S03.E30: Season Finale - 2016 United States Election Results

[Irlandesa]

16 hours ago, fastiller said:

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "media normalization"

It's a lot of things.  I understand the raisin analogy was an attempt but even that might have come too late. 

When I say 'normalization,' I think it's their attempt to not only have a 'horse race' but to put the two candidates in equal contexts.  For instance, Hillary had policy proposals with detaills available on her website.  You could disagree with her but there were actually specifics you could debate.  DT didn't really have something like that available.  And since one candidate didn't really have that, it rarely got discussed and a lot of voters felt they were offering "nothing." 

DT and Pence basically lied their way through their debates an the narrative afterward wasn't shock at how dishonest they were.  (No politician is 100% truthful but the DT campaign was something else this election cycle.)  Instead, it was about optics.  It was about the lack of outrage about certain things like threatening to jail a political opponent or the way he encouraged the press to be treated. It was the lack of context of these kinds of threats historically. It was the tip toeing around the abject racism of the campaign. ("White working class anxiety" my ass.) 

Media normalization was the constant insistence and belief that he'd pivot. Because that's what normal candidates do once they hit the general but DT was never the normal candidate they wanted him to be. It was the capitulation on the taxes issue.  It was the way so many wrote The Clinton Foundation should shut because of a future conflict of interest should she win while ignoring what would happen with DT (until now when the gross conflict of interest is coming out after its too late. ) we're getting that now with all the "let him get a chance" as proposed appointees increasingly have racist pasts. 

That's what I mean about normalization.  This is one election cycle that needed a strong, prevalent media critic. 

Edited November 16, 2016 by Irlandesa

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

Watch Last Week Tonight Try To Figure Out How America Ended Up With President-Elect Trump

And what we do now.

[fastiller]

@Irlandesa - thanks for the explanation.

[zxy556575]

I'd also suggest that another component of normalization has been lowering the bar. There were so many things Trump said or did that would have disqualified any other person. But nothing stuck to him, so the story became one of praise for the most basic conduct. Like, standing upright. Good job, Donald!

Edited November 16, 2016 by lordonia

[ljenkins782]

On November 14, 2016 at 8:52 PM, Irlandesa said:

I loved a lot of this show. I appreciated his call to activism.  I was sad at 2016 blowing up because, had last week turned out differently, that could have been a highly cathartic moment that it ended up not being. 

I feel like his takedown of media normalization was way too late in the cycle.  Maybe it could have mattered earlier when they were normalizing before. Or had it been a drumbeat. It made me think of a think piece that claimed DT likely would not have won if Jon Stewart were still in charge of TDS since focusing on media incompetence was his thing.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  I was over JS by the time he left but critique of cable media was largely missed this election cycle when it was needed most.

 

I would agree that this particular story might have been more useful earlier in the cycle, except that I think a lot of the people who needed to hear this the most are not watching John Oliver. I'm picturing my FB newsfeed and the particular types of people who continually repost spurious news stories/sources and they are definitely not in Oliver's demographic. And would probably dismiss this story as the "liberal media" trying to silence other points of view or some such bullshit. 

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I appreciate John's "THIS IS NOT NORMAL" Post-It, as immediately after watching this show I saw a tweet about "celebrities normalizing Trump" and a clip of Oprah (OPRAH!!) talking about having hope and calming down after seeing Trump meet Obama at the White House. I appreciate the goal of "peaceful transfer of power" and talking people down from violence but ... well ... you know ... FUCK 2016.

I appreciated his take too. I was really wondering how he was going to approach this and was hoping it would not be a muted response. I was getting to the point where I was really starting to wonder if other celebs/comedians/news outlets were tempering their responses in fear of DT's anti-media stance, so I was glad to see JO not take that path. 

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And I have to say that the absolute BEST cameo in the F*** 2016 was the host of the Nightly Show, whose name escapes me.  Absolutely the best.

Ha, "you asking ME?? Man, FUCK 2016!" Great, great cameo. 

[KerleyQ]

5 hours ago, lordonia said:

I'd also suggest that another component of normalization has been lowering the bar. There were so many things Trump said or did that would have disqualified any other person. But nothing stuck to him, so the story became one of praise for the most basic conduct. Like, standing upright. Good job, Donald!

By summer, I was saying that, as long as he didn't actually smear his own feces all over the stage, we'd hear how he was "very Presidential."  There really was no bar for him.  Hillary's bar was insanely high.  "Smile more.  Don't smile that much.  Don't smile like that.  Smile more."  The man was standing on stage, making puckered anus faces with no complaints, and Hillary was being critiqued down to the exact arc, width, and tooth to lip ratio of her smiles.  

[Irlandesa]

7 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

I would agree that this particular story might have been more useful earlier in the cycle, except that I think a lot of the people who needed to hear this the most are not watching John Oliver.

FOX news viewers weren't watching him but I don't think they're the ones who needed to hear this.  I do think the media, though, is sensitive to criticism and I think Oliver is viral/popular enough that they would be watching.

[ljenkins782]

4 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

FOX news viewers weren't watching him but I don't think they're the ones who needed to hear this.  I do think the media, though, is sensitive to criticism and I think Oliver is viral/popular enough that they would be watching.

That is a good point, if it went viral enough, perhaps some attention could have been drawn outside of his usual audience. But I still contend that a large portion of the people who circulate these fake stories would have dismissed this segment as more liberal media bias.

[iMonrey]

I'd say that goes to show how valuable Jon Stewart was in keeping a lot of the mainstream media in check. Oliver and Sam Bee are doing their best but neither of their shows have the same impact as Jon Stewart's did, and Trevor Noah's certainly does not. Stewart was a constant thorn in the side of Fox News, I'm sure they were thrilled when he left.

[OneWhoLurks]

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A staff member with the HBO comedy show “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” had a small question about the Trevor Project, the nonprofit where Mr. Mendelsohn works and which the show planned to feature in a comedic call-to-arms.

In the segment, which was broadcast the next day, Mr. Oliver urged viewers to donate to causes he felt were being threatened by President-elect Donald J. Trump — and to do so on behalf of friends or loved ones who voted for him. The list of groups he encouraged his audience to support included the Trevor Project, which provides help to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth.

“It’s working,” Mr. Mendelsohn, the nonprofit’s deputy executive director, said on Wednesday, adding that the on-air mention helped sustain an outpouring of donations that had begun in the days after the election.

 

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The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which supports women’s reproductive rights, received donations from nearly 200,000 people in the week after the election, about 40 times more than in a typical week, a spokesman said on Wednesday. Of those, more than 46,000 people donated in the name of Vice President-elect Mike Pence, a vocal opponent of abortion who has fought to deny federal funds to the group.

“We are so grateful to this community across the country, and we will never stop fighting for them,” Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, said in a statement.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which defends the rights of the individual, said on Monday that it had received more than $7 million from about 120,000 donations over the five days after the election. During the same period after the 2012 election, the group collected less than $28,000 from 354 donations.

 

Nonprofits Opposed to Trump’s Ideology See a Surge in Donations
 

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Rooting for Trump to succeed so the country as a whole can succeed is, according to late night comedian John Oliver, dangerously “normalizing” the president-elect. Oliver’s cries were amplified by German Lopez for left-wing website Vox. Lopez, who previously encouraged violent rioting, titled his article “John Oliver makes the case against normalizing Trump.”

Other prominent liberals taking stands against the “normalization” of the president-elect include (but aren’t limited to): late night talk show host Seth Myers, Forbes contributor Micheline Maynard, New Yorker contributor Hua Hsu, New Yorker editor David Remnick and left-wing nonprofit Media Matters.

But undermining the liberal argument against “normalizing” Trump is the uncomfortable fact that many liberal journalists seemed to have no problem doing just that when The Donald was running against Republicans.

 

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In February, 2016 — two months after Trump announced his plan to ban Muslim immigration — Salon’s Amanda Marcotte wrote an article titled “Rubio and Cruz are the real monsters: Liberals should be rooting for Trump — and he’ll be easier to beat come November.”

“Trump annoys because he’s loud and rude,” Marcotte wrote. “Because if you actually look past the surface, even by a millimeter, to the policy level, this notion that Trump is somehow more hateful than his competitors Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio simply becomes laughable.”

That same month, Vox co-founder Matthew Yglesias wrote an article titled “Why I’m more worried about Marco Rubio than Donald Trump.”

 

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As pointed out by The Federalist, New York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait wrote an article titled “Why Liberals Should Support a Trump Nomination.”

“If he does win, a Trump presidency would probably wind up doing less harm to the country than a Marco Rubio or a Cruz presidency. It might even, possibly, do some good,” Chait wrote.

Similarly, Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus argued that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is even more “dangerous” than Trump.

 

‘Normalizing’ Trump Was Cool When He Was Running Against Republicans

Edited November 17, 2016 by OneWhoLurks

[Irlandesa]

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I'd say that goes to show how valuable Jon Stewart was in keeping a lot of the mainstream media in check. Oliver and Sam Bee are doing their best but neither of their shows have the same impact as Jon Stewart's did, and Trevor Noah's certainly does not. Stewart was a constant thorn in the side of Fox News, I'm sure they were thrilled when he left.

I think Oliver and Bee's shows are impactful.  Look at the donations that are being received thanks to John's show.  Or what he did for net neutrality (that was fun while that lasted.)  But their critique has always been focused in different directions than Stewart's.  Jon Stewart was the only one whose focus was on the media/cable news.  I don't watch Trevor so I don't know if he continued that focus or shifted.

[Machiabelly]

So can Mike Pence use all of those donation receipts against his taxes?

[biakbiak]

23 hours ago, Machiabelly said:

So can Mike Pence use all of those donation receipts against his taxes?

No, the person who makes the donation still gets the deduction.

[KerleyQ]

If someone ever does a donation in Trump's name campaign, you know his ass would deduct every last one on his taxes.  

[OneWhoLurks]

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That call to action has paid off, with the Trevor Project, the International Refugee Assistance Project at the Urban Justice Center, and the Center for Reproductive Rights all reporting a huge spike in interest in the past week after the show aired. The Trevor Project, which focuses on suicide prevention in LGBTQ youth, has reported a sixfold increase in average donations since the election, with over a thousand new volunteers signed up in the week since Oliver’s episode aired.

“We saw an immediate spike in visits to our website, donations, and volunteer inquiries after his show,” Steve Mendelsohn, deputy executive director of the Trevor Project, tells Inverse. “John Oliver resulted in an even greater surge in interest in the Trevor Project. There is a general sense of urgency, and people want to do something to make a difference.”

 

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The International Refugee Assistance Project at the Urban Justice Center reported an “outpouring” of financial support and volunteer signups, all dedicated to spreading the word that refugees are welcome.

“We are honored that John Oliver chose to mention us alongside other organizations that do incredible work to protect human and civil rights,” Henrike Dessaules, the project’s communications manager, tells Inverse. “Our mission to enforce the legal protection of refugees is more urgent than ever.”

 

John Oliver's Anti-Trump Message Caused a Huge Donation Spike

[Lantern7]

For comparison purposes, here's Lewis Black's slam on Rick Perry and Texas from 2013.

[Victor the Crab]

On ‎2016‎-‎11‎-‎15 at 5:13 AM, Victor the Crab said:

I'm not ready yet to yell "FUCK 2016!" because my team Toronto FC has a very good chance of making it to, and winning, the MLS Cup. If they lose, then I'll yell "FUCK 2016!" If they lose in the Eastern Final to Montreal, I'll scream "FUCK YOU 2016 WITH A GODDAMN WHITE HOT POKER UP YOUR ASSHOLE!!!!!"

My team, Toronto FC, Just kicked Montreal in their nutsack, and will host the snotbags from Seattle in the MLS Cup final, which I plan on being there live. So 2016, you've just been given a huge reprieve! DON'T FUCK THIS UP NOW!!!

[Victor the Crab]

My team, Toronto FC, just lost the MLS Cup in a fucking shootout to a team, Seattle Sounders, that played to get to PKs, plays thuggish defence, got outclassed statistically in the entire match, and never made one single goddamn shot on goal in 120 minutes of play. So FUCK YOU BIG TIME 2016!

[Lantern7]

On 12/11/2016 at 1:55 PM, Victor the Crab said:

My team, Toronto FC, just lost the MLS Cup in a fucking shootout to a team, Seattle Sounders, that played to get to PKs, plays thuggish defence, got outclassed statistically in the entire match, and never made one single goddamn shot on goal in 120 minutes of play. So FUCK YOU BIG TIME 2016!

Actually thought of you when I tuned in to Fox to watch overtime and the shootout. Sorry that nobody got to be a hero like Joe Carter, but it's nice for somebody to board the "FUCK 2016" bus. Aside from Cleveland and parts of Chicago, this was not a good year.

[OneWhoLurks]

Quote

 

Though much of the local and regional press is taking a financial beating, ProPublica is flush with cash from public-spirited contributors looking to finance hard-hitting journalism.

Since John Oliver gave the nonprofit investigative newsroom outlet a shoutout on "Last Week Tonight" last year, they've seen one-time and monthly recurring donations skyrocket. Now, flush with cash, they're staffing up to bring the newsroom's resources to bear on the Trump White House.

"This is an enormous story," said Richard Tofel, ProPublica's president. "And it was an enormous story eight years ago, when there was a new administration."

 

Flush from its Trump-bump, ProPublica is staffing up to cover the president