Sunday, April 3 – I loved the description of the nuclear summit as the one place you want to see Putin, and Obama’s remarks about Trump’s grasp of foreign policy were terrific. Good piece on the Yankees as well, with their snobbish aversion to fans reselling tickets, lest people in the premium seats be forced to sit with the proles – keep it classy, Yankees! The main story was on congressional fundraising, i.e., what our representatives spend 50-60% of their time doing. Some of the statistics were insane (the ideal schedule for a representative includes four hours of cold calls a day?!), and I loved the stuff about all the fundraisers at Taylor Swift concerts. What’s really wild, though, is how much people on both sides of the aisle absolutely hate this part of the job, but neither side seems willing to change it. The Cold War analogy was apt, as was John’s point that we at least got a moon landing and the third-best Rocky villain out of that!
Monday, April 4 – So-so opening on the growing friction between Clinton and Sanders. My favorite part was the bit on Sanders bringing up the Clinton black marks he “wasn’t” mentioning. Interesting to have the guest, DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, on in the second segment – wonder if we’ll be seeing that more often? I liked her comments on her counterpart at the RNC, but she leaned too hard on using the Republican race to distract from DNC issues. Love the story on South African president Jacob Zuma, especially the crack about missing Zuma’s corruption red flags because South Africans try not to “see color” post-apartheid and so they “only saw flags.” This led nicely to an overview of the Panama Papers. I enjoyed Trevor’s utter non-shock at Putin being corrupt and his despair at Jackie Chan being implicated. “Remember, approach Jackie Chan as a group, but then fight him one at a time.” Ha!
Tuesday, April 5 – Really enjoyed tonight’s show. Great commentary on wage inequality between the US men and women’s soccer teams. $.25 on the dollar is such a staggering disparity, and Trevor shut down every possible argument against paying the much-more successful women’s team equally. The second story was another piece from the “Trump archives,” an old interview clip in which he objectified his 1-year-old daughter – I know. Obviously, the clip itself was horrendous (the show had to cleanse our mental palates afterwards with shots of puppies and flowers,) but I really like the deeper point Trevor made with it: Trump’s misogyny is so automatic that he doesn’t even think about reducing his own infant daughter to a collection of body parts. Nice interview with Jerrod Carmichael of The Carmichael Show. I’ve never seen it, but he may have convinced me to check it out; I’m intrigued.
Wednesday, April 6 – Fantastic show. Other than a quick piece on the Wisconsin primary (as a thank-you for not voting for Trump, Trevor made it rain with cheese,) the episode focused on the trans community. Trevor lambasted bathroom bills as being insane, hateful, and impractical; I loved his remarks on the Kansas bill (that thing is so crazy,) and the bigotry-Ebola comparison was perfect. Jessica did a field piece on a trans woman who was arrested for checking into a hotel (yeah,) and she also spoke to a panel talking about the “trans panic” at the heart of this discrimination. It was especially effective when they bombarded Jessica with common intrusive questions, from “Do you have a dick?” to “What's your realname?” The guest, Angelica Ross, runs a tech organization for trans people. It serves as both a safe space for Internet access and a training center to boost tech skills and increase employability. In short, she was awesome.
Thursday, April 7 – We opened on a gun that looks like a smartphone, featuring Trevor’s many ways to accidentally shoot yourself. Next was Cruz campaigning in New York, a.ka. getting insulted by New Yorkers; who doesn’t enjoy a good “Everybody Hates Cruz” segment? A piece on Trump’s issues with women broadened into a larger story on politicians using their wives to appeal to female voters, with new correspondent Michelle highlighting the caveman logic of, “You woman. Me have woman. You vote me!” Another Third Month Mania segment, in which Trump supporters were named the most infuriating subject. I did like Roy and Hasan dragging out Jordan to accept the award since; as the show’s only white male regular, he was the closest thing they had to a Trump supporter. Guest Juan Williams discussed his book that expands the idea of “founders” to those who have shaped the US, for better or worse, all through its history.
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