Sal Gentile

this was basically the entire thrust of a piece I wrote for @newrepublic.com in july. The lesson for Democrats from Zohran’s win is actually not super complicated or even all that radical. it basically just boils down to “be normal” newrepublic.com/article/1979...

(ezra klein voice) democrats should try to win in red states by adopting a more moderate position on the question of whether democrats should or should not be arrested in military style round-ups

chuck schumer (as secret police put a black hood over his head and drag him into an unmarked van): “here’s a thought: instead of disappearing ME, maybe the president should be disappearing HIGH PRICES!” (door slams shut, van speeds away)

this is my very healthy way of dealing with sadness

1. me and 2. yes!

yes that was me!

Prop from a closer look that says “Butt Marbles”

and best of all, now I get to have this in my office

thank YOU for watching and for the kind words!!

YouTube video by Late Night with Seth Meyers Kimmel Set to Return Amid Backlash to Trump's Censorship Push; Trump Criticizes Bondi: A Closer Look

I’m as proud of tonight’s Closer Look as any in a long time. Not only because it’s about free speech and good news but also because there’s a long tangent about fake products from Spencer’s Gifts like a “Flush It!” button and “Butt Marbles” youtu.be/pcuhtrgOOMc?...

shit ain’t over til it’s over

#LGM

Seth Meyers Calls Out Kimmel Suspension in Defiant ‘Closer Look’ Seth Meyers closed out Thursday night’s "A Closer Look" with a pointed—and personal—message about Jimmy Kimmel’s sudden suspension and its implications for free speech in America.

Seth Meyers closed out Thursday night’s "A Closer Look" with a pointed—and personal—message about Jimmy Kimmel’s sudden suspension and its implications for free speech in America.

haha thank you, I was stupidly proud of that

“Unnecessary fart noise” over Seth’s face

i’ll never take for granted how much of a joy and privilege it is to have a job where I get to say the words “unnecessary fart noise” into a microphone and it goes on TV

sitting in the studio for this, I really enjoyed how the audience immediately lost it. i thought it might take longer for them to get the bit but they immediately burst out in laughter, it was a very fun and cathartic moment

YouTube video by Late Night with Seth Meyers Trump Returns from U.K. Visit and the White House Cracks Down on Free Speech: A Closer Look

Tonight’s Closer Look youtu.be/bGpYFjwClr8?...

WGA Statement on ABC's Decision to Pull ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ The right to speak our minds and to disagree with each other - to disturb, even - is at the very heart of what it means to be a free people. It is not to be denied. Not by violence, not by the abuse of governmental power, nor by acts of corporate cowardice. As a Guild, we stand united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent. If free speech applied only to ideas we like, we needn't have bothered to write it into the Constitution. What we have signed on to - painful as it may be at times - is the freeing agreement to disagree. Shame on those in government who forget this founding truth. As for our employers, our words have made you rich. Silencing us impoverishes the whole world. The WGA stands with Jimmy Kimmel and his writers.

The following is a statement from the WGA on ABC’s decision to pull ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’

The shape of politics in the US right now is increasingly that the media, political and economic elites are allied with the Trump regime against the actual people of the country who hate it

i’ll vote for anyone who primaries this guy in 2028 (if we still have elections with multiple parties). don’t care who it is. maybe it’s aoc. maybe it’s brad lander. maybe it’s the times square buzz lightyear. maybe it’s pizza rat. anyone. you have my vote.

probably among the worst times, if not the worst time, in American history to have an exhausted and impotent opposition party led by Very Old Guys and robots who still think the most effective way to save democracy is to say the words “TACO Trump” then dive behind a barrel and hide for a few weeks

many finding out now what has been true for a long time, which is that 99% of right-wing politics is just making up a fake guy to be mad at

i’m a mets fan, a jets fan and a registered democrat because i absolutely love pain and misery. can’t get enough of feeling sad and angry. i love being relentlessly waterboarded by failure and disappointment and i want life to keep punching me in the dick. love filling my house with rakes to step on

dems have a tendency to simply embrace the opposite of whatever maga is saying even if it puts them rhetorically on the side of the “establishment” (ex: “america is already great,” etc). bernie shows you don’t have to side with the establishment to battle maga. you can call them fake populist frauds

YouTube video by Forbes Breaking News 'Everybody Is Corrupt But You?!': Bernie Sanders And RFK Jr. Have Unthinkable Clash During Hearing

this is an incredible exchange between bernie and RFK and I think everyone should watch it. bernie doesn’t allow RFK to claim the “anti-big pharma” mantle. he explicitly calls out big pharma as corrupt but also calls out rfk as a dangerous unhinged crank. this is the way youtu.be/GmGRDi1h6zs?...

JD Vance touts Trump as “candidate of peace”

White House moves forward on plans for a department of war

they are literally doing “war is peace”

eric adams announcing that he is dropping out of the race to take a job as the “ambassador of swag, because rizz-ness is my business, and when I wake up in the morning, charm is my alarm. saudi arabia is the new york of the middle east”

why is it so hard for democratic leaders to say something like “the president can’t kill whoever he wants”? why are they so quiet? why does it feel like we never see or hear from them as the president amasses more and more terrifying power? at what point is it reasonable to conclude they don’t care?

RFK Jr (wheezing and panting, with bugs crawling all over him, slime oozing out of his eyes and ears) “i can diagnose mitochondiral issues in young children at the airport with the x-ray vision I get from drinking methylene blue”

republican senators: thank you for making america healthy again

this has to be main takeaway from the last decade if we survive. there is no such thing as serious, ideologically coherent “conservatism” and no one should treat it as a cogent set of beliefs. it’s just a loose collection of grievances and demands. they have the temperament of single cell organisms

say all you want about ted cruz but you can’t deny this is a well constructed joke about the “dominos pizza line,” that totally real thing we all know about and are familiar with. you know, the line at dominos to buy pizza. just a perfectly executed witticism. The right is getting good at comedy