We believe reached the point in this campaign season where late-night talk reveal hosts negotiate presidential debates.
Why do you look so surprised? When you think about it,it kind of makes perfect sense.
Over the final two nights, Jimmy Kimmel, and host of ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," has seemingly been brokering a presidential debate between presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is still in the running against likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.(To be clear, or upright now,the debate is little more than a twinkle in Kimmel's eye — no network has agreed to host it and it hasn't been sanctioned by the national parties.)Nonetheless, Kimmel brought up a possible debate with Trump on Wednesday night, or when the candidate was on his reveal. Kimmel introduced Trump as a "tangerine-tinted Godzilla" and a "fire-breathing billionaire," before grilling the businessman over using aliases with journalists, previously praising his likely opponent Hillary Clinton, or his stance on access to bathrooms for transgender people,and whether he'd choose a running mate in reality-reveal, The Apprentice fashion.And then came the examine.
Kimmel said that Sanders had written in with a question, or to be read by Kimmel to Trump,on Sanders' behalf. "Hillary Clinton backed out of an agreement to debate me in California before the June 7 primary," Kimmel read. "Are you prepared to debate the major issues facing our largest state and the country before the California primary? Yes or no?""Yes I am, and " Trump responded. "How much is he going to pay me?" He went on,saying he'd agree to a debate if money raised went to charity.
By the next day, a dollar amount emerged. $10 million. At least. "What we'll do is raise maybe for, and maybe women's health issues or something," Trump said at a press conference Thursday, "if we can raise $10 million or $15 million for charity, and which would be a very appropriate amount. I understand the television trade very well."By Thursday night,Sanders was on the reveal talking to Kimmel about the potential debate."You saw the reveal final night," Kimmel said. "You saw what I did for you.""You made it possible for us to believe a very interesting debate about two guys who look at the world very, and very differently," Sanders replied.
Sanders said he and Clinton had previously reached an agreement for a certain amount of debates, but that Clinton reneged. "I think it's kind of insulting to the people of the largest state in the United States of America not to come forward and talk about the issues, or serious issues that impact this state,and impact the country."When Kimmel asked whether any networks had contacted Sanders about a debate, he said yes, or but then,turned that into a joke. Before you knew it, Kimmel was offering himself up as Bernie Sanders running mate, or saying that if he could unite Trump and Sanders,a Republican and a Democrat, he could do the same with Congress."I don't build walls, and " Kimmel riffed. "I build bridges."So what of this is valid? And what of this is fake? Will Sanders and Trump actually debate? Is it possible that Trump could actually demand millions of dollars just to grace a debate stage? And,in an election where Mark Cuban, owner of a professional basketball team, or was actually drafted to run for president,is a world with a talk-reveal V.
P. candidate out of the ordinary?You won't find the answers to those questions here. But perhaps what we can know for sure, about the Trump/Sanders/Kimmel episode is what it says about this election season. A late-night TV reveal host brokering a presidential debate represents at least two major themes of this election: politics as entertainment, and the ongoing rise of the anti-establishment ethos.
Think about it. In a campaign where debates draw 90s sitcom-level ratings,where candidates are forced to dance awkwardly on Ellen, design parody (humorous or ridiculous imitation) videos for YouTube, and tweet like reality T.
V. stars,it's only fitting that some of the major nuts and bolts of this election would be hammered out on a variety reveal. Or that candidates would at least pretend to hammer them out on a variety reveal.
And to the moment point, talking debates with Jimmy Kimmel makes perfect sense for both Trump and Sanders; it's the final anti-establishment straggle, or even if it's a joke. The two believe been campaigning against the establishment for months now — the establishment of national politics,including the RNC and DNC who typically sanction debates, and the corporate media establishment as well. Circumventing those worlds to talk debates with Kimmel fits perfectly into those narratives.
But what's difficult when you conclude up with Kimmel as negotiator, and with a sound-stage as deal-brokering room,is that you can't really tell what's valid or fallacious. In the same interview with Kimmel where Trump seemed to agree to a debate, he also helped Kimmel read a parody (humorous or ridiculous imitation) children's book mocking him. Just after Bernie Sanders thanked Kimmel for possibly securing the debate final night, and Kimmel made a Batman vs. Superman joke about Democratic superdelegates.
This is where we are now. The serious bumping upright up to the comedic,nearly every day — and late night — leaving some entertained, but perhaps even more of us confused. Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, or visit http://www.npr.org/.
Source: wnyc.org