THE HUMOR TRAP IN THE TIMES OF DONALD TRUMP

Trump is a god send for comedians.  Americans who can excel in political satire "laugh" while the clown-in-chief is in the White House. Humor can be a form of exorcism, a catharsis of sorts. It is also the ultimate illusion, that "laughing at" equals "getting rid of the cause". Comedians are polymaths who can address many issues--without solving any.  They are relief doctors. Their role is relevant, but oh so relative.

Too often the public that has a chuckle is under the illusion that a problem democratized by way of a shared smirk is a problem half-solved. The communal laughter becomes a placebo for a trauma cured.

In reality nothing is further from the truth. Larger issues were never solved or in the long-term alleviated by humor. Revolutions--also the welcome ones--are mostly serious if not painful. The great changes in history were not the result of wit.  They were pushed by dour men or catastrophic events. Beaumarchais might have hinted of looming corrections but they were enacted by often unpleasant characters . The American independence is supposed to have been the outcome of an enlightened Zeitgeist--as verbalized by Thomas Jefferson--but it was enacted upon by less lofty considerations and actors. And one could go on.

Often one hears that the American comedians have taken hold of the counter- narrative. As much as one should applaud their role one should also remain cognizant that the situations they lambast continue and amplify, unhindered. The real opposition must come from the ranks of institutions scorned or demonized, from the intelligentsia which is in de facto exile and from the motivation of voters. Comedy can help fight the fever but it cannot cure the illness. One should be aware of the perverse ambiguity of political humor.  In the end it can boomerang, normalizing the aberration and prolonging the lifespan of a disease it is supposed to cure. It ends up trivializing, by repeating over and over an argument which loses its pertinence because of fatigue. By the way, the same can be said of the opposite.

America needs a cognitive recovery. Comedians do help, but the answer is more complex than a sound bite or a bon mot. Besides, one might ask oneself if this "resistance" by way of humor remains pertinent, given that Trump's maniacal assaults spare nobody and nothing. Now that the LBGTQ community is under attack and that the "caravan" of refugees might encounter Trump's genocidal wrath, the culture war is getting harsher. The mid-term elections will only further polarize an America in a civil war by stealth.