MAD magazine has been bashing Donald Trump pretty hard lately. Once upon a time, its founding publisher — the late William Gaines — announced he wanted to cut back on jokes about Richard Nixon not because Nixon didn't deserve it but because Gaines thought too many other worthy subjects were being ignored. I don't think Gaines actually believed that. What I heard from insiders was this: That the magazine — which then went to press two or even three months before the date an issue would reach newsstands — was having trouble writing Nixon jokes that might still be relevant 60 or 90 days later. But Gaines did say what he was quoted as saying.
I see people on the 'net quoting Gaines to argue that the magazine is overdoing it with anti-Trump material. Well, maybe — but that seems to be true of just about everyone who's any good and deals in topical humor. I don't know how it's humanly possible to be a good topical humorist today without treating Trump like the greatest embarrassment ever.
MAD isn't even new to the Trump-ridiculing business. As Snopes just noted, back in 1992 — before Colbert or Meyers or Bee or Oliver or any of them — they were going after the guy. The only notable spoofs before that I can think of would be Phil Hartman's impressions on Saturday Night Live…which Trump was an extremely bad sport about.