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Too Soon For Comedy? After Attempted Assassination Of Trump, US Politics Feel Anything But Funny

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Political jokes: is it too soon?

Many quarters responded with a loud yes at midweek, days after an assassination attempt on Republican former President Donald Trump shook the nation over decades of political violence in the United States.

Several late-night shows that rely on political humor instantly modified their plans, with Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” canceling its Monday show and intending to broadcast from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week. Its host, Jon Stewart, and his guests gave sad monologues.

By Tuesday, the comic rock duo Tenacious D, comprised of Jack Black and Kyle Gass, had canceled the remainder of their global tour “and all future creative plans” after Gass proclaimed onstage his birthday wish: “Don’t miss next time.” Gass apologized.

Too Soon For Comedy? After Attempted Assassination Of Trump, US Politics Feel Anything But Funny

Democratic President Joe Biden, no stranger to criticizing Trump, contacted his wounded competitor, paused his political advertisements and messaging, and urged the country to “cool” the rhetoric.

So, if comedy is tragedy plus time, when is joking acceptable again? And who gives a thumbs up, given that the shooter who targeted Trump also killed former fire chief Corey Comperatore while protecting his family?

The attempted assassination on Saturday, or any of the bloodshed that has afflicted the United States since its inception, is not funny. Trump was smacked in the ear while speaking to rallygoers in Pennsylvania. A Trump supporter and the gunman were dead, while two onlookers were injured. The attack sparked severe concerns about security shortcomings. It was the most recent example of political violence in America, where attacks on politicians date back to at least 1798 when two legislators from opposite parties brawled in the United States House.

Other examples abound in history texts, but the list from this century is particularly striking. Former Arizona Representative Gabby Giffords, D, was shot in the head in 2011. Republican Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the current House majority leader, was shot and badly injured in 2017. On January 6, 2021, a mob of Trump supporters invaded the US Capitol, preventing Congress from certifying Biden’s election. Paul Pelosi was bludgeoned at his home in 2022 by a guy looking for his wife, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

In addition to that, unwavering fears about Biden’s fitness for office following his catastrophic debate performance, Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, and American politics in 2024 appear anything but hilarious.

However, political comedy is as old as politics and administration.

It softens the impact of democratic decisions and is a powerful tool for politicians aiming to alleviate or increase concerns about themselves or their opponents. And in recent years, Trump has been the focus of more jokes than anyone else. According to a 2020 study by George Mason University’s Center for Media and Public Affairs, late-night hosts made 97% of their jokes about Trump.

“It’s never too soon, unless it’s not funny,” Alonzo Bodden, a 31-year-old stand-up comedian, said in a phone interview Wednesday. He is not a Trump supporter but stated that comedians “will always make it funny no matter what happens.” That is what we do. “It is how we communicate.”

“In this case, Donald Trump is such a character and the fact that he wasn’t killed, the jokes started immediately,” said Bodden. “And I don’t believe he minds. He’s one of those persons who is always happy to be mentioned.”

Humor humanizes large figures.
Perhaps most effectively, political humor can make arrogant leaders appear more human or at least self-conscious.

Consider “covfefe,” Trump’s strange middle-of-the-night tweet in 2017 that went viral, prompting Jimmy Kimmel to despair that he’ll never write something funnier. “Make the Pie Higher,” a poem by late Washington Post cartoonist Richard Thompson, was composed solely of President George W. Bush’s botched words and was published for his inauguration in 2001.

“It is a very complicated economic point I was making there,” Bush said with a smirk at the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner a few months later. “Believe me, what this country needs is taller pie.”

Before the debate, Biden attempted to use humor to bring the age issue to the forefront, but it became evident that the concern was more about his cognitive ability. “I know I’m 198 years old,” Biden declared, to wild laughter and clapping.

 

Too Soon For Comedy? After Attempted Assassination Of Trump, US Politics Feel Anything But Funny

Humor is such an effective campaign tactic that candidates flock to guest appearances on late-night shows, which have risen in political prominence. However, following the assassination, a pause settled over everything, as indicated by Stewart’s serious address on Monday.

“None of us knows what’s going to happen next other than there will be another tragedy in this country, self-inflicted by us to us, and then we’ll have this feeling again,” Stewart told the crowd.

“The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert recalled his astonishment at the attack, joy that Trump had survived, and “grief for my great country.”

“Though I could just as easily start the show moaning on the floor,” he laughed, “because how many times do we need to learn the lesson that violence has no role in our politics?”

As is customary for social media, it was acting more freely. “I think it’s ironic that Trump almost died from a gun today because he was too far right-leaning,” comedian Drew Lynch remarked on YouTube. “Alright. That’s all I have. I believe my neighbors might be listening.”

SOURCE | AP

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Sebastian Coe Among 7 IOC Members To Enter Race To Succeed Thomas Bach As President

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GENEVA — Sebastian Coe, Two former Olympic winners are running for president of the International Olympic Committee. So is a prince from a Middle Eastern monarchy and the son of a previous president. The world’s best in cycling, gymnastics, and skiing are also competing.

The International Olympic Committee announced on Monday a list of seven potential candidates to run for president in March, succeeding outgoing president Thomas Bach for the next eight years.

Solely one woman, Zimbabwean IOC executive board member Kirsty Coventry, competed to lead an organization that has solely had male presidents throughout its 130-year history. Eight of the presidents were from Europe, with one from the United States.

Coventry and Sebastian Coe have won two gold medals in swimming and running, respectively. Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan also serves on the IOC board.

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Sebastian Coe Among 7 IOC Members To Enter Race To Succeed Thomas Bach As President

Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., an investment banker from Spain, is one of the four IOC vice presidents. His father served as president for 21 years, until 2001.

David Lappartient is the president of cycling’s regulatory body, Molinari Watanabe is in charge of gymnastics, and Johan Eliasch is the president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation. Coe is the president of World Athletics.

All seven met a Sunday deadline to write a letter of intent to Bach, who must leave office next year after serving the full 12-year term. Bach declined to pursue IOC rule changes at the Paris Olympics last month to remain in office longer.

The next president’s term will include hosting the Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane, Australia, four years later. The IOC has many major issues, including selecting a host for the 2036 Olympics — with India and Qatar in the running — assessing the impact of climate change on the global sports calendar, and renewing the U.S. television arrangement, which has been a cornerstone of Olympic financing.

A formal candidate list should be announced in January, three months before the March 18-21 election in Greece, on the site of ancient Olympia.

Only IOC members are eligible to run as candidates, with the rest of the Olympic body’s 111 members casting their ballots.

The International Olympic Committee is one of the most exclusive clubs in international sports. Its members include European and Middle Eastern nobility, international sports body officials, former and current Olympic athletes, politicians, and diplomats, as well as industrialists, including billionaires such as Eliasch.

It makes for one of the most quiet and unusual election campaigns in sports history, with members barred from publicly promoting their candidate.

Campaign restrictions for candidates include a ban on broadcasting films, organizing public gatherings, and participating in public debates. They are likely to release manifestos before the IOC holds a closed-door meeting to address voters in January in its home city of Lausanne, Switzerland.

The top post at the IOC ideally requires extensive knowledge of sports management, an appreciation of athletes’ requirements, and quick global political skills.

The president leads an organisation that generates billions of dollars in revenue from broadcasting and sponsorship deals during the Olympic Games and employs hundreds of people.

Coe has been universally regarded as the most qualified contender. He was a two-time Olympic champion in the 1,500 meters before becoming an elected MP in Britain in the 1990s. He also oversaw the bidding and organising committees for the 2012 London Olympics and has presided over World Athletics for nine years.

However, he has disagreed with the IOC, Bach, and other sports leaders on a number of issues, notably his strong stance against Russia on state-sponsored doping and the invasion of Ukraine, coe  as well as the decision to pay $50,000 cash rewards to track and field gold medallists in Paris.

“The International Olympic Committee must prioritise a laser-like concentration on sport. In a statement released Monday, Coe stated, “I believe I can help achieve this and more.”

However, he may face legal challenges in fulfilling his eight-year tenure. The IOC’s membership age restriction is 70, and Coe will be 68 on election day. The regulations allow for a special exemption to continue for four more years, but this would result in a six-year presidency unless the restrictions are adjusted.

Coventry, who turned 41 on Monday, previously served as Zimbabwe’s appointed sports minister.

Sebastian Coe Among 7 IOC Members To Enter Race To Succeed Thomas Bach As President

Anita DeFrantz, a former Olympic rower from the United States, was the only woman to run for president of the International Olympic Committee. She was defeated in the first round of voting in a five-candidate contest in 2001, which was won by Jacques Rogge.

Samaranch, who turns 65 in November, is the candidates’ longest-serving member, having joined in 2001 when his father stood down. The Spanish official would also want an extension to the IOC’s age limit.

Lappartient is also the president of France’s national Olympic committee, which has built on the success of the Paris Summer Games. He oversees a French Alps initiative that has been chosen to host the 2030 Winter Games, and Bach has appointed him to supervise a long-term project signed in Paris that will see Saudi Arabia host the Esports Olympic Games until 2035.

Eliasch is perhaps the most surprising contender, having been chosen as an IOC member in Paris less than two months ago. The Swedish-British owner of the Head sportswear company received 17 “no” votes, which is unusually high in Olympic politics.

SOURCE | AP

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Trump Promises “Save the Country.” He Blames Biden-Harris’s ‘Rhetoric’ for the New Assassination Attempt.

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(VOR News) – Former presidents Barack Obama told Fox News Digital that his second assassination Trump attempt since July was a result of Democrats’ “highly inflammatory language,” and that President Biden and Vice President Harris’ “rhetoric” was “causing him to feel as though he were shot at.”.”

Monday morning, Trump held an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, one day after the Secret Service discovered a shooter in the shrubbery at the Trump International golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Suspect Ryan Wesley Routh was carrying two luggage and an AK-47 as he pointed a Go-Pro camera through the chain-link fence towards the green. Even though the suspect ran away, they were caught on Interstate 95.

Authorities think there was an attempt on Trump’s life.

This was Trump’s second attempt at assassination since July, but he was uninjured.

According to Trump, the gunman’s actions were influenced by the words he heard from Biden and Harris, as he told Fox News Digital. As a result of their rhetoric, I am being shot at, when in reality I am the one who intends to save the country, and they are the ones who are destroying it – both internally and externally.”

Trump used the fact that Biden and Harris had called him a “threat to democracy” in the past to support his designation of them as “unity” leaders.

Trump said, “They are the exact opposite.” “These are people that want to destroy our country.”

His next statement was, “The internal enemy.” They pose the greatest risk. Officials have suggested Ryan Wesley Routh as the name. He lives in Hawaii and has had a lot of legal issues during the course of the 1990s.

Routh restated on social media the assertions made by Biden and Harris that “Democratic is on the ballot” and that Democrats “cannot lose.”

Apart from his regular political analysis, Routh only made contributions to Democratic causes. “They do it with a combination of rhetoric and lawsuits they wrap me up in,” he said. That is the rhetoric dangerous fools, such as the shooter, listen to – and the same applies to the first one.”

Trump has often been described by Democrats as a “threat to democracy,” especially in light of the way he handled the altercation in the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

He accused Trump of inciting Haitian immigrant violence in Springfield, Ohio. Over the weekend, Biden said at a meeting that “any president should reject hate in America” and “not incite it.”

The White House did not reply to a communication from Fox News Digital, nor did Harris’s campaign or running mate, Minnesota Governor Time Warner, acknowledge receipt of it.

In addition, Trump claimed that by “allowing millions of very dangerous migrants to pour into it and destroying our country and cities,” Biden and Harris’ policies were “destructing” the country.

“From the outside, we appear weak and feeble and we are no longer respected by the world.” he said.

Trump chastised the media after the Harris debate last week.

“The media is made up of fools that will spew [Democrats’] garbage and spew their sick philosophies and will protect them at all costs, and they can’t believe they get away with it,” he said. “Democrats are totally protected by the media.”

The conversation on ABC News last week, according to Trump, was “so biased and so out of control.”

Harris was the one who made up the details about Project 2025. He said, “She lied about everything, including abortion.” “She was correcting me.”

Then he said, “one against three.” David Muir appeals to me somehow. Though he is a sleeze like everyone else, I thought he was fantastic.

Trump advised Democrats to change their language given just 50 days until Election Day. He highlighted the remark, “They use highly inflammatory language.”

On July 13, Trump was shot in the ear while attending an event in Pennsylvania. The gunman left one person dead and numerous others wounded before police fired and killed him.

SOURCE: FN

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Biden and Harris Assert that the Return of Trump Represents a Reversal of “Black Progress.”

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Biden and Harris Assert that the Return of Trump Represents a Reversal of “Black Progress.”

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(VOR News) – A hypothetical return of Donald Trump to the Biden White House would be damaging to the immense progress that African Americans have accomplished.

According to statements made by Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden on Saturday at the annual Phoenix Awards ceremony hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.

Both Vice President Biden and Senator Harris, while addressing Black politicians and leaders, highlighted the significance of the approaching election and called attention to the various factors that have the potential to influence the advancement of racial equality in the United States today.

Harris, who is running for vice president in the 2024 presidential election, has criticized President Trump and Senator JD Vance for adopting a policy that is intended to create division in society.

Harris is trying to follow Vice President Joe Biden in the race for the presidency.

According to Harris’s argument, persons who are under-represented may have fewer opportunities, freedoms, and access to justice as a consequence of the actions taken by Trump.

“Donald Trump and his extremist allies want to move our nation backward,” she stated, underlining the need of African-American voters showing their support for the candidate.

In order to reaffirm the point that Harris was trying to make, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation presented Vice President Joe Biden with a lifetime achievement award.

As an example, he referred to recent statements made by Vance, in which he spread inaccurate information about Haitian immigrants in Ohio. He used these statements as an illustration. It was his opinion that such language is both harmful and untrue.

Using Trump’s participation in the rioting that broke out at the Capitol on January 6 and his treatment of George Floyd’s demonstrations as more evidence of his track record of inflaming racial tensions, Vice President Biden demonstrated that Trump has a history of adding fuel to the fire.

During their respective statements, both Biden and Harris made reference to the accomplishments of the government.

The decrease in the poverty rate among African American children, the support of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), and initiatives to close the wealth imbalance among diverse ethnic groups are some of the accomplishments that have been made.

The Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, reiterated his unwavering endorsement of Harris by stating, “I will take great pride in witnessing her inauguration as president of the United States of America from the steps of the Capitol.”

In light of the fact that African-American voters, and African-American women in particular, are a sizeable portion of the Democratic base, the attendance of Biden and Harris signalled that a concerted attempt was being made to electrify this demographic prior to the election in November.

The recent pledge made by President Trump to carry out mass deportations of Haitian immigrants from Springfield, Ohio, has stoked the flames of debate within the United States.

This was a response to allegations that had been made that the local population was being negatively affected by recent arrivals from Haiti.

In spite of the fact that the vast majority of Haitians are legally present in the United States, President Trump made this assertion during a press conference that took place in Los Angeles.

When Trump made the statement, “We will do large deportations from Springfield,” he was making a reference to the approximately 12,000–15,000 Haitian residents who live in the city.

In addition, the campaign of Donald Trump has made disparaging remarks about Harris for the reason that she is a Black woman with multi-ethnic background.

Not only is Harris the first person of African descent to hold the position of vice president, but if she is elected, she will also make history by being the first Black woman to hold the position of president.

SOURCE: Tribune

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