Mindy Kaling jokes about Trump, toilet plungers at Dartmouth
HANOVER, N.H. — Mindy Kaling took on President Donald Trump in her Sunday commencement address to Dartmouth College graduates, suggesting he may have “tweeted us into war” with Wakanda, the fictional country from “Black Panther.”
“I’ll tell you my secret, the one thing that keeps me going, my superpower: delusion,” Kaling said in her speech amid laughter. “This is something I share with the president, a fact that is both horrifying and interesting.”
The 38-year-old actor, writer and comedian graduated from the Ivy League school in 2001. She received an honorary degree during the ceremony.
Kaling remarked that Trump is a testament to how far someone can go if they believe they are the smartest, most successful person in the world. She encouraged the graduates to have “insane confidence” in themselves, even if it’s not real.
A few years after her own graduation, Kaling became a writer and producer for “The Office,” and played Kelly Kapoor on the show. She was the first woman of color to create, write, produce and star in a comedy show. That show, “The Mindy Project,” ran for six seasons. She has also written a pair of best-selling memoirs.
Her new film, the female-led “Ocean’s 8,” opened at number one this weekend.
Her experiences at Dartmouth have occasionally served as fodder for her writing and comedy. During her time there, she majored in play-writing and was the author of a popular comic strip on campus called “Badly Drawn Girl.” She tweeted a picture of herself outside her old dorm room Saturday night.
In her speech filled with self-deprecating humor, Kaling also offered practical advice to the approximately 2,000 graduates, like making sure to buy a toilet plunger.