Some very serious and unfunny things happened this year in American politics. Today, though, we are not going to talk about those things. Instead, we will examine a few of the times our elected leaders made us laugh—with them or at them.
But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.
Cringe and Giggle
Although there are varying degrees of funny in American politics, the antics of our elected officials are often best described as funny-weird or funny-cringe,or, especially, funny-yikes. Sometimes, we are blessed with a genuine funny-haha. Regardless of category, we must acknowledge these moments and savor them. It feels good to laugh together; we don’t get to do it very often.
The following is a collection of some of the moments in American politics this year that made us cringe and giggle the hardest, gathered by me and a few of my Atlantic colleagues.
Woof! After Bette Midler called West Virginians “poor, illiterate, and strung out” in response to Senator Joe Manchin’s opposition to the Build Back Better bill late last year, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice brought his enormous bulldog to the statehouse in January and held her up to face the legislature. “Babydog tells Bette Midler and all those out there: Kiss her heinie!” Justice said, turning Babydog’s little doggie bottom toward the crowd.
I’ll have what she’s having! Did you see the October video of Kamala Harris giddily explaining to a crowd how much she loves Venn diagrams? Yes? Well, watch it again; it’s great. To quote the vice president: “It’s just something about those three circles and the analysis about where there’s the intersection, right? You agree with me, right?!”
More Kamala, please. Have another clip of the vice president absolutely loving life during an event promoting new investments in electric school buses. This time, she’s walking toward a school bus while singing an off-key version of “The Wheels on the Bus.” Then she cackles. The woman loves a yellow school bus!
The entire NYC-rat discourse. In October, New York City Mayor and well-established rat hater Eric Adams declared a new front in his war against the city’s rodents. But the best part was when Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch looked straight at the camera and spoke like she was rallying Gotham City before an attack from the Riddler. “I want to be clear: The rats are absolutely going to hate this announcement,” she said. “But the rats don’t run this city. We do!”
Speaking of Eric Adams. The mayor did a lot of wild and wacky stuff this year. A fun example was when he tweeted a video of himself sliding down a fireman’s pole in Queens “like a pro.”
Welcome to “Wegner’s.” In a campaign video that also proved to be a hilarious self-own, Mehmet Oz went shopping for something he decided to call “crudités” and bought broccoli, asparagus, whole carrots, guacamole, and salsa. “Guys, that’s $20!” he told us, struggling to hold all the food in his arms. “And that’s not including the tequila!” What?! This was a gift for Oz’s political opponents, of course. But it was also a gift for the world.
Funny yikes. During the White House Easter Egg Roll, the Easter Bunny steered President Joe Biden away from talking to reporters about Afghanistan. Not a joke, folks!
Good as Hell. In September, the pop superstar Lizzo got to play a 209-year-old crystal flute once owned by James Madison. Then she twerked with said flute onstage in D.C. Some people were upset by this. The whole thing was wonderful.
Got him. I got a nice chuckle out of this attack ad in which Ohio Representative Tim Ryan accused his Senate-race opponent, J. D. Vance, of being “UNCOMFORTABLE IN FLANNEL.” Although the indictment didn’t secure Ryan’s victory against Vance, it certainly gave us something to remember.
Herschel Walker! The football player turned Georgia Senate candidate generated enough random one-liners and nonsensical rants to earn his own subheading. Remember when he pulled out his honorary sheriff’s badge at a debate just weeks before the midterms? How about when he told a crowd, leading up to the Georgia runoff elections, that although vampires are cool, he’d rather be a werewolf? (Walker lost the runoff in December.)
Gotta catch ’em all. After declaring that he’d run for president again in 2024, Donald Trump promised another yuge announcement. The news? A new line of digital trading cards, each showing the former president in a different costume: boxer, race-car driver, astronaut, the guy from Top Gun. Take your pick! Only $99 apiece.
Today’s News
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with President Biden at the White House today in his first foreign trip since Vladimir Putin’s invasion. He will also address a Joint Session of Congress this evening.
A powerful winter storm system is strengthening across the U.S.
The former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried dropped his objection to extradition and will return to the U.S. from the Bahamas to face criminal charges. (Fried has said that he did not knowingly commit fraud.)
Boarding a crowded plane with a small child feels like entering a game show where each contestant has been given a different set of rules: Everyone walks away feeling cheated. Nonparents feel robbed of the peaceful trip they paid for. Parents feel that they were set up for failure. The ultimate prize—a relaxing trip with no screaming and no strangers shooting you judgy looks—is rarely winnable. In the most heated conflicts, one of the aggrieved parties takes to social media, where the public acts as referee. The matter is almost never resolved.
Why does flying with children generate such conflict? It could simply be that travel is hard, for kids and adults alike, and tends to bring out the worst in both. But I suspect it’s more than that. Sharing airspace with young children seems to challenge not only our patience, but also the entire social order.
Read. Spend a few moments with “Girls’ School,” a poem by Amanda Larson.
“One Hannah / ran 12 miles in the morning, / the Los Angeles dust moving under her steps. / The other studied the brains of zebra finches / that were simultaneously held captive / and falling in love.”
Watch. Our critics list the 15 best TV shows of the year, including Severance, The Bear, The Dropout, and Abbott Elementary.
To all the Daily readers who wrote to me yesterday and kindly suggested that I give cross-country skiing a try: Thank you. We’ll see. And to anyone who might be craving a different kind of essay—a happy, uplifting, nature-y one, maybe—allow me to recommend my ode to opossums from July. Remember: Opossums don’t hibernate, and sometimes their little ears and toes freeze in the wintertime. If you have a friendly opossum living in your yard, consider leaving out a little shelter box for him or her this holiday season.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
