NBC has taken plenty of criticism in past weeks thanks to their nurturing, friendly relationship with Donald Trump. Sure, the current NBC head blasted Trump on a private FB post, but the public relationship seems to be healthy. Trump hosted SNL in the middle of his campaign, he has had numerous playful interviews with Jimmy Fallon, and now he’s getting the benefit of the doubt from some SNL cast members.
Not to say that Colin Jost and Michael Che are fans of the guy, willing to put their vote out behind him and thrust him into The White House. What they’re putting out there in Glen Thrush’s Off Message podcast over on Politico isn’t even unreasonable, but it still makes you raise an eyebrow at this time in the election. It starts when Thrush brings up the election and the pair’s experience with Trump on SNL:
JOST: No, but he–it’s–they’re both–they’re both humans, right? They’re both–they’re both–
THRUSH: Let me write that one down.
JOST: They’re also–it’s strange. They’re both super smart people and super hardworking people.
CHE: And you can’t deny that. So like I–that’s what bothers me, when people make it seem like, “You know what? I’m smarter than Donald Trump.” Like no, you’re not, all right?
JOST: Yeah, you’re definitely not.
CHE: He’s a smart guy. You know, like that’s–
JOST: He’s probably harder working than you–
CHE: Should he be president? No.
JOST: –than almost anyone, right?
CHE: But he–you know, like let’s not pretend that this guy is a mutant, you know, and he’s the most evil, racist, mutant piece of crap that ever walked. Listen, there’s probably somebody in your building way worse than Donald Trump, and you buy bagels from him, and it’s fine. You know what I mean?
There’s no denying that final point. There are plenty of people in daily life who are worse than Trump in terms of what the media criticizes him over. That doesn’t let Trump off the hook, but it does make a point on Trump’s followers and their relationship with the coverage of him:
CHE: He could be running the country, and I understand why people–I just wish that we could vote and decide like adults and not like we hate him, ill, ill, ill, be mean to him, make fun of him, hurt him because he can’t win, as opposed to “This guy is an idiot, and he can’t do the job. I’d rather vote for Hillary Clinton.”
JOST: And it doesn’t–I really think it doesn’t help Hillary’s cause when people say–
CHE: It doesn’t.
JOST: –all his supporters are dumb and racist, because if you’re his supporters, if you are dumb and racist, you just get angrier.
They go on to note that saying such things is “boring” as a comedian, even if many people would tune in to see the show constantly rail on Trump and call him an idiot. SNL is clearly taking a different approach with Trump now now that he’s so close to office than they did when they allowed him to host around this time last year, but given the media’s role in the man’s rise to political prominence the sentiments above are certainly ripe for dissection and scrutiny. You can listen to the podcast here.
(Via Politico)