WASHINGTON D.C. — While Donald Trump brought blatant corruption, incompetence, and cruelty to the American presidency, his electoral defeat comes with the equally dire consequence that all comedy and art is bad now.
“When Trump was elected, many of us drew comfort from the fact that difficult times inspire great works of art,” said mixed media artist Alan Christensen. “Now that he’s gone, will we ever see another masterpiece like that arguably homophobic graffiti of Trump making out with Putin? I really doubt it.”
Similarly, Trump’s blundering, blustering ineptitude was seen by many as a godsend to comedians and satirists: “Don’t get me wrong, it’s a huge relief to have leadership that values face masks, contact tracing and affordable health care in the midst of an ongoing pandemic,” said late night comedy writer Josie Saavedra. “But it feels like we were just getting started making fun of Trump’s tiny hands. It’s bittersweet. Those jokes are definitely still funny.”
Without the prospect of Trump continuing to degrade norms through flagrant abuses of power, Christensen believes his artistic output has already suffered: “I’m trying to paint Biden now, but when I make his skin tone orange it doesn’t really have the same effect. It’s definitely the change in circumstance that’s making my art bad, not anything else”.
Experts warn there is little time left to put society itself on trial by making a sculpture of Trump with a small penis or a parody Twitter account called “Cheeto in Chief”, and henceforth we will have to tolerate lesser forms of art and entertainment.
“I tried accusing Kamala Harris of calling her spouse ‘mother’ and being a secret, self-hating gay, but no one’s really responding to that” said stand up comedian Devin Benson. “Now that I know the children in the detention camps are going to be reunited with their families, I’m just not depressed enough to be funny, I guess.”
“What am I supposed to do now, develop a healthy relationship to my work while also interrogating the deeply-ingrained, systemic oppression that preceded and will outlast Donald Trump?”
Though it may be the end of an era, Benson has begun forming a coalition of artists and comedians to support one another in this new, not-troubling-enough time: “We’re a very eclectic group, but we’re united in one thing: the best way to hold truth to power is to pretend fat shaming the president is progressive”.
