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Tag: Politics
‘SNL’ cold open revels in politics; Ramy Youssef prays for Palestinians and hostages
Amid an election year with promises of divergent visions of America, “Saturday Night Live” dove in to the politics of 2024 to find punchlines.
The show opened with a satirical television special celebrating Easter, “The Resurrection,” which recounts the story of three women who witnessed the return of Jesus.
It was quickly interrupted by a flash of light and smoke, with one of the characters asking, “Is it Jesus?”
“Basically, yes,” said James Austin Johnson as former President Donald Trump as he emerged from the flash.
He dismissed the three: “All right girls, you can go.”
Then he proceeded to peddle $60 Trump-branded bibles, which the real Trump unveiled Tuesday. They include copies of the nation’s founding documents and lyrics from the Lee Greenwood country song, “God Bless the U.S.A.”
“If you think this is a bad look, imagine how weird it would be if I started selling bibles,” Johnson’s Trump said. “Well, I’m selling bibles.”
He said God is the Beyoncé of the Trinity, presented a fit, muscular image of himself in the Garden of Eden (“My actual body,” he said), and said purchasers will receive a special Trump toaster.
It produces slices with the former president’s face on one side and the Hello Kitty logo on the other, Johnson’s Trump said.
Then he asked his audience to join him in a special, “Easter eve” recitation of the “Lord’s Prayer,” during which he skipped over lines with nonsensical sounds before his conclusion.
“In the name of the father, the son and the Easter Bunny, amen,” Trump said.
Comedian and actor Ramy Youssef hosted “SNL” and performed a monologue that extended the show’s focus on politics, and touched on the Israel-Hamas war.
He said he was in Upstate New York recently for a gig and noticed many Trump campaign posters, banners and yard signs. It made him reluctant, he said, to speak in Arabic in public when his mother called.
“Mother, peace be upon you and the prophet you know,” he said he told her in English. “You know which prophet. The best one. The last one.”
He wondered if someone from President Joe Biden’s campaign would call again, as they did in 2020, when he was asked to stump for the president in Michigan, which has a significant Arab American population.
“Tell the Arabs to vote for Joe and you could change the course of American history,” Youssef said the campaign aide told him.
The request, he said, had him fantasizing about going to Michigan and making a real difference.
“Is this up to me?” he said. “Am I the guy?”
In his fantasy, he went to Michigan and campaigned for Biden among Arab Americans, going where they would be easily found, Youssef said. “I’m in every vape shop,” he said.
But Youssef said he decided against it. The comedian said now he would like to see a trans woman campaign for the job.
He circled back to prayers — “That’s all I can do right now.”
He said his friends constantly ask him to pray for them, and he does, except sometimes the prayers are for vastly different goals. He has prayed for freedom for Palestinians, for the hostages taken by Hamas militants in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, for his friend whose family is suffering in Gaza.
Then there’s his friend’s dog, which has suffered in a custody battle after a breakup.
“Please free the people of Palestine, please,” Youssef said, recounting his prayers. “And please free the hostages. All the hostages. Please.”
He continued: “And while you’re at it, you know, free Mr. Bojangles. I mean, he’s a beautiful dog.”
“SNL” airs on NBC, a division of NBCUniversal, which is also the parent company of NBC News.
Convoy carrying Gaza aid departs Cyprus amid hunger concerns in war-torn territory
A three-ship convoy left a port in Cyprus on Saturday with 400 tons of food and other supplies for Gaza as concerns about hunger in the territory soar.
World Central Kitchen said the vessels and a barge were carrying an estimated 300 tons of ready-to-eat items like rice, pasta, flour, legumes, canned vegetables and proteins that were enough to prepare more than 1 million meals. Also on board were dates, which are traditionally eaten to break the daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
Earlier in March, World Central Kitchen, which is led by celebrity chef José Andrés, brought 200 tons of food, water and other aid to the Palestinian territory via an Open Arms ship. That was the first food delivery made by sea since the outbreak of the war.
The United Nations and partners have warned that famine could occur in devastated, largely isolated northern Gaza as early as this month. CBS News previously reported that an estimated 1.7 million people in Gaza have been displaced in the territory, according to the United Nations, with many having no access to food, water, medicine or appropriate shelter.
World Central Kitchen told CBS News that it has sent more than 37 million meals to the territory since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants launched a terror attack in Israel that triggered the war. World Central Kitchen also said it opened more than 60 community kitchens in the territory. The organization has also airdropped meals into the region, and delivered food to families in Lebanon who have been displaced by the conflict.
Petros Karadjias / AP
Humanitarian officials say deliveries by sea and air are not enough and that Israel must allow far more aid by road. The top U.N. court has ordered Israel to open more land crossings and take other measures to address the humanitarian crisis.
Meanwhile, the United States welcomed the formation of a new Palestinian autonomy government, signaling it is accepting the revised Cabinet lineup as a step toward political reform.
The Biden administration has called for “revitalizing” the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority in the hope that it can also administer the Gaza Strip once the Israel-Hamas war ends. It is headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who tapped U.S.-educated economist Mohammad Mustafa as prime minister earlier this month.
But both Israel and Hamas — which drove Abbas’ security forces from Gaza in a 2007 takeover — reject the idea of it administering Gaza, and Hamas rejects the formation of the new Palestinian government as illegitimate. The authority also has little popular support or legitimacy among Palestinians because of its security cooperation with Israel in the West Bank.
The war began after Hamas-led militants stormed across southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 others hostage.
More than 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank or east Jerusalem since Oct. 7, according to local health authorities. Dr. Fawaz Hamad, director of Al-Razi Hospital in Jenin, told local station Awda TV that Israeli forces killed a 13-year-old boy in nearby Qabatiya early Saturday. Israel’s military said the incident was under review.
A major challenge for anyone administering Gaza will be reconstruction. Nearly six months of war has destroyed critical infrastructure including hospitals, schools and homes as well as roads, sewage systems and the electrical grid.
Airstrikes and Israel’s ground offensive have left 32,705 Palestinians dead, local health authorities said Saturday, with 82 bodies taken to hospitals in the past 24 hours. Gaza’s Health Ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its toll but has said the majority of those killed have been women and children.
Israel says over one-third of the dead are militants, though it has not provided evidence to support that, and it blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in residential areas.
The fighting has displaced over 80% of Gaza’s population and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine, the U.N. and international aid agencies say. Israel’s military said it continued to strike dozens of targets in Gaza, days after the United Nations Security Council issued its first demand for a cease-fire.
Aid also fell on Gaza. The U.S. military during an airdrop on Friday said it had released over 100,000 pounds of aid that day and almost a million pounds overall, part of a multi-country effort.
Israel has said that after the war it will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza and partner with Palestinians who are not affiliated with the Palestinian Authority or Hamas. It’s unclear who in Gaza would be willing to take on such a role.
Hamas has warned Palestinians in Gaza against cooperating with Israel to administer the territory, saying anyone who does will be treated as a collaborator, which is understood as a death threat. Hamas calls instead for all Palestinian factions to form a power-sharing government ahead of national elections, which have not taken place in 18 years.
Friend of Evan Gershkovich discusses effort to get him home
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Israeli airstrikes kill 44 people in Syria, war monitor says
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Joe Lieberman’s legacy honored by Al Gore, others at funeral service in Connecticut
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Why Biden is dialing up his mockery of Trump: From the Politics Desk
Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.
In today’s edition, White House correspondents Mike Memoli and Monica Alba note how Joe Biden is ramping up the personal attacks on Donald Trump. Plus, “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker interviews two governors about whether bipartisanship can still exist in these divided times.
Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.
Biden’s latest campaign goal: Get under Trump’s skin
By Mike Memoli and Monica Alba
As President Joe Biden works to defeat Donald Trump, he’s increasingly focused on another goal he thinks will help him achieve that: getting under his skin.
In recent weeks, both in private and public settings, Biden has ramped up personal, biting and often sarcastic broadsides against his Republican opponent, targeting his financial challenges, his campaign tempo and even his weight.
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It’s a strategy largely driven by Biden himself, according to multiple aides and advisers familiar with the approach.
“This is him, and we’re following his lead,” one Biden aide said. “There’s just something about Joe Biden that gets under Donald Trump’s skin more than anybody, and I think Joe Biden knows that.”
At a star-studded fundraiser Thursday evening, Biden was asked what was at stake in the 2024 election. After giving an answer criticizing Trump’s positions broadly, he concluded: “All the things he’s doing are so old … a little old and out of shape.”
Biden also took a jab at the former president’s physical stamina while telling a story recounting a brief conversation they had about golf at the White House shortly after Trump’s election.
“I told him this once before when he came into the Oval before he was sworn in. I said, ‘I’ll give you three strokes, but you carry your own bag,’” Biden said to laughs.
The president came up with those jokes on his own, according to two aides and a senior adviser, who pointed out that Biden is often using similar quips in internal staff meetings.
Biden’s team thinks these kinds of comments and jokes may resonate with voters for two reasons: because it’s “rooted,” one aide said, in who Biden is at his core and because it wouldn’t work as well if it didn’t have some authenticity to it.
While contrasting their policy positions is important to the president, an adviser said Biden is “totally the driver” of presenting a “stark” character difference with Trump as well.
Read more here →
A time for bipartisanship? Two governors weigh in on leadership in a crisis
By Kristen Welker
In a time when the country is so divided, how do we come together?
That’s the question facing our elected leaders on a daily basis, and especially in times of crisis. And that’s the challenge facing Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, as he leads his state after this week’s deadly bridge collapse in Baltimore.
“Whether you’re a governor or elected to another office, you are called upon to serve all, to think of all, and to transcend some of the politics and unfortunate polarization that we see today,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, also a Democrat, told me this week at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston, where Moore and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, were honored. (Moore could not attend the event due to the bridge collapse.)
Sununu stressed the importance of transparency in a time of crisis and fostering a sense of “we’re all in this together.”
“And if you have that, it kind of circumvents the political issues or policy, and even folks that might not agree with the decision or a path you’re taking,” Sununu said.
Rebuilding this critical thoroughfare is a daunting task for Moore, who is facing his first major test since taking office last year. It’s also a test for the Biden administration, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who told Politico that the Baltimore bridge collapse is “one of the most striking and extreme emergency situations that we’ve faced.” And it’s a test for Congress, as lawmakers from both parties will try to come together to provide crucial funding to rebuild the bridge.
Partisanship does, of course, persist, especially as we get closer to November. Take Sununu, who finds himself in a unique position in his own party. After vigorously opposing Trump in the presidential primary, Sununu now supports him for the general election, albeit begrudgingly.
“It’s a binary choice for me,” Sununu said, later adding: “I might not like Trump and what he’s done and all that. But I can get a Republican administration, or I could get, you know, President Kamala Harris. And for the average Republican, we go, ‘Oh, I guess we’re sticking with that guy because it’s about the administration.’”
But Sununu also stressed that the country is not as divided as it may seem. And, speaking of bipartisanship, Healey agreed.
“There is far more that unites us than divides us as a country,” Healey said.
🗞️ Today’s top stories
- 🔀 Crossing the aisle: Biden released an ad aimed directly at winning over Nikki Haley’s voters, using comments from Trump that her supporters are not welcome in his campaign. Read more →
- 💲Art of the deal: Trump is now selling a wide range of products, ranging from sneakers to perfume to trading cards to Bibles. Experts say it’s unprecedented for a presidential candidate to intertwine business ventures with a campaign to this degree. Read more →
- 🍑 Election moves : Georgia lawmakers passed a bill that would expand access for candidates to appear on the state’s presidential ballot and broaden abilities to challenge voter eligibility in the battleground state. Read more →
- 🗳️ Ballot battle: A judge struck down New Jersey’s controversial ballot design ahead of the June primary, a win for Democratic Senate candidate Andy Kim and a blow to the state’s political machine. Read more →
- ⏪ Decision reversed: A Texas appeals court tossed out a woman’s five-year prison sentence for voting illegally, ending a yearslong saga that garnered national attention. Read more →
- 🏀 March madness: A GOP Michigan state lawmaker posted a photo on social media claiming there were buses of “illegal invaders” at Detroit’s airport. But as the Detroit News notes, the buses were filled with college basketball players arriving for the NCAA Tournament. Read more →
That’s all from The Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
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Biden’s NYC fundraiser with Obama, Clinton rakes in record $26 million for campaign
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Trump and co-defendants ask appeals court to review ruling allowing Fani Willis to stay on Georgia election case
Former President Donald Trump and eight other defendants accused of illegally trying to interfere in the 2020 election in Georgia on Friday submitted a formal application to appeal a judge’s ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case.
Trump and other defendants had tried to get Willis and her office tossed off the case, saying her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee earlier this month found that there was not a conflict of interest that should force Willis off the case but said that the prosecution was “encumbered by an appearance of impropriety.”
McAfee’s ruling said Willis could continue her prosecution if Wade left the case, and the special prosecutor resigned hours later. Lawyers for Trump and other defendants then asked McAfee to allow them to appeal his ruling to the Georgia Court of Appeals, and he granted that request.
The filing of an application with the appeals court is the next step in that process. The Court of Appeals has 45 days to decide whether it will take up the matter.
The allegations that Willis had improperly benefited from her romance with Wade upended the case for weeks. Intimate details of Willis and Wade’s personal lives were aired in court in mid-February, overshadowing the serious allegations in one of four criminal cases against the Republican former president. Trump and 18 others were indicted in August, accused of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to overturn his narrow 2020 presidential election loss to President Biden in Georgia.
Alex Slitz / Getty Images
The appeal application says McAfee was wrong not to disqualify both Willis and Wade from the case, saying that “providing DA Willis with the option to simply remove Wade confounds logic and is contrary to Georgia law.”
Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in the case, said in a statement that the case should have been dismissed and “at a minimum” Willis should have been disqualified from continuing to prosecute it. He said the Court of Appeals should grant the application and consider the merits of the appeal.
A spokesperson for Willis declined to comment.
Willis used Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, law, an expansive anti-racketeering statute, to charge Trump and the 18 others. Four people charged in the case have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty.
McAfee clearly found that Willis’ relationship with Wade and his employment as lead prosecutor in the case created an appearance of impropriety, and his failure to disqualify Willis and her whole office from the case “is plain legal error requiring reversal,” the defense attorneys wrote in their application.
Given the complexity of the case and the number of defendants, the application says, multiple trials will likely be necessary. Failure to disqualify Willis now could require any verdicts to be overturned, and it would be “neither prudent nor efficient” to risk having to go through “this painful, divisive, and expensive process” multiple times, it says.
In his ruling, McAfee cited a lack of appellate guidance on the issue of disqualifying a prosecutor for forensic misconduct, and the appeals court should step in to establish such a precedent, the lawyers argue.
Finally, the defense attorneys argued, it is crucial that prosecutors “remain and appear to be disinterested and impartial” to maintain public faith in the integrity of the judicial system.
Biden, Obama and Clinton fundraiser: What to know
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