Donald Trump: How two comedians demask his right fake news

Recently caused outrage. The US Health Minister, known as an opponent and conspiracy theorist, happily splashed with his grandchildren in a river. The catch: Rock Creek has been closed for decades for faeces, garbage and E. coli bacteria. What Kennedy intended with the excursion and the photos is unclear.

They documented what they found: Yellow foaming water, floating garbage islands, a strange stench. Your guess: Kennedy has deliberately exposed itself to the contaminated river to “strengthen” his body.

The two men on the river were not reporters. They are guerrilla comedians: Jason Selvig and Davram Stibler, better known as the satirical duo “The Good Liars”-in German: “The good liars”.

Her video from Rock Creek achieved more than 300,000 views on YouTube within a week. More than 2.4 million users follow the duo. The goal of the two jokes: expose rights politicians and their flexible truths. For this, for example, they mix as disguised supporters under his rally, sell invented “trump bibs” or make MAGA fans with targeted questions to get tangled in their own logic.

Is this method perhaps exactly this method – lie against lie – an effective answer to Trump’s fake news?

Jason Selvig and Davram Stiefler, both born in the 1980s, have been practicing in the fleece since 2011. At that time they staged their first prank: And explained that they were part of the “one percent elite”. In suits they spoke to demonstrators and said sentences such as: “The people only cry around here because we worked so hard. We cannot live without a third house.” Real bankers took the joke for bare coin and tuned in.

Selvig and steamers benefit from their years of experience from the improvisation theater, where the two had also met. “Since then, we have been convinced that you can gain the strongest comedy from real situations,” said Stefler of the English newspaper “The Guardian”. Because of his Jewish origin, he has long been exposed to hostility by ore conservative voters. One of them predicts him without adoption: “You will land in hell.” Selvig does not correspond to the Maga cliché. His arms are free of tattoos, his physique is rather aristocratic slim.

The “good liars” oppose their very own method: subtle satire, so cleverly and unobtrusive that their victims – or even large, well -known media – usually do not notice that they are exposed. The cheated include, among other things, Fox News and the former chief lobbyist of the American arms lobby NRA, Wayne Lapierre.

In 2022-with a speech came directly to the then NRA boss Wayne Lapierre. “I want to say that the left media make me sick,” he started provocative and accused them of spreading “fake news” over Lapierre. He then thanked – apparently sincerely – for the “thoughts and prayers” who send the NRA to the sacrificial families after each major firear attack. “He did something,” said Selvig with serious seriousness. “He thought. And prayed.” Maybe, he added, would stop violence if you just think or pray more. The hall applauded. But many escaped the bitter irony.

The duo not only targets Trump and its followers. They also aim at institutions that are criticized for discrimination, lobbying or radical ideology. In January 2021, they pretended to be the formerly gay couple and convinced an employee of the US Fast-Food giant Chick-Fil-A that free sandwiches are entitled to-because they have now become “hetero”. , as the broadcaster CNN reported. In the past, the chain of anti-LGBTQ organizations donated.

In the New York subway, Selvig and Stiblers also glued fake advertising posters, on which the Fox News moderator Tucker Carlson at the time with the slogan “Old School Racism. Middle School Haircut” (“Old-fashioned racism. For the former Trump lawyer, you designed an advertising poster with the inscription “Need a Lawyer? Call Crazy Rudy” (“Do you need a lawyer? Call the crazy Rudy”)-including telephone number. Anyone who called, heard: “You have reached the law firm of Crazy Rudy! We specialize in back room deals, TV appearances-and also work drunk.”

Also, the president’s son, they did not spare them. The cover of his book “Triggered” replaced you with a visually similar version with the title “Daddy, please love me!” – “Papa, please love me!” The campaign spread rapidly on Trump-critical channels on social media. “It took a moment until I realized that this is not the real title,” wrote a well-known US presenter on X.

Even if the goal of such actions is to keep the mirror to hold the mirror and draw attention to their lies, Stiefler and Selvig have done something else with their strokes. In his inbox, Stefler finds numerous news from people who had already given up their political interest and write: “You brought us back to politics!”

Even Maga supporters, which are actually the target of the “Good Liars”, celebrate the duo. They mainly encountered younger Trump supporters who raved about their videos, says Stefler. “It speaks for itself that these people clearly do not identify with the absent nonsense that we satirically put on the grain.”

In the meantime, however, the duo has a completely different problem: it is now so well known to Republicans that they no longer make honest statements in front of the camera, but propagate extra crude theses, just to get a selfie with Selvig and Stiefler. Selvig complained in the last year: “But we are not looking for people who just want to talk wildly to become famous. We want to hear honest thoughts – and that is exactly what we don’t get.”

The goal remains that your audience can laugh at the politically charged situation in the United States. Selvig: “What else can you do at a certain point, except for laughter? This is sometimes very, very difficult. But that doesn’t mean that we won’t try it.”