A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

What will Trump do to combat SNL? Wow. This question is either written by a foreigner who is unfamiliar with U.S. constitutional concepts, particularly those related to the First Amendment of the Constitution, or by a Trump supporter with minimal education. In other words: it’s a  ridiculous  question. Okay, first off, as President of the United States, there is pitifully little that Donald Trump  can  do to “combat”  Saturday Night Live.  Satire, especially political satire, is as old as civilization itself, and under our system of laws, it is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. A political cartoon satirizing Thomas Jefferson during the 1800 Presidential e...

Anonymous on Quora asked:  Why is  Saturday Night Live  so disrespectful to Donald Trump? Why isn't there a law making it illegal to slander the President of the United States? Political satire, which is the type of comedy practiced by Lorne Michaels’ long-running comedy-sketch series when it lampoons any sitting President, is one of the oldest forms of satirical comment in the humanities. As long as there have been kings, emperors, prime ministers, presidents, and other heads of state, there have always been comedians and/or political cartoonists who, in their routines or drawings, comment on the political realities of the day. To those diehard loyalists of those heads of state, who tend to see things in a different light as the opposition, any criticism of their nation-state’s leadership is often interpreted as an unwarranted attack. And because the satire is often a response to a policy or political philosophy that the head of state promotes, and the loy...