Well, here we are. After years of sacking employees both on ‘The Apprentice’ and inside the White House, Donald Trump has finally been greeted with the words ‘you’re fired’. It’ll likely be months before the dust from the election settles, perhaps years.
Luckily, in the meantime, we don’t need to think for ourselves. Instead, we have a whole canon of television pundits on both sides of the Atlantic ready to give us their take. Cue Stephen Colbert’s emotional reaction to Trump’s election denial below:
From Colbert’s rhetoric, it’s clear he takes exception to Trump’s denial of the election results (which millions of voters watched being calculated in real-time). He states how a ‘dark shadow’ is being cast over America’s most sacred right, and that the office of the president ‘should have some shred of decency’.
Colbert’s passion is justified, with many Republicans agreeing the president should concede defeat, at least for now. I’m optimistic about Biden’s success, but Colbert’s call for decency is an interesting contrast to animation later in the clip, where Donald Trump enters the screen whining in a ‘BBQ/Beer/Freedom’ vest.
Throughout Trump’s presidency, there have been calls to make sure his behaviour in office does not influence us beyond his tenure. Yet, is it possible that in this very video we see a media that has been forged by Trump?
Funny? Yes. Delivered by an intelligent journalist? Undoubtedly. Resorting to the same caricatures of the last four years? Yes. Deploring the defamation of the White House while using cartoons to mock it? Yes. There is much to hope for from the Biden presidency, let’s hope a more balanced Republican leader, with a more balanced media approach, is part of it.
