Then there was that time that a billionaire-real-estate-tycoon-turned-reality-television-magnate-turned-presidential-candidate broke recent network records with his hosting stint on “Saturday Night Live,” thus ensuring that high ratings would boost him in his bid to buy his way into the White House. It’s all about ratings, right?

But at least there was the countervailing force of protest, in the form of a lone voice in the audience at NBC’s long-running comedy sketch show on Saturday night.

Oh wait, that was “Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David.

During Donald Trump’s opening monologue, much of which sounded like he could have been simply reading off his own Twitter feed, David interrupted and staged a scripted demonstration by “heckling” the show’s celebrity politician host. “You’re a racist!” David shouted. “Trump’s a racist!”

Trump was still clearly reading from the teleprompter as he responded with feigned dismay, “Who the hell was that? Oyoyoy, I knew this was gonna happen. Who was that?” The cameras turned to a expertly lit David, who shrugged and said, “I heard if I yelled that they’d give me $5,000.”

Turns out David will collect that prize money, which was offered by the activist organization Deport Racism. Its members tweeted a confirmation Sunday morning:

So let’s review: A super-rich realitician seeking to lead the world’s most powerful country goes on “SNL” and gets faux-heckled by a member of the Hollywood elite for making statements with the potential to cause considerable real-world consequences.

This is all getting confusing. Or maybe not, when considered according to the very topical notion of cultural hegemony, which explains how powerful parties can accommodate, even use to their advantage, certain rebellious elements in a society. What better way to defuse actual protesters by having a (white, male, wealthy, etc.) celebrity stand-in “represent” their argument in a forum in which they don’t appear, and one in which Trump can pretend to hear their concerns while effectively cutting them out?

It’s about as good as having a billionaire tycoon “represent” the American people in our nation’s highest office. Good for Trump, that is. Golf claps all around.

Turns out Trump was only on the show for about 12 minutes, and his performance didn’t play so well with some critics.

But as the whole Trump Show demonstrates, there’s really no need to bother much with the facts.

Watch Trump’s “SNL” monologue, complete with David’s heckler-for-hire routine, below:

–Posted by Kasia Anderson

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#donald trump#gop#larry david#nbc#president#reality tv#republicans#sarah palin#saturday night live#video