How Trump changed everything for The Onion

[Pluvious]

The comedy website has had to develop new strategies and new characters for a president who often defies satire.

By ANDREW RESTUCCIA 05/20/2018 06:49 AM EDT

As The Onion tries to find its footing in the Trump era, its writers have increasingly focused on the people around the president. Vice President Mike Pence is often depicted as a repressed religious fanatic who, in one memorable article, refused to be alone with a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth maple syrup until his wife arrived. Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., known as the “Trump boys” in The Onion’s lexicon, are cast as bumbling simpletons whose misadventures — from setting up their own makeshift law firm in the White House’s electrical room to interrupting an intelligence briefing with sofa cushions duct-taped to their bodies — are the closest thing to the site’s wildly successful mockery of former Vice President Joe Biden.

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And then Bush ushered in this scarier era with 9/11 and the Iraq War. That’s when The Onion started getting a little bit harder satirically, I think. Obama presented a whole different thing. When Obama started, we did a lot of articles about Time publishing the definitive puff piece about Obama. So while we may have been excited about the first black president, it also seemed like it was all kid gloves for the first six months. It’s interesting because that just completely disappeared, and you’re like, “Oh, that’s not happening anymore.”

Trump poses definitely an interesting challenge, and it goes pretty deep. We’re so divided in this country politically right now that I feel like people can be very dismissive if they think you’re doing a joke that’s critical of Trump. They’ll be like, “That’s not funny. That’s no good.” On the other hand, I think overly left-leaning people can be too on board with anything someone says, not even an Onion thing. They’ll believe anything as long as it’s hammering Trump.

Obama was more of a traditional president as far as his decorum and even his preparation and policy. He seemed like a pretty organized guy. You leap off of that and so things can be more surreal and absurd when you’re making fun of him. Whereas Trump is kind of starting from this point of already being kind of absurd.

Much much more at link...

https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2018/05/20/donald-trump-onion-stories-597809

[Ohiogal]

1. !!! GAH !!!

WARNING! WARNING! Huge picture of Asshole when you open up that link!

Almost enough to make me put some whiskey in my coffee to settle my nerves, eh!

[dalton99a]

2. The photo speaks for itself

[Ohiogal]

3. I know, I know

seeing that ugly orange sourpuss just knocked me right off my chair.