The comedic insight of The Daily Show was to realize that, removed from the inherently serious frame of The News, the speech acts and assorted communications of Republican politicians are frequently, naturally hilarious. Thus a staple of the show: roll the tape of a Republican speaking, then, when he's done, cut to Jon Stewart looking bemused, flummoxed, stunned—whatever is most apt considering the details of the foregoing batshittery. It's a way of solving the problem of how to distort, for comedic effect, something that in its natural state is already ridiculous. Don't even try!
Along the same line, I have sometimes imagined a game show in which the contestants are shown examples of political speech and then have to say whether it's "real" or "satire." For example, on the occasion of the death of a former statesman, who was both Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a former president of the United States puts out the following statement:
Is it real? Or has a satirist attempted to imitate the inimitable awfulness of Donald Trump? It's real, of course. Satire could never attain this level of crude tastelessness, or capture the necessarily unconscious narcissism, accented in subliterate expressions.
That would be an easy question, given Trump's prominence. Try this one. Is it an ad for an actual Republican candidate for governor of Nevada? Or a skit lampooning the Republican candidate for governor of Nevada?
It's real, too. A caricature would be less outlandish. Maybe a different size dress, something.
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