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Real or Satire? Hard to Tell in Bizarro Election Year

Jon Stewart to join Stephen Colbert for coverage of both conventions

Stephen Colbert tapes a segment for his show as Caesar Flickerman from "The Hunger Games" on the floor of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on Sunday. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Stephen Colbert tapes a segment for his show as Caesar Flickerman from "The Hunger Games" on the floor of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on Sunday. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

While every major news outlet in America is covering the Republican National Convention in Cleveland as a way to frame the national debate around vital issues that face America, Stephen Colbert and The Onion will use comedy as a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.  

Of course, in this bizarro election year, it might be hard to tell the satire from the real thing.

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Special Coverage: 2016 Republican National Convention


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Comedian Colbert crashed the convention stage Sunday night dressed as “The Hunger Games” character Caesar Flickerman.

“It is my honor to hereby launch and begin the 2016 Republican National Hungry-for-Power games,” Colbert said. “Look, I know I’m not supposed to be up here, but neither is Donald Trump.”     

Satirical news publication The Onion  said it plans to cover the conventions in a way “that you won’t  be seeing on any other network — the speeches that other outlets are afraid to cover.”   

A live stream of site’s coverage from the convention floor will be broadcast on its homepage , YouTube channel and Facebook page.  

“America’s Finest News Source,” as it calls itself, will have editors on the ground from Tuesday through Thursday to help provide their insights on what is going on during the GOP convention.   

The farcical news outlet will also offer live coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia next week, along with “original video content from some of the greatest comedic minds in the world.”  

Meanwhile, Jon Stewart, the former host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” will be joining  Colbert on “The Late Show” this week to help cover and satirize the Republican convention. 


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