When Barack Obama was president, he attended the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner every year. One could argue that Obama attended because the media loved him, which is true to a certain extent, but he also attended the WHCD because he believed in a free press, he believed that a healthy fourth estate was vital to democracy, and he believed that the work of the press deserved to be celebrated.
Donald Trump doesn’t believe any of that. Trump is a fascist who believes that no one should be allowed to make fun of the emperor (when he’s the emperor). He believes all factual information about him and his administration is “fake news.” He’s also a gigantic thin-skinned scaredy cat who would throw a f–king tantrum if he ever came face to face with mild criticism. So, yeah, for the second year in a row, Emperor Baby Fists did not attend the WHCD. Nobody missed him. If anything, people probably had a better time without him there. In his place, Sarah Huckabee Sanders attended. And she had to sit through the keynote comedy speech by Michelle Wolf. And it was amazing. Wolf’s speech reminded me strongly of Stephen Colbert’s infamous WHCD during Dubya’s reign, in that everyone was uncomfortable, few people laughed and it was the absolute truth:
THERE IS SO MUCH. And it was all good. Wolf realized – as Colbert realized all those years ago – that the most iconic WHCD speeches are the ones that are for the audience at home, not for the people in the room. Wolf’s speech got a bad reaction across the board, with journalists, administration officials, congressmen and lobbyists all crying about how “mean” she was. But to my eyes and ears, it landed to everyone at home. People were particularly mad about the Sarah Huckabee Sanders bit, where Wolf joked:
“We are graced with Sarah’s presence tonight. I have to say, I’m a little star-struck. I love you as Aunt Lydia on The Handmaid’s Tale… Mike Pence, if you haven’t seen it, you would love it. I actually really like Sarah. I think she’s really resourceful. She burns facts, and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye. Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies! It’s probably lies. Every time Sarah steps up to the podium, I get excited, because I’m not really sure what we’re going to get. You know, a press briefing, a bunch of lies or divided into softball teams. ‘It’s shirts and skins, and this time don’t be such a little b—-, Jim Acosta!’ And I’m never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders, you know? Is it Sarah Sanders, is it Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is it Cousin Huckabee, is it Auntie Huckabee Sanders? What’s Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women? Oh, I know. Aunt Coulter.”
Even Maggie Haberman – NYT-journalist who protects her sources within the administration – was critical of the jokes about Huckabee Sanders. All of the Deplorables were terribly triggered about how Wolf “attacked” all of the “women” within the administration, but I’d just like to point out that Michelle didn’t say anything about Mother (Mother’s Husband did get a few jokes). But yeah, the rest of them can rot. I’m enjoying the meltdowns about how terribly UNFAIR it is for Sarah Huckabee Sanders – who is an absolute a–hole – to be mildly criticized.
That @PressSec sat and absorbed intense criticism of her physical appearance, her job performance, and so forth, instead of walking out, on national television, was impressive.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 29, 2018
Hey mags! All these jokes were about her despicable behavior. Sounds like you have some thoughts about her looks though? 😘 https://t.co/JRzzvhBuey
— Michelle Wolf (@michelleisawolf) April 29, 2018
All the folks, especially media personalities and journalists, who are so utterly outraged by Michelle Wolf's jokes about Sarah Huckabee Sanders, I wish you would have shown 10% of this emotion when Trump mocked and said hateful things against Muslims, Mexicans and immigrants.
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) April 29, 2018
Sure sounds like conservatives love political correctness when it’s a shield against getting made fun of by Michelle Wolf
— Patrick Monahan (@pattymo) April 29, 2018
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I am not sure if this is true, but word went out that people got up and left as she was getting on with her routine at its most intense. I could only watch so much of it. It certainly was rough around the edges.
Reporters have been free to get up and walk out of White House briefings by Sanders and her predecessor Sean Spicer too. Those have been even rougher around the edges.
This was a case of “the truth hurts.” Reporters are supposed to tell truth to power, not to coddle and protect it.
word. i watched the whole things twice. and she was spot on about sarah huckster sanders and kellyanne conway and everyone else.
and it was uncomfortable to watch. but why was it so uncomfortable and slightly raunchy? it’s a direct effect of the current president’s behavior, the lies of his enablers and many men’s bad behavior being called out this year. everyone gets uncomfortable when a woman talks about it. it’s fascinating. that’s how they, misogynists, bullies, perpetuate their own bad behavior; they accuse women of being unladylike when they call it out and confront it.
and michele’s comment about ivanka was true as well. watch the whole thing
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AxISB26avpw
I’m surprised no one recalls that during his brief tenure, Scaramucci bragged about sending Sanders to “hair and make-up” and, after he was fired, tweeted at her to keep up with the hair and make-up. The joke was entirely appropriate because the raw material came directly from the White House.
https://thinkprogress.org/anthony-scaramucci-advises-sarah-sanders-on-her-hair-and-makeup-d62aa6a6f7a7/
I laughed aloud watching it last night, and laughed even harder this morning, seeing it a second time.
The Trumpers have gone apeshit on Twitter hijacking #WHCA about all these “vicious attacks on our beautiful, lovely gracious inspirational press secretary” (barf)
Go back and watch Joel McHale skewer Chris Christie. He literally came out and said, “You sir, are a glutton…. for punishment.” This pearl clutching over SHS is partly because people still believe women are more genteel and need to be on pedestals (so men can look up our skirts – joke credit Steve Martin). No one fell onto their fainting couches over how hurtful McHale’s comments were.
Also, the “outrage” over the Aunt Lydia comment is, like Wolf pointed out to Haberman, more about how the listeners see Ann Dowd. “I love you as Aunt Lydia” was interpreted as “You look like Ann Dowd,” and not, “You’re a betrayer of your sex who helps autocratic men abuse and subjugate women.”
I watched the whole thing, and lots of people were laughing. They don’t usually get big laughs in the room because people know they’re on camera and they are concerned about blowback on themselves. Comedy is subversive. In times like this, comedians are our social justice warriors.
Considering SHS’s response, she took the joke to mean that she looks like Ann Dowd. She’s clearly not watched the show or read the book.
@Bridget but the premise of A Handmaid’s Tale is absolutely orgasm inducing to rabid anti-choicers like Huckabee – I guess she didn’t read it or watch it because it presents folks like her as the bad guys they are?
That was just Matt Schlapp and his wife Mercedes. She works in trump’s comms office and he is head of the organization that runs CPAC…that’s the org where Dana Loesche from the NRA talked about how much the media loves mass shootings bc America loves to see crying white women.
In other words, they can miss me with the outrage.
She didn’t tell any lies in that speech. Nobody is talking about how trump left her to be his representative (why not Pence?) while he went to stroke his huge ego with a campaign rally.
The Mike Pence joke was one of my favorites. “Mike Pence is what happens when Anderson Cooper isn’t gay.”
The best part was Don Lemon laughing so hard he almost choked.
OMG I missed that one. That’s SOLID.
Schlapp also called these people “elites.” Honey with a wife named “Mercedes” and a fancy education (rich to boot), you ARE the elite.
Haven’t watched the whole thing, only read the transcript of the SHS part. Maybe I need to hear it to get context, but… how is this mean, at all? She doesn’t attack SHS’s appearance. She doesn’t call her names. She says, factually, that SHS is a liar and she lies every day. It’s the truth.
People do criticize her appearance, though, and that makes me uncomfortable. But you are correct. Her demeanor was criticized,not her appearance.
Haberman implied that Michelle Wolf made jokes about SHS’s physical appearance so I had expected there was something about her wonky eyes which would have been mean. There has been nothing about that and a joke about her eyeshadow and lying is totally fair game. Haberman needs to be called to account for lying in her tweet.
Michelle Wolff called out all the press on their complicity with this administration in not doing their jobs and calling out the lies. The reporters who sit there and pretend that SHS isn’t destroying democracy day by day and don’t challenge her are complicit. They are sensitive babies and didn’t like hearing the truth.
That’s what it came down to. The reporters are butt hurt that Wolf spoke the truth. Haberman should take a seat too. She has a book deal so that’s why she is sucking up to these people (DJT already said he doesn’t know her). Some people on Twitter asked her to point out where the comments on Suckabee’s looks were and Haberman blocked them. So yeah not surprising.
I agree with you.
Isn’t it also telling that no one is defending Kelly Anne Conway. She got skewered just as hard as SHS, but no one likes her, so nobody has said anything. Wolf literally said she lies constantly and should get stuck under a tree. And I don’t see Twitter burning down to defend Conway’s honor.
I guess because Wolf didn’t evoke the image of a middle aged actress in reference to Conway, so no one is horrified.
I think people are responding this way because they are confused about the joke where SHS “burns lies and then uses the ash to create the *perfect* smokey eye. Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies.”
Hardly a jab at her looks. Completely a jab at her broken moral compass.
I think it was the reference to SHS as a butch softball coach. Honestly, I find that very offensive….to butch women.
What the heck is “butch” about softball?
If this administration wasn’t so used to lying, and Huckabee didn’t do so much of it, Wolf wouldn’t have had any ammunition. Maybe Huckabee should look at herself in the mirror (and not to check out her physical appearance) but to consider her life choices and performance. The criticism was fair, and it should be a wake up call for Huckabee. As for everyone rushing to Huckabee’s defense, she is a big girl, she can handle it if she is to remain press secretary.
Colbert said a dude. Wolfe is a lady. That’s why the reaction was different.
Colbert was criticized as well, but the deplorables didn’t have as much power at the time and Bush was less of a baby. Free speech is being attacked daily now and the deplorables in office and now in the press would love to shut it down. This is how fascism begins.
I don’t know why this comment posted twice.
Great comment, I needed to read it twice 👍👍
Spot on…this IS how fascism begins. That was an amazing speech, yes, it was uncomfortable, but the US has a dangerous, unstable, non-genius in the WH, and the whole world is scared…so why shouldn’t everyone in that room be feeling uncomfortable?
Colbert was criticized as well, but the deplorables didn’t have as much power at the time and Bush was less of a baby. Free speech is being attacked daily now and the deplorables in office and now in the press would love to shut it down. This is how fascism begins.
This, exactly. Thank you.
Colbert bombed HARD that night. It was one of the ballsiest things that I have ever seen.
People left the room when he roasted Obama and he upset conservatives on top of it. It was seen as controversial as well. Its why we are still talking about years later. How soon we forget.
Colbert bombed hard that night. His act went over terribly – and EVERYONE was in that room. Dubya, Rove, etc. Colbert went there, directly to the president. And he absolutely got flack for it. Does no one remember how “un-American” it was to criticize the President? But reactions play out differently in the age of Twitter.
I was waiting for you to cover this because I watched it and I loved every second of it!
She did not hold back!
I didn’t like Maggie Haberman’s tweet because, like Michelle, I wondered where she heard anything about her looks…
Also I have NO tears to shed for SHS!
I will NOT commend her for not walking out.
She keeps LYING and BERATING the press every day and they take it.
For once, she’s the one that has to sit down, shut up and take it.
She’s complicit every step of the way and I’m appalled that the members of the free press are willing to find excuses for her or be like “Come on! At least she showed up”.
Congrats? She’ll get no medal from me!
The American people have no platform to stand on everyday where their voices will be heard.
Good on Michelle for mentioning the nazis and abortion because it’s time to call a spade a spade.
Enough with the euphemisms and hypocrisy.
Where has this gotten us?
Just after the speech, I watched the video of Desmond Marrow being manhandled (to put it mildly) by police officers. YET AGAIN!
This administration is rotten to the core, spewing thinly veiled hateful rhetoric but Michelle Wolf WAS the mean one?!
Who’s being a snowflake now?!
Whajahat Ali is right. Where was the outrage when Trump called NFL players “sons of bitches”?
When he attacked Muslims, immigrants, women, etc..?
When SHS TALKS DOWN at April Ryan when she dares raise the question of racism as if she’s talking about unicorns walking down Pennsylvania avenue?
I’m sorry I just barreled down rantsville boulevard but ENOUGH with the faux (and misplaced) outrage!
I too reside on Rantsville Blvd, thanks for doing the heavy lifting , you’re doing Gods work….
Lmao
@Mel
Well said.
This is why I like hearing the opinions on this site. Down here, we usually only get to see SHS making announcements in 15-second grabs on the nightly news, and not performing the SHS shenanigans talked about here. I do read reports, of course, but it is sometimes quite difficult to keep up and put it all together on a daily basis. Anyone who works so closely with and for Donald Dump is a pezzo di merda, and you don’t need to be Italian to understand that.
Maggie is trash and has been trash for ages so I don’t take anything she says seriously.
Frankly the press is triggered because Michelle called them out for being complicit in their coverage pre and post election. She told no lies.
Amen to this!
Guess we know who Maggie’s White House source is. Notice she didn’t defend Kellyanne Conway?
The press started firing back on TV right after Michelle’s performance, which I watched live. I could not figure out what they were talking about, since she did not directly attack SHS’ looks.
Yeah the MSM always comes to the side of the Republicans whenever someone gives them a taste of their medicine. Look at all the pearl clutching over Comey’s description of Trump in his book and their complicit and unified claim that it “diminished Comey’s” stature. The only member of the press who was like, “have you read Trump’s nasty tweets about Comey?” Was Nicole Wallace on MSNBC and she’s a Republican.
The same problem arose when HRC’s book came out. They were all like “Should she have written the book? Should she point fingers? Shouldn’t she take some of the responsibility?”
All this BEFORE the book was out. As soon as you read it, you could see she was not shying away from blaming herself. But at the end of the day, why SHOULD she hold back? Why should Comey? (and I’m NO Comey apologist, believe me).
At the end of the day, they’re humans, they’ve been dragged through the mud and as PRIVATE CITIZENS, they are more than allowed to say whatever it is that will make them feel better. Why is everyone else held to a higher standard than 45?! His most outrageous tweets are cited and he gets a slap on the wrist but then it’s “oh, well. Donald, will be Donald!” Like, NO!!!
Michelle also rightfully said that people should stop giving a platform to Kellyanne Conway. If I hear one more “Good morning Christopher” or another indignant “Excuse me!” I will break the screen!
That scene she made to Dana Bash last week was just surreal.
“Oh, this is where we’re going now? I’m glad people are witnessing CNN’s new low”
SHUT UP TROLL!!!
On another note, I also abhor people being attacked for their looks but I will say this, for SHS and Conway, the ugly is seeping through. Their looks are upstaged by their souls and it ain’t pretty!
Brava, Mel!
Right there with you, Mel.
EXCELLENT Mel!! You said EVERYTHING that I thought about the speech! Brava!! Like Anniefannie said, “Thank you for doing the heavy lifting!”
Right on.
I’m behind you 100%.
YAAAAAAAASSSSSSS, MEL!
I’m with you 100%, you said it better than I could.
I can’t watch it atm, my husband is sleeping. But I have no sympathy for that woman. Sarah lies and has the nerve to quote Scripture. They need to be called out on their behavior. Like that guy tweeted, where was their outrage when it was minorities?
Mine came downstairs this am and told me how good it was to hear me laugh so hard!
I watched it live last night, and found a serious disconnect between what I saw and how it’s being reported. SHS is highly dismissive and condescending to reporters, yet several have run to her defense.
Michelle clearly hit a nerve with the media, when she skewered a LOT of people. It was more truth telling than comedy.
All of this Sarah-defense takes away from another line she repeated — She doesn’t think he’s all that rich. Idaho rich maybe, but not really NYC rich.
We watched this last night, and I honestly didn’t even laugh once. It just wasn’t really funny, but I didn’t think it was anywhere as mean as Trumps childish tweets or his nasty speeches at his rallies.
Ultimately it was not meant to be funny. It was meant to take these people to task.
A comedian’s worst ‘sin’ is not being funny..I have seen far funnier remarks about the walking joke in the WH here and on other gossip sites..I actually felt a bit sorry for her rushed, almost frantic delivery attempting to make the obvious entertaining.
You must have missed the joke about Trump being the only pussy in America you can’t grab. I thought it was hilariously funny. What IS hilariously funny is just how unfunny it is, and how we just keep moving on. It’s surreally funny. I thought her speech was amazing.
I thought it was funny, and I heard the laughter go from fairly robust, to uncomfortable, to barely there. It’s not that people found it unfunny, I think, but that they were too afraid to show how they felt. They were uncomfortable because it is so close to the truth of the egregious every day assault on democracies and people.
Also, I think many were uncomfortable listening to this cute little woman talk about pu$$ies, small t1ts, and the many other sexual references. Prudes.
I just watched the 19 minute video courtesy of the Hollywod Reporter and she was magnificent. She brought the heat to the entire establishment, including skewering the MSM for not only helping Emperor Zero get elected, but profiting from his “presidency.” And btw, no one walked out in the video I saw.
The truth hurts, don’t it deplorables, MAGAts, Nazis, and everyone else who disagrees with her statements which, in the highest honor one can bestow on a comedian, reminds us of the great comedy sketches of George Carlin (salty language and all).
Yes, to all of the above, Eric.
I listened to the whole thing and, while I raised my eyebrows at some of Wolf’s sharpest barbs, I admire that she went there. If some people felt stung, then they need a dose of self-awareness. As a woman of a certain age, it felt good to laugh out loud at so much of her monologue. Great way to start the day.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Yes to all you say here! I was cry-laughing by the 3:50 mark. She skewered them all and it was beautiful.
True Eric and the MSM are going ham over Michelle daring to call out Sarah Sanders for the useless propagandist and liar that she is. She benefits them (especially CNN) by providing free programming during the briefing and material to use for the rest of the day. Same with Conway, CNN brings her on to get in a fight and raise their ratings. If either one of these ladies were Democrats they would have long since been called out for being unreliable liars. HRC said only a handful of lies and she is permanently labeled a liar and a crock. I understand that the MSM is all about the money and more spineless than the Dems and re Republicans take advantage.
Yes to everything you’re saying…however I just read something that worries me. That the right’s outrage over this is a perfect example of why Trump got elected in the first place, and that this just might fuel his reelection. I’m numb.
@Esmom I’m right there with you.
She hit them with the real truth. Her comments on SHS, Trump not being as rich as he has always claimed and the press being an accomplice to Trump horrible Administration. Was spot on. And yes the TRUTH hurts. I will say they at least showed up. Trump the coward that he is had to hold a Rally to boost is ego.
I knew it was going to be a rough ride for Sarah Huckabee Sanders when she was ordered into the lions’ den as cowardly Trump’s surrogate.
Everybody always complains about the comedian at the dinner now that they have left the Bob “self censorship personified” Hope approach behind. But that’s really the idea, to painfully illustrate what real freedom of the press looks like.
I can’t really figure Sarah out. She must know she is lying all the time (isn’t there a commandment against that? Or did they omit it in her version of the Bible, as they did in Pence’s?). And she must know that Trump merrily will throw her under the bus any time he feels like it. What keeps her in that atrocious job? She won’t be good for anything once Trump is done (or done with her).
I felt sorry for Sean Spicer also. He at least looked pained about being cast as a liar liar pants on fire. Spicer is Catholic, and I am absolutely certain that the Catholic versions of the Bible still have that commandment against lying (survived 16 years of Catholic education). Not so sure about Protestant “Prosperity Gospel” types. Also not sure which version of the Bible is read by Catholics like Paul Ryan, who just fired the Congressional chaplain (a Catholic priest who had served for seven years), claiming that members were complaining that they didn’t feel he was meeting their pastoral needs (!!!!). Translation: he mentioned concerns for the poor in prayer. How un-Jesus-like. Lock him up. Even Republicans are a bit baffled.
You mistake the “moral/religious Right” as being legitimate people of faith. It’s simply branding and a defense against being criticized. Ronald Regan discovered that and brought them into the party. Pence is simply prejudiced against the LGBTQ community, religion or no religion as well as an opportunist who stays in power by appealing to the White Evangelicals. Spend 24hours with that guy and I bet you will see he is not as religious in private as he is in public. He likes power and money, end of.
The biggest hypocrites and sinners are usually the ones going on and on about how religious they are. I kind of wish Liberals would spend more time with “religious” people and not take this branding as real.
“What keeps her in that atrocious job? She won’t be good for anything once Trump is done (or done with her).”
I think it’s almost 100% her father’s popularity with the religious right. As ironic as it is for a grotesque playboy, Trump enjoys his most loyal support from that part of the GOP. Since the pick goes against his usual preference for thin, glamorous women to represent him, the choice may also be bait for comments making fun of Sarah’s looks, which the administration can then trot out as “both sides” ammo to cover for all the nasty things *he* has said about many women’s looks.
Toward the end was a punch in the gut to the media and she was spot on.
Haberman’s tweet is ridiculous and false. Say what you will about Wolf’s set, but she emphatically did NOT criticize Huckabee-Sanders appearance. The only comment on appearance was, theoretically, a compliment about her makeup (a “perfect smokey eye”).
And if you read the replies to that tweet, Haberman doubles down insisting something THAT WAS FACTUALLY NOT THERE (and Haberman has a transcript, no doubt) actually is. It’s a real-time view of a once-respected New York Times reporter going full Deplorable.
Everyone knows Haberman’s main source in the White House are Trump and his closest allies, who pick up the phone to feed her quotes for articles they later declare fake news, all while Haberman gamely plays along again and again. The company you keep, and all that …
And there’s no chastening for Haberman now that she had a Pulitzer. Bah.
Some people are saying that Haberman mis-heard Michelle when she said “fact burner” as “fat burner”. Hence all the body shaming criticism. But then, let’s ask SHS& Haberman about what they think about what the 239 pound Trump had to say about Rosie O’Donnell and the Miss Universe contestant, shall we?
FWIW I thought she said “fat” not “fact” when I first heard it too, and was disappointed that (I thought) she went there. Glad she didn’t. The audio was a bit messed up in places.
And isn’t even “239 lbs” likely the fudged number that they put out for his weight to cover up the fact that he’s well over the BMI for obesity? Many have commented that he’s clearly heavier and shorter than claimed based on his photos taken next to celebrities with well known height and weight.
She was fantastic and most of the room was laughing. Enough so that those not laughing looked like uptight pricks.
And she spoke truth, so… I really can’t understand why anyone would be upset by that?
Because she spoke truth!
Enough people participated in the “how broke is he?” routine to be pretty loud without microphones.
I thought that was VERY significant- the audience still played along when she tossed one more “DT is so broke” at the *very end* of her gig.
Just reading the excerpt above, it sounds harsh. The WHCD is supposed to be a roast, though. Typically, the mood and delivery are light fun and jabs. These are pretty heavy handed and didn’t land well. Has the administration fussed about bullying yet?
I’m more upset Trump is so thin skinned that he can’t sit through one. Does he realize if he attends one, he gets time to “retort” with his own roasting? Perhaps it’s for the best – he’s proven he can’t deliver comedy. Nor can he laugh at himself.
Someone needs to explain to these extreme right ninnies that our founding fathers thought unbiased journalism was more important to the success of our country than a religious government. Their betting on the wrong horse.
It’s hard to be light-handed in a national emergency and carefree with a press that has been in part complicit.
Yes! The very fact that Trump refuses to attend and SHS will not crack a smile at roast jokes, is an attack on our democratic values. We are at red alert in this country. When Trump’s treasonous crimes are finally on display and people have to face what is really going on here, then Michelle Wolf is going to look like a hero.
I understand why Sarah wasn’t in a smiling mood. As Trump’s stand-in, she was a direct target. Hard to laugh about people calling you a liar even when it’s 100% true. Would have been better if she was just in the audience rather than up there on the dais. But she stayed and showed more courage than Trump ever has.
Sarah looked wonderful, though. Maybe the hair up really works for her. I’ve always thought she is a good-looking woman, and that hairstyle makes it more obvious perhaps.
@jwoolman, fair point about SHS not smiling in that situation. I have to say, also, that if you saw my photo, you would think that SHS is my little sister, we look so much alike. I always cringe when pundits, critics and memes attack her looks (which they frequently do). Because of this, I watched Michelle Wolf’s remarks a couple of times–and was so relieved to see she did not attack SHS’s looks. The fact SHS looks like she could be part of my family makes me even more horrified that she behaves so irresponsibly in the role of mouthpiece for this administration. It makes my heart hurt. I just hate it that she’s using her gifts to tell lies and spread propaganda. I think she could have been a very effective communications professional if she hadn’t been ruined by her undying loyalty to her father’s radical racist and fake Christian agenda. But she’s an adult now, and she has made her choice to sacrifice her future on the altar of Trump.
LOL, for calling others ninnies when you cannot comprehend that the press right now is NOT impartial nor unbiased. So fed up of comedians and commentators on sites like this and breitbart and elsewhere, assuming they are the best and know it all and the others are all fools.
The media handling Trump with kid gloves is how we wound up with him in office. The gauntlet is off now, as far as I’m concerned. Citizens like Michelle Wolfe are in no way required to mince their words.
She was MAGNIFICENT. And she closed with a shout-out to DACA and Flint. Truth to power.
Michelle made a great point about how the press was a willing participant in the Trump campaign circus and help spread his racist and misogynistic message. And now they’re profiting off him by writing books. I think that statement is what really pissed them off.
Exactly this. She called Maggie Haberman and her ilk on their complicity and they got hurt feelings about the truth telling. This is why the attacks against Wolff are coming from more people.
Yes. My favorite point in her speech. The press likes to pretend they weren’t complicit in the disaster that we’re living now and it was so satisfying to have them called out to their faces. I have a small crush on Michelle Wolfe now.
Boom.
Mic drop.
I think you are exactly correct.
The only thing I think you could take issue with is the “softball team” joke — I think what’s (perhaps) implied here is stereotypes about softball players being kinda butch.
I read a transcripts of her jokes on WaPo and honestly it sounds like she spoke a lot of truth to power. I’ll have to watch it, too, but it sounds like it was pretty good from that perspective.
I’ve never associated softball with any such thing! Never heard that before. I did find the larger softball more difficult to handle, though, but we always had to play with one in school rather the smaller hardball. I haven’t played in decades – the last time was on a pickup team with both men and women in friendly games who, like me, were more or less pathetic.
The softball shirts and skins joke is about how Sanders bosses the press around and attacks a set group of press but is nice to the conservatives. It’s elementary school all over again. It was a war zone with Spicer but with Sanders she is clearly the captain of the team.
Where was Haberman’s sympathy for what Hillary Clinton was asked to endure?
She sold out her integrity for an inside line on a never -ending headline pipeline.
You know where her interests lie, so you know the answer to your question, as do I.
It all stopped being funny before the debates and before everybody knew of the commie collusion because it was by then all too troo. Michelle took no prisioners with all her messy truth telling. In fact, she did not appear to give a big old shit if she happened to offend anyone or not. Nobody else wanted the gig.
…Meanwhile, the current president asks at a rally if there are any hispanics in the room, question that is answered by a big boo from the crowd. Then he says Oh, so not many. that’s OK. btw, KW gets it.
Please tell me if he is not encouraging a certain mentality.
Savage, true, and funny. I loved it.
Why do I suspect that Haberman never had any outrage about the actual attacks that GOP commentators made about Michelle Obama’s appearance for years. Where was Haberman when they were throwing every racist attack in the book at her?
Some of her best lines:
Ivanka is the Diaper Genie; all clean and polished on the outside but still full of shit on the inside.
Mitch McConnell couldn’t be here; he’s getting his neck circumcised. Paul Ryan is circumcised, but when they went down there they took his balls too.
Interesting that mika, Andrea Mitchell, and etc are NOT outraged that Ivanka was called the WH diaper genie.
“I’m sorry Donald Trump couldn’t be here tonight. Yeah, I would have gone and grabbed him myself, but apparently I didn’t realize the Trump is the only pussy in America you can’t grab.”
Those had me HOWLING!!!
LOVED the Ivanka joke.
My favorite barb:
“What’s Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women? Oh, I know. Aunt Coulter.”
Omg this is hysterical, I wish I had seen it! I now LOVE Michelle Wolf!
Huckabee is actually very good at her job, which is scary. She’s like a circus act that manages to catch bullets with her teeth.
You can see it on youtube.
You can get more clips of her on YouTube as well. She did one bit on a late night show as grownup Orphan Annie (yes, in costume) as the interviewee which is memorable. She really is very funny, but may be an acquired taste.
Yes! I love the visual of SHS catching bullets with her teeth. Man, I hate what she says, but I am utterly fascinated with how easily she twists and manipulates the truth. I wonder – truly, I wonder this! – does Sara sleep easily? Does she have a shred of remorse, ever?
And since this is really for commenting on Wolff, her performance made me squirm. I think it may have been her voice though and not the content…..
“What’s Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women? Oh, I know. Aunt Coulter.” Bwahaha!! That’s gold!
Also, right now on Michelle Wolf’s Wiki page, there is a real-time battle going on, where the deplorables are smearing her performance and then seconds later those comments are removed and someone praises her comedy. It keeps switching back and forth. They just added a “Controversy about WHCD” section.
As a website where the editors are 90% men and predominately white — I’m sure the outcome of that article is going to end up super neutral! 🙄
Right? It drives me insane when people look at Wikipedia as anything like a “neutral source” just because, in theory, anyone can edit it. In practice, the white male contributors bully most everyone else out of the field and then talk freely and shamelessly about how to erase and downplay articles about important women–particularly feminists. I’ve seen it.
They might be deleting verified trolls, of which there are many. The Russian troll factories in particular never really shut down. They also may be able to recognize when someone comes from a link at Breitbart, Fox News etc. — people unlikely to have actually watched it but who are using provided talking points.
Sanders IS a liar and is protecting an even bigger liar who doesn’t even have the guts or integrity to respect a free press. Good on Wolf for telling the truth with humour.
Aunt Coulter is the BEST new name I’ve ever heard and Huckabee will only be known as Aunt Coulter from this moment on.
I liked this set, but Wolf did a segment on a comedy special in the UK and I found it oddly focused on Hilary and how she looks. Not one joke about Trump. Struck me as an odd choice.
As far as roasts go Wolfe did her job. She hit everybody – especially the journalists in that room. Instead of introspection and accountability, there’s deflection and outrage over the most innocuous thing Wolfe said. Let’s be real if Wolfe wanted to, she could’ve destroyed SHS about her looks. I got 10 in the holster myself and I’m not a comedienne.
The part where Wolfe said Democrats are gonna lose to a guy name Jeff Pedophile Nazi Doctor had me slobbering. 😂
There wasn’t anything wrong with her routine. She told the truth. What was disappointing was the press’s and bots reaction to her routine. This morning we were greeted with headlines like “mean”, “scathing”, and “crass” instead of Truth. It’s like the WH has sent the press their talking points. I like when Joy has Tiffany on her show because she always brings the truth. She pointed out that people who were criticizing Michelle were being hypocritical and that it made them uncomfortable because she was telling the truth. Sarah is a liar. It’s disturbing to see how absolutely no one in the press has the courage to call her out on her lies. They just sit there and take it. I loved that she asked the press why they keep inviting Kellyanne onto their shows because all she does is lie and con people. At some point the press needs to take responsibility for Sarah and Kellyanne. Stop letting them lie.
The Dotard verbally attacks everyone, but when Comey used talked about his hands and orange color, the WH sent out the talking points that Comey was being petty. This needs to stop.
Another aspect are the lies. Many Dotard supporters posted that they left and that no one was laughing. Take Reince P. He was showing laughing, not just laughing but he was going crazy. Then he got on twitter and lied. Why is this acceptable?
The “petty” bandwagon about Comey’s physical description of Trump made no sense to me. It’s normal to describe what a person looks like in such writing – it helps the reader visualize the scene. His descriptions seemed gentle to me.
When it popped up on my YouTube recommendations I really thought it was Tatiana Maslany from Orphan Black hosting for a solid 5 seconds.
This is the problem with our very own president constantly taking the low road, getting down in the mud. Those who support him also get down & dirty, like they have permission to do so, since their role model does it so they can too. And some who oppose him will also take the low road. You can’t support Trump while claiming you don’t support his awful behaviors. And you can’t support Trump but then condemn those who behave like him. This is where our country has gone. A comedian is held at a higher standard than our president.
I saw about the last five minutes, forget it was on. After I watch CNN they had a panel, R/D. The thing I could not understand was the harsh critism from the right, eg Paris Dinard, did not crack a smile, that’s the same person who never said a bad word about the Dotard’s calling the professionals foot ball players “Son of a Bitch”, poor countries “s#$# hole countries” “Mexicans rapists” , ect. Ect. The dotard sets the standard and now his followers are crying because they cannot take a joke.
It wasn’t just Obama who attended, all presidents until this one attended, Reagan missed one the year he was shot.
I’ve always loved watching the WHCD. Especially loved watching Obama deliver his bit; the guy has charisma, wits and perfect timing.
I love Michelle Wolf and am looking forward to watching it today.
Best uncomfortable WHCD was Colbert and W, the fact that Colbert delivered all those jokes, with a straight face, while W was sitting next to him. Wow!
Yeah, I’m really looking forward to getting a new president and administration so that we can return to regular programming. I’ve always loved the WHCD’s too! I can’t imagine how great the next normal one will be–with an ethical president in attendance. Talk about ratings. Can’t wait!
I have a hunch that if the President ever decides to go, the Press will invite Colbert… Hahahaha
“If a tree falls in the woods, how do we get Kellyanne under that tree”
Conservatives have always had a victimization complex and the media always plays into it while lambasting Liberals protesting over injustices as PC snowflakes. That writers from the NYT Clique (and yes, they act like a clique on twitter) are sharing and liking Haberman’s distortion is nothing new.
To all the right-wingers complaining, and as a woman: if you can’t take the heat, get outta the damn kitchen. “Aunt Coulter” made a decision to go into the public view, she was able to maintain up there on the podium, even if she was dying of shame inside (which I doubt, given her ability to rationalize). Those are the consequences of her behavior.
Wolf’s critique was one of the best uses of free speech I’ve seen in a long time.
HAHAHAHA Sarah Huckabee’s FACE!!!!!!! She is not amused.
Watching Sarah Huckabee’s reaction to the jokes made about her, even in the (tame) beginning of the segment, made me dislike her even more. She is just misery personified.
But it gave me great pleasure that she had to sit there and listen to truth bomb after truth bomb about her nasty self (white woman that disappoints other white women #truth). Ha!
While some panelists were immediately crying foul over Wolf’s comedy about SHS, at least one noted that it was clear SHS didn’t react well. Even if the jokes rattle the person, they should at least half-smile through the routine. She has zero sense of humor, apparently.
“The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret.” – Terry Pratchett, The Truth
That is all.
Overall I thought it was funny, a few jokes fell flat, and a few like the abortion joke went a little too far, but she is a comedian and that is there job to push the limits and see what kind of reaction they get.
That Haberman tweet came out of left field. I liked this routine and this comic
She was hysterical.
Bravo Michelle!!!! You go girl!
Did you know that DT is know to NEVER laugh?
I thought she nailed it. She made some hilarious jokes about a lot of “uncomfortable” topics. Loved that she mentioned Flint before she left the podium.
This is being compared to Colbert’s speech during the Bush administration. I just went and rewatched it on youtube. While I thought Michelle Wolf’s speech was funny and gutsy, Colbert’s was a masterpiece. It was at the same time more polite, more intelligent and a million times more scathing than Wolfe’s. There are enduring lines in there, “reality has a well-known liberal bias” being my favorite. I highly recommend rewatching.
Am I the only one who can’t handle her voice? I really tried to watch it but found it unbearable! (I do have very sensitive hearing)…. maybe it’s me. I’ve seen her in snippets before on Seth Meyers and (voice aside) I’ve never found her funny. From the transcript I read, I don’t see anything shocking or out of line… (or original)… slinks away quietly…
Michelle looks like a horse ( poor horses). Big teeth and all gums. She needs makeup for all of those freckles. She is not funny at all. Bet she wouldn’t do that in North Korea. She would be shot in public! I know we don’t have the best president but come on!
Eye roll.
Uhhhhh…. that’s pretty crass, Pam. And she pointed out – he used allllll those words first. Watch it again. This is the best kind of comedy: punching up. Pointed. Takes the wind out of the sails of the pompous windbags.
The fact that people can’t get away with that elsewhere in the world is exactly why the right to do so should be respected and protected.
Wow @Pam, your criticism is super valid since you just put down her appearance instead of disputing anything she said.
I won’t get into the irony of everyone crying that Wolf mocked SHS’s looks (when she didn’t) yet MAGA supporters do just that to Wolf. SMDH
That’s exactly what people say while they are trying to shut you down for saying something political that they dislike: Can’t object to a stupid war because the military defended your right to free speech, meaning of course that you can’t use what they defended. Only mild complaints that don’t threaten the status quo are allowed, and every government and every society knows instinctively what is safe to “freely speak” about and what is not.
I always just responded to the “you wouldn’t dare do that in [Enemy du Jour]!” and “war protected your free speech [so shut up]!” people that you can’t defend free speech with guns and bombs. The only way to defend free speech is to use it.
The test of freedom is not when you agree with your government — any dictator is fine with that. The test of freedom is when you disagree with your government and won’t shut up about it no matter how aggravating your neighbors think you are.
Our free speech is actually most at risk from our neighbors who are uncomfortable hearing anything too bad about our government. That’s what we are seeing here in the response to a comedian making jokes that cause discomfort.
I think comedians are especially pushing past usual boundaries today because Trump really is so alarming. This situation is so not normal. We have a President capable of starting WWIII in a 3am snit. We have a President who lies repeatedly and pulls statistics out of the air, and then brags about his cleverness doing precisely that. We have a President who contradicts himself constantly, goes into rages, has no idea how the government even works, and who is firing anybody who might try interject a tiny bit of reality into the situation. He insults and makes false accusations against individuals and whole ethnic groups. And he’s ok with Nazis and white supremacists and Putin interfering with our elections.
Some of their jokes will work and some won’t, as is always the case with comedy. I don’t find everything amusing, either. But they are following the old American tradition, going way back to Revolutionary times and likely before that, of using mockery as a tool against tyranny. It’s always been a very effective part of unarmed struggle. They are using humor to speak the truth while trying to stay afloat in an ocean of lies. But truth can be very painful.
Wow! Okay. You are allowed to have an opinion, Pam.
So what you’re saying is, her commentary was on point and you can’t find anything else to say so you go for her looks.
Anyone see SHS’s response? It is CRAZY.
Where can i find it? Checked her twitter but nada.
On her Facebook page. It so gloriously misses the entire point.
There are at least 2 SHS FB pages, plus some fan/supporter pages. I thought that all of them were fake – one has SHS thankful to be compared to “hard working and fearless” Aunt Lydia. It also indicates that Melania will be taking a polygraph to prove that she will not divorce her husband, and that it’s been hard work defending the budget from economic experts. That’s got to be fake right?
As Michelle Wolf said with a very telling ‘hold-on-to-your-seats’ look before she started: ‘y’all shouldve done your homework!’
Their own fault if they didn’t like it – all of them, for multiple reasons.
I watched it live, having never seen this comedian before. Surely that cannot be said for those who hired her to perform at this event?
Her voice is annoying. Okay, so is Gilbert Gottfried’s. She speaks too fast. Not good. Nervousness? I am glad to have the ability to rewind but realize that those seeing her in person don’t have that ability. But they have table companions.
Some lines are really funny, some not so much. Kellyanne under a tree creates an enjoyable visual in my head. Wait, what was that about Sarah’s eye makeup? And so it went.
There were jokes I did not get. Like the one about Aunt Lydia. I’ve never watched The Handmaiden’s Tale so I didn’t get the reference to the character, but I figured Aunt Lydia must be an evil character since she is being compared to SHS.
I was surprised to hear today that Michelle Wolf is being accused of mocking Sarah’s personal appearance. At first I thought I must have missed something, so I went to youtube and re-watched the entire performance. I hadn’t missed anything.
It turns out that Maggie Haberman of NYT “misheard” a reference to Sarah being a “fact burner”. What Maggie heard was “fat” instead of “fact”. Ha. ha. Maggie.
Michelle Wolfe was no Stephen Colbert. Yet. But she was pretty good.
Yeah, I agree about her voice. It’s grating. And she’s too young and immature. Organizers should have found someone else. I, personally, never heard of her til now.
Haberman was now trying to say the softball comment was about physical appearance. Again more bullshit.
Thanks for the clip; I’d read quotes, but that thing is just perfect altogether. Michelle Wolf has a new fan in me!
Her ending shot about Flint underlines her point— the media harps on and on about the top three stories, while Flint still doesn’t have water. She really got them (the media) good, a number of times. No wonder they’re in a slavering frenzy now.
Ah. The feels. They’re SO GOOD.
I heard my mom dying laughing this morning and went to see why so she Starts reading aloud that transcript and we were both dying laughing! Like the whole way through so it’s weird learning she bombed!
Maybe my mom read it better than she delivered it?
I’m just surprised because I’d never heard of this comedian but I was thinking “ omg a Star is born” with how hilarious I thought it was!
But she didn’t bomb. She was good, her delivery was good, and people were laughing. People (Republicans) are butt hurt because she told the truth and nailed it. The administration is so full of lies, and the media is not stopping the lies, that apparently they can’t handle the truth anymore.
She didn’t bomb.
Satiric humour should make us feel a bit uncomfortable because it crosses lines that most people are too afraid to cross – Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, even Monty Python – they reveal truths that make us embarrassed because we won’t reveal them to ourselves. Especially in the horrific times we’re living through politically right now, we need people like Michelle Wolf to burst the pimple of deplorablism.
All sides of politics are hypocrites, biased and guilty of double standards. This has always been the case. Yet all sides of politics keep acting outraged when those opposite do what all sides of politics do. Politics is not only a dirty business it’s certifiably insane.
I would have to argue that the Republican Party is way more hypocrite at the moment.
Americans seem hopelessly divided at the moment and I don’t see how things are going to improve with each side of politics retreating into their eco chambers.
No one connected with Trump’s administration should attend next year. Just walk away and spend the evening with the deplorables.
Anybody catch that rerun of the roast of Donald Trump the other night? Originally aired in 2011, and it was straight up eerie. He actually signed up to get made fun of, completely contradictory to the way he acts now. So many of the jokes made could not be made today; the rapey supermodel jabs wouldn’t have been well absorbed from either side today. He apparently had just started talking about running for president at that time and so many of the roasters said they thought he would win. It’s worth a watch now, as hindsight.
“The one pussy you’re not allowed to grab” omg delicious.
She nailed it, the less people felt comfortable in the room, the more truth she was dishing.
I wish she’d have gone harder, but I’ll take what I can get lol.