Since the late 1990's, comedy has played a major role in way people process current events in politics. This is evident by the popularity of shows such as the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report in the early 2000's, and the success of current shows such as TBS' Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and Seth Meyers' popular segment A Closer Look.
Despite the success of these shows, none have the legacy of Saturday Night Live, the live comedy sketch show known for its parodies on current events and presidential administrations. In SNL's 42 year history, the show rarely parodies anyone but the President; however, during this administration, SNL has already lampooned three of Trump's senior aides. During the campaign, Kellyanne Conway, counselor to Trump, became a recurring butt of a joke; similarly, Steve Bannon,Trump's Chief Strategist, has recently been portrayed as The Reaper calling the shots in the west wing. Last Saturday, Melissa McCarthy gave one of the, arguably, best comedic performances as Trump's Press Secretary, Sean Spicer.
This shows a couple of things: 1) how Trump has managed to breach the gap of politics and popular culture, and 2) some of the major struggles the Trump administration has to endure because of this.
No matter how much one may try, it's nearly impossible to get away from politics. Between Twitter, boycotts, protests, Uber, and Stephen Curry, there has a been a complete saturation of politics into mainstream culture, and this is a unique phenomenon to the Trump Era. Some would even say that Trump and his administration have completely surpassed politics and are at this point just public knowledge.
Everyone in America not only knows who President Trump is but also know the make up of his administration, which is something rare. For example, a poll released by Quinnipiac University shows that more democrats know who Steve Bannon is in comparison to other chief strategist of previous administrations. These SNL sketches further demonstrate just how mainstream this administration has become. Consequently, this has presented a number of challenges to the administration; when these sketches permeate into mainstream media, it becomes a problem.
According to Politico, Trump has struggled to find people who will willingly be the butt of the joke. Specifically, the Trump administration still does not have a communications director. So far, Press Secretary Sean Spicer has been simultaneously handling the roles of both press secretary and communications director. After Melissa McCarthy's sketch, The Washington Post reports that Sean Spicer is now even in peril of losing his job because a woman portrayed him on Saturday Night Live.
It's clear that President Trump is outstandingly image conscious - especially with the photo ops done everyday in the Oval Office meant to give off a presidential image. Brian Settler at CNN writes that "Trump cares deeply about visuals, knowing that sometimes pictures speak louder than words. Sometimes he even narrates what he's doing to the camera crews, acting as both the star and director simultaneously. The new president is back in his element, hosting a show, this time not in the "Apprentice" boardroom but in the Oval Office."
It's important to note that every administration faces struggles when coming into office; the job of running an entire country is obviously difficult. Every administration has a steep learning curve, but considering Trump and the majority of his administration lacks any government experience, the learning curve is exponentially steeper. Thus far, this administration has struggled with the 'message wars' - putting out a presidential image and having shows like Saturday Night Live contradict the perceived notion of anything being presidential.
