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In his first appearance, Colbert even described him as a slightly less cartoonish version.
In the half hour series, Trump is egotistical, rude, and stupid.
Theres a TV in the room.
Trump watches televisionobsessively, like I do.
Its also well-known that Trumps reality isalmost entirely shapedby Fox Newss programming.
Not only was President Obama watchingThe Wire, but hemet withDavid Simon to discuss the series and its themes.
And yet the drug warrages on.
ButOur Cartoon Presidents target audience is obviously not Trump himself.
Trump primarily watches cable news, both in real life and on the series itself.
The idea of Trump watching an animated series on Showtime is hard to imagine.
InthisColbert sketch, Trump and Putin make out, which is a fairlycommonimage in anti-Trump satire.
Its unknown if Ahmadinejad saw this sketch, but there is little evidence the sketch changedanythingin Iran.
Trump supporters are also unlikely to watch the show, though of course a few will.
For that audience,Our Cartoon Presidentwill probably not reframe Trumps persona much.
Whats more troubling is the wayOur Cartoon Presidentlets these people off the hook.
Before Trump throws away his State of the Union address, the show cuts to Stephen Miller writing it.
Theyre shared by everydaywhite people around the country.
But of course so is Trump himself, and neither Eric nor Don Jr. is the president.
First, Bush insists that he rarely watches enough television to have kept up with jokes at his expense.
That Bush was so disconnected from what actual people thought about his administrationis plausible.
Theres one recent Trump satire that is worth reconsidering, though.
Griffin faced real consequences for posing with a model of Trumps bloodied head.
The photo was apparently upsetting enough to the Trump administration that they claimed Trumps youngest sonthought it was real.
To make hard-hitting satire in the Trump era, perhaps satirists should consider this the baseline.
But viewers must also remember that Trump is very much not a cartoon.
The Trump outside ofOur Cartoon Presidentisdestroying families dailyand taking our planets healthpast the point of no return.
Everything that Trump does is absurd, but making fun of him can only go so far.
We knowwhats happeningin this countryright now.
Its worth considering whether we can make fun of homicidal insanity.
Harry Waksberg is a writer and lazeabout based in Riverside, CA.
He is the creator and writer of the web seriesDoing Good.
