It’s fitting that a sitcom would provide the meme for our new era, our reality-show presidency and our dystopian political landscape. It's terrible, and it's great. Ya basic! Also, send me the Nonreligious Newsletter. Michael: Did you ever take off your shoes and socks on a commercial airline?Eleanor: And socks? “Wow, Trump is a racist!” we exclaim after reading leaked comments in which he reportedly referred to majority black countries as “shitholes.” It still feels shocking to many, even though we’ve had that very epiphany before ― when he implied that most Mexican immigrants were rapists and criminals, when he propelled the racist birther conspiracy theory that held Barack Obama was not born in America, when he was investigated for racial discrimination in his housing developments in the 1970s. They give us stock phrases, too, like “Did I do that?” and “That’s what she said” and “Yada yada yada.”. We’ve also lost faith in our ability to improve things through usual channels; demanding decency from the president changes nothing, nor do falling approval ratings, and scandals that would have demolished previous leaders have made seemingly no impact. They are bad. Victimless crime. Okay, so what do we do? When a man opens a car door for his wife, it's either a new car or a new wife. Eleanor: You guys came to say goodbye because you're my friends.Tahani: Well, I suppose some part of me possibly has a sense of casual kinship with you, much as one might be fond of a street cat. "Tahani: Thanks, Eleanor. No wonder the show’s foursome have become our Trump-era “Sex and the City” archetypes. He's going to call you in there in a second.Jason: Don't worry, I got you. We wake up every morning and we’re still here. You went to school in Tempe. They give us Platonic templates for our messy, specific problems: A workplace crush is so Jim and Pam, an overeager coworker is a Leslie Knope, and Ross and Rachel were, (maybe). [To a burrito she assumes is the judge] We've traveled a long distance to see you, O Great One. Someone royally forked up. We can’t talk about it as a war on women’s reproductive rights, or the social safety net ― it’s a war on everything progressives hold dear. in hell, but we’re going to say it with a smile. Where the sitcom excels is in repackaging the familiar, over and over again. “Wow, Trump is a racist!” we exclaim after reading leaked comments in which he reportedly referred to majority black countries as “shitholes.” It still feels shocking to many, even though we’ve had that very epiphany before ― when he implied that most Mexican immigrants were rapists and criminals, when he propelled the racist birther conspiracy theory that held Barack Obama was not born in America, when he was.