In the lead up to the presidential election (and in its depressing wake), lots of people—pop culture writers among them—were drawing parallels between various types of media and the rise of Donald Trump. You had your “Simpsons did it” bits, as well as your lamentations that Idiocracy had become a reality. Then, of course, there were the articles about just which movie or TV characters were early models of our Cheeto In Chief, including Biff Tannen (or was that the other way around?). On Full Frontal last night, Samantha Bee added one more name to that list—Paris Eustace Geller.
The comparison goes beyond their elite private school background (though neither of them got into Harvard). And Paris was also invested in surrounding herself with people she could control—except that was a teenage phase she eventually outgrew. It’s not like she’s a septuagenarian who stays up late, obsessing over what people might be saying about her. However, they have both compiled lists of their enemies.