MSNBC’s Ari Melber Mocks ‘Trump-Aligned’ Media With Simpsons Clip
MSNBC host Ari Melber mocked “Trump-aligned” and “friendly” media outlets’ coverage of the new administration with a clip from The Simpsons on Wednesday night.
On The Beat, Melber aired a clip from the iconic Fox sitcom that, in his view, captured what he described as the “fawning praise” now surrounding President Donald Trump’s second term, particularly as the administration moves to reshape the rules for White House press access.
The reference came just a day after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced a dramatic shift in how media credentials will be distributed.
Under the new system, the administration itself will decide which news organizations gain entry to key presidential events—cutting the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) out of its long-held role in managing press pool rotations.
The WHCA, which has coordinated media access for more than a century, blasted the move, calling it a fundamental threat to press freedom.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press is already battling to regain access after being barred from presidential events. Leavitt defended the policy, insisting it was about making space for “new media” like streaming platforms and podcasts while still accommodating “legacy outlets.”
Melber, however, saw the change as part of a broader shift in how the White House is trying to “distort” — and reward — media coverage.
“Throwing hats out to the crowd because some in the crowd want the hats, because that’s how cozy it is… The hypocrisy stories write themselves,” he said, arguing that many of the same voices now lavishing Trump with praise had previously criticized mainstream media for being too accommodating to past administrations.
The host then ran a series of clips from various conservative outlets, at one point showing Trump throwing MAGA hats out to journalists at an Oval Office briefing.
To hammer his point home, Melber turned to The Simpsons, playing a scene where Lisa Simpson lobs an absurdly flattering debate question at billionaire C. Montgomery Burns, who is running for governor.
“Mr. Burns, your campaign seems to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular?” she asks in the clip.
Burns, naturally, fumbles through an answer about integrity and tax cuts before Lisa walks away from the moment in disgust.
“Oh mom, that felt awful,” she tells Marge Simpson.
After showing the clip, Melber repeated the line.
“That felt awful. Not because it was left or right, by the way, but because it was false, fake, government-style propaganda. That was 30 years ago. The jokes they’re mixing, a satirizing of the kind of politics of spin that we know and that, of course, predates this era.”
He warned: “But there was also a warning about Monty Burns or the very rich, somehow, just taking over our politics today. You could call it the Monty Burns warning that echoes as a very real life, very powerful business person with billions of dollars wields the power without ever even having to face voters.”
“Monty Burns pretended to face real voters while spinning it. Musk didn’t even do that because he’s not running for office. He doesn’t face press that he doesn’t handpick, and he didn’t have to face the Senate because while he lords over that room very visibly, which is why we’re running this, so you see it standing over the actual people who went and played by the rules and faced senate vetting and got the Senate vote,” he said.
He added: “Now, I can tell you, in The Simpsons fictional episode, the Monty Burns campaign ultimately fell apart. We don’t know what will happen in this ongoing effort.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
