With impeachment proceedings for Donald Trump potentially on the horizon, comedian and talk show host Samantha Bee is taking careful note of just how many people are paying attention to political news and issues these days.
“I’ve covered so many elections and I’ve never experienced the level of people caring and reading about it and learning about it. I mean, our engagement in the actual voting process could be improved. There’s room for improvement, for sure,” Bee said at New York Comic-Con on Saturday.
But, she is heartened to see that people caring more now has “ripped the blinders off largely for large portions of the population,” which is progress because “we are all in this together,” she noted.
A few days ago on an episode of Bee’s TBS late-night show, “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee,” she declared, “This week American democracy exploded like a Mentos in a Diet Coke.” Since then, there have been reports of finding a second whistleblower. Democrats have been prompted to launch a formal impeachment inquiry that has Trump facing charges that he pressured Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden.
Earlier this morning, Trump took to Twitter to address the potential impeachment and the whistleblower’s credibility: “The so-called Whistleblower’s account of my perfect phone call is ‘way off,’ not even close. Schiff and Pelosi never thought I would release the transcript of the call. Got them by surprise, they got caught. This is a fraud against the American people!”
Bee pointed out that “it’s good to never lose your capacity to be shocked” by what happens politically. But, because we’re all still just human, we might not have the “incredible endurance” it sometimes feels like is needed to get through simply reading the glut of terrible news. So, she advices feeding our “joy machine every once in a while — like we have to put happy things into our bucket to stay alive and healthy.”
Along these lines, Bee shared a sneak peek at her newest mobile game that plays off next year’s presidential election and shares knowledge for the primaries. Following up on “This Is Not A Game: The Game” of 2018, the team at “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” created the “‘Full Frontal’$’ Totally Unrigged Primary” app.
Gamers have an opportunity to play with real-life candidates in place of characters. They will select one candidate who with the most points will receive a real-life fund to help support their political campaign.
“We are hoping along the way you are laughing and that you are really engaged in the political process,” stated Bee. “Even if you hate me, if you have a candidate you like you should play and play hard!”
The game will be launched on app stores in late October.