Culture

Alec Baldwin And The President-Elect Just Had A Twitter Spat About SNL; This Is What Life Is Now

2016, hey...

by Meg Watson  21 November 2016

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It hasn’t exactly been a secret that Donald Trump doesn’t enjoy Alec Baldwin’s impression of him on SNL. During the presidential debates in October, the then-Republican nominee called it a “hit job”, claimed Baldwin’s portrayal “stinked”, and called the show “boring and unfunny”.

Funnily enough, these were the same words used by critics when Trump appeared on the show to dance to ‘Hotline Bling’ one year earlier but hey, he didn’t seem to mind it then.

Never. Forget.

As dumb as this was, it was all to be expected. Trump’s public persona has been mottled together by a collection of angry tweets for years now and him railing against SNL was part of a larger election strategy. The claim that the media was “rigging” the election perpetuated the idea that voters were being given biased reportage from ‘elite’ inner-city types who wanted to discredit him.

It worked. Donald Trump is the President-elect and SNL‘s tone has turned decidedly more sombre. But if you thought that an impending inauguration to the highest office in the nation would mean his whinging days were behind him, you were wrong. Trump once again took to Twitter to complain about Alec Baldwin this morning. He did not like last night’s episode. He did not find the cold open about him fumbling around in the Oval Office funny at all. And… apparently he has nothing better to do than tell us?

Because this is 2016, Alec Baldwin then fired back at Trump with a series of tweets advising him on how to be president.

As ridiculous as all this seems, there is something more serious to be concerned about here. Donald Trump has been calling for a full rewrite of libel laws as far back as February. At each of his rallies, the press were rounded up into pens and bombarded with insults and threats.

“Believe me, if I become president, oh, do they have problems,” he said. “They’re going to have such problems. I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money.”

Though he hasn’t laid out any plans on this yet, this is something he could feasibly do. It would involve an incredible amount of effort and it would definitely step on the toes of the First Amendment, but if any President is petty and determined enough to change the Constitution to stop people reporting negatively on his failings or wearing a wig and doing a dumb voice, it’s this guy.

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Watch the SNL skit he’s mad about here: