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I think this is a time for people to realize that political satire has absolutely no influence whatsoever on the political regimes it aims to satirize. The amount of satire levied against Donald Trump, measured in tweets, art, comedy routines, scathing op-eds and every thought or public expression of ill will surpasses that of every other leader in human history by a large margin.

And all in all it had little to no effect. You can't topple a regime by laughing at it. There's a reason kings in the middle ages hired jesters to make fun of them.



> You can’t topple a regime by laughing at it.

The purpose of the satire is not to affect politics. It is a healthy expression of a free society.

a regime that doesn’t tolerate laughing at it is almost always authoritarian and kept in place undemocratically.


Sure, I’ve been aware of that since the 80s when a generation of comics cut their teeth mercilessly satirising Margaret Thatcher here in the uk. I grew up on it. Had zero political effect whatsoever, but it’s still a valuable and important free speech right.


He failed in his bid for reelection though. I guess you could criticise comedians, satirists, cartoonists for failing to mobilise a revolutionary movement to oust him from office by force before any election, but I don't think that was ever their aim.


Trump is a bad example considering satire should punch upwards to be successful or you just end up mocking someone. With Trump you had had billion dollar companies, media, Silicon Valley and Hollywood backing the movement. In contrast, we have serious discussions on "how far-right groups use memes to radicalize people". Satire works by creating a discussion and pushing opinion on dangerous/sensitive topics but it only works when you're the underdog.




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