This was the first solo press conference given by Donald Trump. Normally the president makes a few remarks about some issues that he wants to highlight and then asks for questions. Trump used his opening time to deliver a long, rambling, incoherent monologue largely praising himself and blasting the media for painting his administration in a bad light, before combatively engaging with the press and his ‘answers’ to the questions consisted of more self-praise and press-blasting.
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John Oliver dissects Donald Trump’s lies and the sources of those lies. Don’t omit to watch at the 21:00 minute mark where Oliver produces a series of ads to be actually aired on the cable news shows that Trump watches, where the actor in a pseudo-commercial provides Trump with accurate information.

It looks like Saturday Night Live has decided to portray as many male members of the Trump administration as possible with women, knowing that this gets under Trump’s skin. In addition to Melissa McCarthy reprising her role as press secretary Sean Spicer, yesterday saw Kate McKinnon as Jeff Sessions. Can Rosie O”Donnell as Steve Bannon be far behind?
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If there is any comic strip that can claim to not be political, it is Peanuts, which is why reruns of this much-loved venerable strip are still running in our daily papers, strips that first appeared about a half-century or more ago. And yet, yesterday’s strip seems utterly timely.

It looks like more and more people are making the assertion that Donald Trump is mere clay in the hands of his advisor Steve Bannon, as shown in last week’s Saturday Night Live sketch. These are not just the late night comedians on TV but political commentators as well. There have even been social media movements with hashtags #PostcardstoBannon and #PresidentBannon surfacing on Twitter.

The hashtag #PresidentBannon gained ground last week after Bannon was appointed to the National Security Council by an executive order signed by Trump. This decision came at a time when the country was still reeling under the effects of the president’s temporary travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries as well as the suspension of the refugee program.

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Melissa McCarthy channels White House spokesperson Sean Spicer to demonstrate the nature of current press briefings. I for one am hoping that the relations between the government and the press get as hostile as possible because an adversarial press is more likely to produce actual news than one that had such good relations with high government officials that reporters could be easily manipulated and used as puppets.
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Alec Baldwin seems to be having a blast portraying Trump on Saturday Night Live. There have been increasing suggestions that Trump’s advisor Stephen Bannon is the person actually running the White House with Trump as his puppet and a figurehead. Given Trump’s ego, narcissism, and intense dislike of being upstaged, it will be interesting to see if this will get under Trump’s skin at some point and what he will do about it if it does.
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