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Sophia A. McClennen

Sophia A. McClennen is Professor of International Affairs and Comparative Literature at the Pennsylvania State University. She writes on the intersections between culture, politics, and society. Her latest book is "Trump Was a Joke: How Satire Made Sense of a President Who Didn't."

Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

5 Lessons Joe Biden should have learned from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss

Sophia A. McClennen
A woman holds a sign saying in hebrew "all now" as famlies of hostages held in Gaza and others protest and call for the release of all hostages on December 1, 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Amir Levy/Getty Images)

Why it’s so hard to talk about Gaza

Sophia A. McClennen
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) chairs a cabinet meeting at the Kirya military base, which houses the Israeli Ministry of Defence, in Tel Aviv on December 24, 2023. (OHAD ZWIGENBERG/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The end of the fair fight

Sophia A. McClennen
Hasan Minhaj attends Apple TV+'s "The Morning Show" Photo Call at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on September 08, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Leon Bennett/WireImage/Getty Images)

Off with his head: The manufactured scandal over Hasan Minhaj

Sophia A. McClennen
Hasan Minhaj guest hosts "The Daily Show" (Comedy Central)

Hasan Minhaj and the New Yorker: Who decided comedy needed fact-checking?

Sophia A. McClennen
Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media during an election night event at Mar-a-Lago on November 08, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The news media is blowing Trump coverage again

Sophia A. McClennen
Former President Donald Trump arrives to Trump Tower on April 13, 2023 in New York City. (James Devaney/GC Images/Getty Images)

Sick of Trump? Try laughing at him

Sophia A. McClennen
Caution tape closes off an entrance to the beach as Palm Beach County officials announced that all county beaches are closed due to red tide affecting coastal areas on October 4, 2018 in Lake Worth, Florida. (Getty/Joe Raedle)

Neoliberalism made us broke. Now it’s killing us

Sophia A. McClennen
Donald Trump (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

Donald Trump is the worst kind of fool

Sophia A. McClennen
Former President Donald Trump speaks on May 28, 2022 in Casper, Wyoming. (Chet Strange/Getty Images)

Why Trump will lose in 2024: He’s committed the cardinal sin of reality TV — he’s boring

Sophia A. McClennen
Retrograde (Tim Grucza/OTP/National Geographics)

“Taking sides is not my job”: “Retrograde” filmmaker Matthew Heineman on documenting a war’s end

Sophia A. McClennen
Gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore, US President Joe Biden, US First Lady Jill Biden and US Senator Chris Van Hollen acknowledge the crowd during a rally on the eve of the US midterm elections, at Bowie State University in Bowie, Maryland, on November 7, 2022. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Why the mainstream news media got its midterms election coverage so wrong

Sophia A. McClennen
Retrograde (Matthew Heineman/OTP/National Geographics)

Matthew Heineman’s documentary “Retrograde”: A chilling, intimate view of the Afghanistan War’s end

Sophia A. McClennen
Michael Moore walks the red carpet ahead of the "Fahreneit 11/9" screening during the 13th Rome Film Fest at Auditorium Parco Della Musica on October 20, 2018 in Rome, Italy. (Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

Michael Moore predicts Democrats will win big in the midterms. Could he be right again?

Sophia A. McClennen
Washington DC Capitol Line Graph (Getty Images/traffic_analyzer)

Stop obsessing over election polls — the less attention voters and the media give them, the better

Sophia A. McClennen
A protester outside the Islamic Community Center on May 29, 2015 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Getty/Christian Petersen)

American Muslims are successful, optimistic and patriotic: But Islamophobia is worse than ever

Sophia A. McClennen
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on April 02, 2022 near Washington, Michigan. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

How Trump redefined shameless hypocrisy — and made it politically indispensable

Sophia A. McClennen
Vladimir Putin | A destroyed tank lies in rubble, in central Mariupol (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

Putin’s real goal in Ukraine isn’t territory

Sophia A. McClennen
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) holds up a book on antiracism as he questions U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, March 22, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Ted Cruz just handed Democrats a gift for the midterms — if they’re willing to use it

Sophia A. McClennen
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the nation after Russiaâs decision to recognize the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as independent states, on February 22, 2022, in Kiev, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Why Zelenskyy’s background in comedy really matters

Sophia A. McClennen
Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump and Kyle Rittenhouse (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

The conservative urge to be a victim: Why right-wing victimhood is spreading so fast

Sophia A. McClennen
President Barack Obama and Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" October 18, 2012 (Brad Barket for PictureGroup)

25 years of “The Daily Show”: Here’s 5 ways it permanently changed U.S. satire

Sophia A. McClennen
People hold up signs during a rally against "critical race theory" (CRT) being taught in schools at the Loudoun County Government center in Leesburg, Virginia on June 12, 2021. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

Why it’s (almost) impossible to argue with the right

Sophia A. McClennen
Cecily Strong as a lawyer and Alec Baldwin as President Elect Donald J. Trump during the Trump Press Conference Cold Open on January 14th, 2017. (Will Heath/NBC)

When conservatives play the victim over satire: It’s only “free speech” when they’re making jokes

Sophia A. McClennen
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