After New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman criticized comedian Michelle Wolf for joking about Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ eye makeup—and more importantly lies—at this past weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Samantha Bee thinks that “maybe we need to remind people what feminism is about.”
Of course, it wasn’t only Haberman who quickly came to the defense of the White House press secretary, but also female journalists like MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell and Mika Brzezinski, who called Wolf’s jokes “not funny” and said she owed Sanders an apology.
“Oh, Mika, very clever to say we can’t make fun of women’s appearances on the same day you wore that hideous goddamn scarf,” the Full Frontal host joked. She dedicated the rest of her opening segment to proving just how dishonest Sanders has been during her tenure in the Trump administration and demonstrating why it is so absurd for members of the media of all people to come to her defense.
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“Sarah Huckabee Sanders is a fucking liar, goodnight, everyone!” Bee said before realizing she had a lot more show to do. “OK, fine. Look, calling Sanders a liar isn’t an insult, it’s her job description. Feminism doesn’t mean you can never make jokes about another woman ever. If it did, then I couldn’t say that Mika clearly stole her scarf off of Steven Tyler’s microphone stand. And Sarah Sanders is very good at her job.
“But if the press thinks being called a liar is a huge insult, maybe they should be mad at Sarah herself, since she calls them liars constantly,” the host added. “I’m not saying Sarah Sanders doesn’t deserve the protection of feminism, she does. Though she’s not a feminist, which you can tell from the way she throws other women to the wolves on her boss’ behalf.”
She compared Sanders to a “public-relations dementor, sucking the energy out of the White House press until they can’t really fight back, turning them into tragic journalistic husks called Maggie Habermans.”
“Seriously, the press, why are you defending this lady?” Bee asked. “She is not your friend.”
Bee explained that Sanders is easy to defend because she isn’t a “loudmouth” like Anthony Scaramucci or an “attention vampire” like Kellyanne Conway or an “actual vampire” like Stephen Miller. Rather, “She’s dangerous because she’s such a good soldier in the Trump army.
“So I salute you, Sarah Huckabee Sanders,” she concluded. “You’ve outlasted every man who’s had your job and almost any other job in the Trump White House to become one of the most powerful women in the nation. You are a hell of a role model for little girls everywhere who are smart and hardworking and completely evil.”
