Star Wars politics and un-parody-able Trump moments, with Alexandra Petri

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smotus.substack.com I was truly delighted and honored to be joined by Atlantic humor columnist Alexandra Petri (here’s her website) for a rich discussion about two vital topics: 1) Moments when the Trump administration has gone beyond parody, and 2) The best and worst political lessons we can glean from the “Star Wars” universe. Does this sound nerdy? Just you wait! Among the things we cover: * The absolute comedic perfection of moments like Four Seasons Landscaping and the Hurricane Dorian Sharpie, and how Trump left his satirists with no place to go. * How important events that occurred not that long ago can quickly be memory-holed, to the point that young people today have never heard of the Jedi or George W. Bush. * The invaluable cautionary tale of Lando Calrissian, dealmaker. * The fact that there seems to be almost no news media in the Star Wars universe and no one who reads anyway. * The dangers of putting odd people obsessed with odd ideas (tariffs, a moon-sized space battlestation) into positions of power. * How DEI hiring practices could have improved Stormtroopers’ aim. * Perhaps most importantly, which films to introduce to children and in which order. The recording has roughly 7 minutes of public material, but then the rest is paywalled. I hope you’ll agree that it’s really, really worth getting a paid subscription to the Smotus Report to hear the rest.