Like most bullies, Trump couldn’t take being laughed at. In fact it made him really angry. Remember that Obama making fun of him for being cheap reality TV star is considered by some to be the catalyst for his decision to run in 2016.
And he certainly didn’t like it when he became president and people all over the country were laughing uproariously at his idiocy:
It was the middle of Donald Trump’s presidency, and he was—yet again—mad at Saturday Night Live. And he wanted the federal government to help him settle the score.
In March 2019, the then-president of the United States had just watched an episode of the long-running, liberal-leaning NBC sketch comedy series (it wasn’t even a new episode, it was a rerun), and grew immediately incensed that the show was gently mocking him.
“It’s truly incredible that shows like Saturday Night Live, not funny/no talent, can spend all of their time knocking the same person (me), over & over, without so much of a mention of ‘the other side,’” Trump tweeted, long before he was banned from Twitter for inspiring a violent mob. “Like an advertisement without consequences. Same with Late Night Shows. Should Federal Election Commission and/or FCC look into this?”
It was, on its face, a ridiculous question and threat, as SNL is obviously satire, and therefore a form of protected speech in America that pissed-off commanders-in-chief have no authority to directly subvert. However, then-President Trump went farther than simply tweeting his displeasure with the late-night comedians and SNL writers’ room. The internal discussions that followed, between the former leader of the free world and some of his political and legal advisers, once again underscored just how much Trump wanted to use the full weight and power of the U.S. government to punish his personal enemies.
According to two people familiar with the matter, Trump had asked advisers and lawyers in early 2019 about what the Federal Communications Commission, the courts systems, and—most confusingly to some Trump lieutenants—the Department of Justice could do to probe or mitigate SNL, Jimmy Kimmel, and other late-night comedy mischief-makers.
They didn’t act on it. Until recently, I would have added “needless to say” but recent revelations about how some of his minions were willing to go much further than we ever would have dreamed made me realize just how weak our democracy is and how easily the constitution can be subverted in the hands of the wrong people.
This is a silly example of presidential overreach. But then, Donald Trump is a silly example of a president. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous.
