In 2011, Donald J. Trump, host of “The Celebrity Apprentice,” was the star of a Comedy Central roast, a familiar ritual for showbiz personae. The guest of honor sits stage center and gets insulted, then everyone laughs it off as all in good fun. The State of the Union address, under President Trump, has become something like a celebrity roast in reverse. Mr. Trump had, perhaps, finally been the wolf who cried boy too many times. Having served, since announcing his campaign in 2015, as the norm-breaking antihero protagonist of America’s political TV serial, he now had to share billing with a vast ensemble of co-stars.

Source: New York Times February 06, 2019 13:15 UTC