David Letterman has a plan to get rid of President Trump

(Image credit: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for The New Yorker)

last updated 6 March 2017

David Letterman hosted late night television for 33 years and he claims he has no regrets about leaving. But even in retirement, Letterman can't help but drool over the comedic fruit the Trump administration has to offer the TV hosts who are still in the game.

But comedy is more than just a way to stay sane, in Letterman's opinion. It is also a weapon: "I'm tired of people being bewildered about everything [Trump] says," Letterman told Vulture. "'I can't believe he said that.' We gotta stop that and instead figure out ways to protect ourselves from him. We know he's crazy. We gotta take care of ourselves here now."

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[Vulture:] How? Is comedy useful for that?[Letterman:] Comedy's one of the ways that we can protect ourselves. Alec Baldwin deserves a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Sadly, he's not going to get it from this president.Can you explain that a bit more? How does satire protect us from Donald Trump?The man has such thin skin that if you keep pressure on him — I remember there was a baseball game in Cleveland, and a swarm of flies came on the field and the batters were doing this [mimes swatting at flies] while the pitcher was throwing 100 miles an hour. Well, that's Alec Baldwin and Saturday Night Live. It's distracting the batter. Eventually Trump's going to take a fastball off the sternum and have to leave the game. [Vulture]

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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