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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Tony Norman: The fool’s errand of trying to trump Trump

    Tony Norman: The fool’s errand of trying to trump Trump

    October 23, 2015 12:00 AM

    By Tony Norman / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

    There are a lot of Republicans running for president who aren’t Donald Trump. If they’re smart, they will petition NBC for equal time consideration long before the billionaire reality star takes the stage on Nov. 7 for his second appearance as host of “Saturday Night Live.”

    Alas, NBC isn’t under any obligation to give them equal time now that the Fairness Doctrine is dead, killed by Ronald Reagan’s Federal Communications Commission in a 4-0 vote in 1985. I’m sure the gaggle of Republican candidates polling well below 5 percent now wish their party’s hatred of “unnecessary regulation” hadn’t won the day in that particular instance, but that’s karma for you, baby — or is it irony?

    While not technically bound by a law to treat presidential wannabes equally, NBC could give Candidates Who Aren’t Trump (CWAT) airtime in some markets as long as they’re able to generate a respectable number of eyeballs. The candidates can petition the network for what is vaguely known as “equal opportunities,” but they must make a persuasive case for it. This will always prove to be an impossible standard for charisma-challenged folks like Sen. Lindsey Graham and former Sen. Rick Santorum, who, along with Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Gov. George Pataki, constitute the GOP’s rear guard.

    The top tier of CWAT could make a fairly reasonable case for airtime tucked somewhere along NBC’s network frontier. Former neurosurgeon and failed amateur constitutional scholar Ben Carson could make a fairly convincing appeal for airtime on one of NBC’s prime-time sitcoms since he is actually leading Mr. Trump in Iowa by 8 points.

    It will come as a surprise to many that before Dr. Carson became America’s leading Hitler-analogy candidate, he had a cameo in the 2003 Farrelly Brothers comedy “Stuck on You” about conjoined twins starring Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear that scored a respectable 60 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

    Dr. Carson was himself the subject of a treacly 2009 TV biopic called “Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story” starring Cuba Gooding Jr. who, to no one’s surprise, emoted a little too much to be mistaken for the real thing. Like Mr. Trump, Dr. Carson is regularly interviewed on network and cable news shows, where he can always be counted on to say something crazy enough to linger for several news cycles. If Republicans are looking for someone to make inappropriate slavery comparisons with little prodding, he’s their guy, but can he fit into NBC’s entertainment schedule as smoothly as Mr. Trump?

    Then there’s Sen. Ted Cruz, a demagogue’s demagogue whose media antecedents are silver-tongued devils like Father Charles Coughlin, Sen. Joseph McCarthy and attorney Roy Cohn. Mr. Cruz is one of the most despised men in modern American politics with no less a figure than the amiable George W. Bush admitting recently, “I just don’t like the guy.”

    Mr. Cruz may not be ready for prime time, but he wouldn’t cause too much damage if he were shunted into the last few minutes of a soon-to-be canceled sitcom just before the credits rolled. Or better yet, make him be a single-day contestant on the Donald-less version of “The Apprentice” when new host Arnold Schwarzenegger takes over.

    CWAT Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich and Rand Paul could probably fill valuable airtime with boring infomercials extolling their “competence,” but who would watch? As for such larger-than-life CWAT personalities Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee, they are utterly mesmerizing in their awfulness and hypocrisy. They’re also media-savvy enough to linger around like skunkweed long after their presidential campaigns have crashed and burned, so we’re stuck with them.

    The ratings for the Nov. 7 episode of “SNL” are going to be huuuuuuge, though. People will tune in just to see if The Donald is capable of mocking himself and being in on the joke for once. A staged debate between the real Trump and Kate McKinnon’s version of Hillary Clinton could be an eerie foreshadowing of the real thing to come. And wouldn’t it be amazing if Larry David reprised his celebrated role as Bernie Sanders just to scream at Donald Trump personally? Priceless television!

    The disturbing subtext to this show, obviously, is that NBC is giving 90 minutes to a guy who has gone out of his way to insult millions of Hispanics, especially those of Mexican origin. He’s even open to closing mosques in America “to fight ISIS.” Would Donald Trump be hosting “SNL” had he said similar things about blacks, Jews or Christians? Somehow, I doubt it.

    Tony Norman: tnorman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1631.

    http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/...s/201510230183
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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    The disturbing subtext to this show, obviously, is that NBC is giving 90 minutes to a guy who has gone out of his way to insult millions of Hispanics, especially those of Mexican origin. He’s even open to closing mosques in America “to fight ISIS.” Would Donald Trump be hosting “SNL” had he said similar things about blacks, Jews or Christians? Somehow, I doubt it.

    Well, your article was really entertaining, Tony, right up to the end and then you lost your truthfulness and with it good humor. Donald Trump never insulted Hispanics even those of Mexican origin. He told the truth about illegal aliens from Mexico because he was talking about the massive invasion by illegal aliens from Mexico, not Hispanics or other people of Mexican origin, and has talked about other illegal aliens as well as excess legal immigrants from all countries.

    But otherwise your article was a humorous and pleasant read for all.
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