Political Satire, Postmodern Reality, and the Trump Presidency: Who Are We Laughing At?

329 Pages·2019·10.833 MB·English

by  Mehnaaz Momen

Political Satire,
Postmodern Reality, and
the Trump Presidency
Politics and Comedy: Critical Encounters
Series Editor: Julie A. Webber, Illinois State University
This series brings scholars of political comedy together in order to examine the effect
of humor and comedy in a political way. The series has three main components. Politi-
cal Comedy Encounters Neoliberalism aims to look at how comedy disrupts or reinforces
dominant ideologies under neoliberalism, including but not limited to forms of author-
ity, epistemological certainties bred by market centrality, prospects for democratic thought
and action, and the implications for civic participation. Political Comedy as Cultural Text
examines the relationship between the more bizarre elements of contemporary politics
and comedy, including but not limited to countersubversive narratives that challenge or
reinforce anti-democratic political authority and market thought, radical social movements
that seek to undermine it, and political comedy’s relationship to the cultural unconscious.
Lastly, the series welcomes proposals for scholarship that tracks the context in which com-
edy and politics interact. Political Comedy in Context follows the intersection of politics
and comedy in viral, mediated, and affective environments.
Titles Published
Political Satire, Postmodern Reality, and the Trump Presidency: Who Are We
Laughing At? by Mehnaaz Momen
Political Satire,
Postmodern Reality, and
the Trump Presidency
Who Are We Laughing At?
Mehnaaz Momen
LEXINGTON BOOKS
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Published by Lexington Books
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6 Tinworth Street, London SE11 5AL, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2019 The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
ISBN 978-1-4985-6257-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4985-9275-8 (electronic)
∞ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
To Anis,
for making me laugh, always!

Contents
List of Images ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii
Part I: Our Postmodern (Un)Reality 1
How Is the Media Postmodern? 1
Why Are Irony and Parody the Language of Postmodernism? 17
The Structural Reality of the Postmodern Media 42
What Is Political in the Postmodern World? 56
Part II: Satire as Political Performance 93
What Is Satire? 93
Political Satire in Cartoons 107
What Is Satire in the Present Political Context? 131
The Postmodern Fusion of Politics and Entertainment 144
Part III: The Inevitable Trump Presidency 175
The Presidency and the Media 175
The Modus Operandi of the Trump Campaign 196
How Do Trump Supporters Relate to Popular Culture? 216
This Election Did Not Take Place 232
Conclusion 267
Selected Bibliography 285
Index 293
About the Author 299
vii

List of Images
Image 1.1 Mission Accomplished 19
Image 2.1 The Looking Glass for 1787 111
Image 2.2 Gerrymandering 112
Image 2.3 Columbia Teaching John Bull His New Lesson 113
Image 2.4 Old Zack Taylor Is the Man! 114
Image 2.5 A Downright Gabbler 115
Image 2.6 Congressional Scales 117
Image 2.7 King Andrew the First 118
Image 2.8 The Boss of the Ring 119
Image 2.9 Running the “Machine” 120
Image 2.10 “The Nigger” in the Woodpile 121
Image 2.11 Puck Cover of McKinley: Declined with Thanks 122
Image 2.12 Puck Cover of Uncle Sam: No Limit 123
Image 2.13 Judge Cover: Another Voice for Cleveland 124
Image 2.14 Puck Cover: Another Shotgun Wedding with Neither
Party Willing 127
Image 2.15 Judge Cover: It Ought to be a Happy New Year:
Uncle Sam and John Bull 128
Image 3.1 President Ford and Chevy Chase 181
Image 3.2 Melania Trump’s Jacket 202
Image 3.3 Trump Wrestling with CNN 225
Image 3.4 Trump with Bloodstained Shoe 226
ix