After Donald Trump won the presidential election, Samantha Bee joked that come January, her show might be called Full Frontal Without Samantha Bee (Now 75% Hotter!). With just over six weeks until Inauguration Day, Bee and her army of “nasty women” are still on TBS. And after a few weeks off to recover, she was more pissed off than ever Monday night.
“So, how’s the transition treating you?” she asked her audience at the top of the show before jumping on Trump’s recent assertion that there should be “consequences” for people who burn the American flag. “If people who burn flags should lose their citizenship, what happens to those who sexually assault them?” she asked. “Oh, right, they become president.”
Since she has been on hiatus, Bee said Trump has already begun making America great again by “skipping security briefings, imperiling U.S. relations with China and India, threatening a private manufacturer, draining the swamp directly into his Cabinet, declaring open war on the press, and celebrating Take Your Daughter to Work Day with foreign leaders.”
“You thought there were rules?” she asked. “Psych!” Bee now knows that our institutions are “only as strong as the norms we all agree to live by—norms that suddenly seem as flimsy as the Scotch Tape holding Trump’s tie together.”
One of those norms is the “peaceful transition of power,” that President Obama is choosing to uphold despite the circumstances. “Even though it means shredding his entire legacy and feeding it to Steve Bannon’s pets,” Bee said. “President Obama is going to transfer power to his elected successor on January 20th, because he loves this country, just not in that way.”
Moving on to the North Carolina gubernatorial race that finally came to an end this week after the loser and current Republican Governor Pat McCrory called for a recount due to unfounded voter fraud, Bee said, “I can’t think of anything classier than crying conspiracy when you lose.”
“Oh, yes I can: Crying conspiracy when you win,” she added, pointing to Trump’s false claims that he would have won the popular vote were it not for “millions” of illegal voters. “And he won even bigly-er if you deduct all the ugly chicks and flag burners and Alec Baldwins who shouldn’t even be allowed to vote,” Bee said.
“How do we restore public confidence in our elections?” the host asked. “Not like this,” she said, pointing to Jill Stein’s ongoing recount efforts. “Oh, fuck off,” Bee said. “Liberals, I know you only gave her money because you thought she would take off with it and never come back. And we all want that. But instead of using your energy to undermine democracy, why not participate and help [Louisiana’s] Foster Campbell win his Senate runoff? You could make a difference!”
