is considered dangerously inflammatory to compare someone to Hitler. This is Hitlerian. https://t.co/RkdDKwp89j [9]
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) February 17, 2019 [10]
Yeah, who could find anything to make fun of here https://t.co/HjmWnFQzA1 [11]
— ꜱᴀᴍ ᴛʜɪᴇʟᴍᴀɴ (@samthielman) February 17, 2019 [12]
The "stable genius" is mad that a comedy show made fun of him for the shit that he does. https://t.co/fFPF4HetPC [13]
— MichaelB (@TheBarMic) February 17, 2019 [14]