ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how satire is uniquely suited to serve as a foil for the brain rot brought on by much contemporary political discourse. Presenting a range of research from cognitive science to neuroscience, it shows how satire helps to engage the brain in higher-order thinking, attention to nuance, analytical reasoning, and contextual reasoning—all skills we need today more than ever. The chapter also shows how the pleasure of the laughs we get from satire may well provide an important antidote to the stress of contemporary politics. It argues that, in the end, the risks to the Trump presidency may have been more cognitive than political, and, if that is true, it means that satire has an even greater role to play in saving our democracy than we may have first imagined.
