The crazily popular "Pokemon Go" has inspired a spinoff that sadly seems to be more difficult than the original game itself. Looking down at his phone while bumping into people in true "Pokemon Go" style, SNL's Michael Che took "Trumpemon Go" to the RNC in a quest to catch the "rarest creature of them all," aka minorities. After Che introduced the game, a stout cartoon Trump appeared on-screen, outlining the objective: "catch 'em all, get 'em out of here." The truth behind the undeniably humorous skit, however, is more difficult to laugh off. Though Pew Research Center projected that one in three voters in the 2016 general election will be a minority, RNC attendees are overwhelmingly white.
Che poked fun at the glaringly disproportionate representation, gleefully fist-pumping the air each time he discovered a minority individual. "An old black dude was caught!" he exclaimed. Others "caught" include one Asian man, a black man with a selfie-stick, and a "cowbro." Stumbling upon two white women — much more commonly found in the RNC — Che asked whether or not they had spotted any minorities. Pausing to ponder, one woman said, "I've seen some, I guess Hawaiians?" Disappointingly, her quizzical answer was more of a question than a statement. Another man simply walked away after Che posed his question. "Everyone wants to keep their Trumpy minds to themselves ... But Imma catch 'em," Che promised. The answer to his question, after all, should come as an embarrassment to the RNC.
"Trumpemon Go" isn't the first thing to bring attention to the Republican Party's disproportionate representation of minorities. The week before the convention began, House Speaker Paul Ryan tweeted a selfie with a room full of Capitol Hill interns. Nearly all of them were white. However, as USA Today College reported, interns present in the selfie came from both parties' offices and were randomly selected to attend Ryan's speech. Ultimately, therefore, this is a government-wide issue. According to the Associated Press' analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, less than 20 percent of congressional and state legislative positions are filled by minority politicians, even though minority citizens make up nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population.
The Democratic Party, however, has historically done a better job of incorporating both minority voters and minority politicians into the political process. In response to Ryan's selfie, Democratic Texas Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson posted a photo of a more diverse group of interns to show that there is room in the government for people of all ethnicities and backgrounds.
And though the problem exists within both parties, it's probably more pronounced at the RNC. On Tuesday, DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz told Fox Business Network to expect greater diversity at the Democratic National Convention.
Image: Saturday Night Live
