“Not funny”: Donald Trump and his team condemn “Saturday Night Live” and its “mean-spirited” jokes

By Taylor Link, Salon

As Americans agonize over the prospect of losing their health care, President-elect Donald Trump and his communications team have been dealing with their own problems. “Saturday Night Live” again teased the former reality TV star this past weekend, lampooning his surreal press conference that covered topics ranging from his conflicts of interests to alleged Russian connections. Trump, always sensitive to mock and ridicule, tweeted out in response on Sunday that “SNL” was “not funny” and “always a complete hit job.”

.@NBCNews is bad but Saturday Night Live is the worst of NBC. Not funny, cast is terrible, always a complete hit job. Really bad television!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2017

Sean Spicer appeared on NBC’s “Today Show” Monday morning to echo the sentiments of his boss. The incoming White House Press Secretary expressed complete disgust in the sketch comedy at the close of his interview, calling the award-winning show “mean-spirited” and “bad television.”

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Democrats sweat Clinton vs. Sanders rift

By Gabriel Debeneditti, Politico

The Hillary Clinton vs. Bernie Sanders rift is bubbling up in gubernatorial primaries. It’s pulsing through the race for Democratic National Committee chairman, and shaping state party leadership contests from Hawaii to Maine.

Long after the Democratic presidential nomination was settled, the bruising 2016 primary fight continues to divide the party, hindering Democrats’ ability to unite and prompting national party leaders to tiptoe around the issue in the hopes of avoiding an outbreak of Sanders-Clinton proxy wars. The bitter defeat at the hands of Donald Trump has exacerbated the tensions, leading to the rise of “Bernie would have won” and “Bernie’s challenge helped sink Hillary” camps, even if the battles are rarely framed in such explicit terms. Now, with the chairmanship of the DNC and party nominations in multiple 2017 races at stake, some Democrats are desperately trying to strike a balance and remind rank-and-file activists of the real enemy.

“The old-fashioned way to do this is to purge the party, but that’s not the way things work anymore,” said former Vermont governor and DNC chairman Howard Dean, who himself passed on a second run for the chairmanship in December specifically because he was worried about the prospect of an overly divisive race. “The party can’t win if it’s not inclusive, and the way to be inclusive is not to re-litigate the old battle. And there’s obviously some attempt to do that."

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GOP Congressman, Overwhelmed by Constituents Concerned About ACA Repeal, Sneaks Out of Event Early

By Mark Joseph Stern, Slate

On Saturday, Republican Rep. Mike Coffman held an event for his constituents at a public library in Aurora, Colorado. At least 150 constituents showed up, most of them hoping to ask Coffman about his recent vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act and his plans for a replacement. But only about 70 people got to meet with Coffman: Despite booking a large room with ample space, Coffman allowed in only four constituents at once for five minutes at a time. When the crowd grew restless, police put up crime scene tape and Coffman snuck out the back door—six minutes before the event was scheduled to end.

Coffman co-authored a Denver Postop-ed on Friday urging the full and immediate repeal of the ACA. About 419,000 Coloradans have gained health care coverage since the enactment of the law, and many of them stand to lose their insurance if it is repealed. Yet Coffman has not proposed a clear replacement for the law, an issue constituents hoped to ask him about on Saturday. “I am potentially going to lose my health insurance,” Berthie Ruoff told NBC 9 while she waited to meet with her representative. “I've had a preexisting condition. I've had breast cancer. What's going to happen to me? My spouse who had health insurance passed away. What do I do? You know, what am I supposed to do?”

Read the full story on Slate.