Trevor Noah on campaign attack ads: ‘There’s no other job where you can apply for it and then your resume isn’t what you do, it’s just a list of all the reasons why the other people suck.’ Photograph: YouTube
Late-night comedians talk about obnoxious political attack commercials, Maga voter intimidation, and Elon Musk’s suggestion to make Twitter’s video feed pay to see
Trevor Noah
On Wednesday night, Trevor Noah completed his week of live events in Atlanta and remarked the quantity of political advertisements he has seen and heard while in Georgia. “If you only knew Stacey Abrams from Georgia attack advertisements, you’d assume she was a mix of Darth Vader, Thanos, and that jerk who cut you off in traffic. He laughed, “Pure wickedness.
Why does it seem like there's more lying in political ads this election season than ever? pic.twitter.com/WpeQLn17Ie
— The Daily Show in Atlanta (@TheDailyShow) November 3, 2022
Attack advertisements are not just used in Georgia, a tight-rope state in the upcoming midterm elections, and “it’s not just mean in this moment,” according to the Daily Show host. Every every day, it becomes meaner. Attack advertisements are now overrunning the airwaves throughout every campaign in America.
Because “they drive polarization and hate,” Noah advocated that attack advertising should be prohibited rather than campaign ads. And secondly, politicians need to ask for your support by outlining their plans rather than merely trash-talking rivals.
“We don’t accept this shit in any other job,” he continued. “There’s no other job where you can apply for it and then your résumé isn’t what you do, it’s just a list of all the reasons why the other people suck.”
Solely decrying one’s opponent is “not campaigning”, he concluded. “That’s not winning votes. It shouldn’t be a part of democracy.”
Stephen Colbert
Republicans and Democrats are “making their closing arguments to voters” with the midterm elections less than a week away, according to Stephen Colbert on The Late Show. The GOP’s position is to quit voting.
In order to frighten voters at polling places around the nation, Donald Trump and other GOP leaders have urged “poll watchers” to do so. Colbert displayed images of guys wearing ski masks and body armor in Arizona. He made a joke, saying, “That outfit is only suitable for two things: intimidating voters or assassinating James Bond in the Alps.”
A court in Arizona mandated on Tuesday that armed election “monitors” maintain a minimum distance of 250 feet from drop boxes. Colbert said, “I believe it’s fair to argue that democracy is in jeopardy when voting boxes get a restraining order.
Colbert focused on the Oath Keepers, a right-wing organization that is now facing charges of seditious conspiracy for its participation in the Capitol assault on January 6th. Colbert said that “January 6 wasn’t just about breaking glass and hanging Pence.” Prosecutors assert the Oath Keepers met for a late-night supper at an Olive Garden after the incident, thus “it was also about apps for the table.”
Colbert made a joke on the company’s new motto, “When you’re here, your family didn’t hug you enough as a child.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was made fun of by Seth Meyers on Late Night while under investigation by an Atlanta grand jury for alleged attempts to rig Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
Back in 2021, shortly after a controversial phone discussion with Donald Trump in which the then-president requested Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 more votes, Graham phoned Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger. Asserting that his phone conversation to Raffensperger was an innocent inquiry regarding the operation of the mail-in ballot, Graham told reporters, “I think I have every right in the world to reach out and ask how does it work?”
He was merely interested in how postal voting works, that’s correct,” Meyers said. He chose to call an election official just as the president he was backing was planning a coup to maintain power, so he didn’t merely Google it or go on a bike and cycle down to the local library. Just a harmless coincidence, nothing more! Like when I Google “is it bad that I put my kid’s college fund into bitcoin?” to see whether my internet is functioning.
Graham’s bid to quash a subpoena in the case was rejected by the supreme court last week, so he will appear in Georgia later this month. Meyers said, “Damn, he couldn’t even get his brother Brett Kavanaugh to help him out.”
Jimmy Kimmel
Elon Musk was also made fun of by Jimmy Kimmel in Los Angeles because he “offered way too much for Twitter.”
With a paywall video strategy, users would charge others to access films on their feed, “now I guess he’s trying to get back as much of that $44bn investment he can.” You know, I was surfing Instagram the other night and remarked, “This is fantastic but I wish it wasn’t so free,” Kimmel deadpanned. “Which is actually a terrific idea.
“I feel like Elon Musk owning Twitter now is like Michael Jordan trying to play baseball in terms of technology.”
In other social media news, an FCC commissioner has urged the US government to outlaw TikTok because of fears that China is using it to collect personal data on US residents. I understand, but ‘password’ wouldn’t be the fifth most popular password if Americans really cared about their personal data, Kimmel said. “Tinder seems like the safest app these days between TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook.”
Thanks to Guardian staff at The Guardian whose reporting provided the original basis for this story.
