Story highlights Dean Obeidallah: In the age of Trump, comedians, not Democrats, are leading the opposition movement

Comedians have the power to reach wide audiences and speak truth in a way politicians cannot, he says

Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM's radio's daily program "The Dean Obeidallah Show" and a columnist for The Daily Beast. Follow him @deanofcomedy. The opinions expressed in this commentary, which has been updated since it was first published in May 2017, are his.

(CNN) In the age of Donald Trump, it's not the Democrats leading the opposition -- it's the comedians.

Sure, Congressional Democrats are voting and speaking out against Trump's proposals on issues like health care, but few of them can garner national headlines or get a video to go viral.

Comedians, on the other hand, are now the ones with a "bully pulpit" to raise issues in ways that dominate our social media feeds and impact the larger political conversation. We saw an example with Jimmy Kimmel's emotional plea to preserve coverage for pre-existing conditions in the Trump-championed health care bill. Kimmel touched a nerve, as the video of his tearful plea was widely shared.

Dean Obeidallah

While the GOP plan ultimately did pass the House in a form that experts agree could weaken coverage for pre-existing conditions, Kimmel's clip had an impact on the discussion. His late-night plea made more people aware of the issue and in turn placed additional pressure on some politicians.

We saw evidence of this from US Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), who expressed his reservations to Trump's health care plan on CNN by directly invoking Kimmel's heartfelt plea, "Would a child born with congenital heart disease be able to get everything she or he would need in the first year of life? I want it to pass the Jimmy Kimmel test."