July 25, 2025

Andrew Breitbart, the right-wing media figure once observed that “politics is downstream of culture.” In the post-mortem of the 2024 election, the consensus was that Democrats failed to understand this by refusing to embrace popular manosphere podcasts. 

Before 2024, Republicans weren’t necessarily known for having their finger on the cultural zeitgeist. Beyoncé performed at both of Barack Obama’s inaugurations and the Democratic National Convention is consistently stacked with an entertainment all-star list. Meanwhile the GOP relied on the likes of Lee Greenwood and Kid Rock.

Then, something shifted. Carrie Underwood felt safe enough to sing “America the Beautiful” at Donald Trump’s inauguration, and later in January, New York Magazine released an article about the MAGA youth titled “The Cruel Kids Table.”  The cover of the magazine read, “Out late with the young right as they contemplate cultural domination.” 

The pundits were certain that Democrats had lost the cultural narrative.

Then came “South Park.” The show, which has never shied away from political parody or commentary, absolutely dismantled Trump in the show’s 27th season premiere on Wednesday. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were firing on all cylinders as they humiliated the famously thin-skinned Trump.

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The episode starts with Cartman fuming at Trump for canceling NPR (Cartman thinks NPR is funny), and when we get our first look at the president, he’s threatening to bomb Canada, fighting with White House painters over the small size of his genitals in his portraits and quite literally naked in bed with the devil. At one point, Satan asks Trump: “Are you on the list or not? It’s weird that whenever it comes up, you just tell everyone to relax.”

The episode also includes an AI-generated deepfake PSA video of a gross and obese Trump wandering naked in the desert. The video is certain to infuriate the image-conscious Trump. And so is the recently launched website, which can be found here.

It’s important to note: “South Park” is on Comedy Central… which is owned by Paramount… which paid a $16 million settlement to Trump. Paramount recently agreed to a $1.5 billion deal to distribute South Park.

So this wasn’t your average political skewering. 

Throughout the episode, the parents of South Park are angry with Trump for pushing Christianity in schools. In the “South Park”-Universe, this entails Jesus literally preaching to the kids. The climax of the episode finds the town coming together against “the president's oppression.” 

“60 Minutes,” which is reporting on the protest, struggles to be objective amid their capitulation: “The president, who is a great man,” the reporters keep clarifying. 

Meanwhile, Jesus joins the protest to calm the people down: “I didn’t wanna come back and be in the school but I had to because it was part of a lawsuit and the agreement with Paramount,” he explains. “You really want to end up like Colbert?” 

As we’ve come to learn, the real-life Trump has a small ego and doesn’t like to be made fun of — so much so that the White House felt compelled to release a statement: “Just like the creators of ‘South Park,’ the Left has no authentic or original content, which is why their popularity continues to hit record lows.”

Okay, sure. The creators of “South Park,” of course, apologized. “We’re terribly sorry,” Parker joked. 

It’s not uncommon for shows like “South Park” to target politicians. In fact, the freedom to write political comedy is what sets democracies apart from dictatorships. What IS uncommon is the White House feeling so attacked, so threatened and so weak that they’re inclined to release a statement about an episode of television. 

That’s not what freedom of speech looks like in the United States of America. I commend every comedian, from Stephen Colbert to the “South Park” creators to Rosie O’Donnell, who continue to stand up and speak out against a president who is clearly threatened by those smarter and wittier than he could ever hope to be. 

As long as we continue to speak out, our democracy will continue to live on.

The Weekly Top Line

If Republicans thought that they could further gerrymander Texas without consequences, they were certainly mistaken. On Tuesday, a new lawsuit alleged that Wisconsin’s map violates the state’s constitution by discriminating against Democrats. When Wisconsin adopted their new map in 2022, congressional seats held by Democratic members fell below the state’s relative Democratic vote share. A change to Wisconsin's map could threaten the GOP’s majority in the House. 

More importantly, Democratic-controlled states are increasingly open to their own midcycle redistricting. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker have both publicly spoken out against the Texas power grab. 

Now, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has done so as well — saying she wouldn’t rule out a mid-decade redraw of the state’s congressional lines. “All’s fair in love and war,” Gov. Hochul quipped. 

Fools and Cowards of the Week

After paying Donald Trump $16 million and reportedly promising another $20 million of free advertising in a side deal, the Paramount merger got approved by the Trump administration. This whole affair looks exactly like what it is: a corporation making a payment to the president to receive an official act.

Too many at CBS News think this will pass or that they will not be tarnished by the misdeeds of their owners. They are wrong. Ask yourself — if you are a whistleblower, would you trust CBS news to treat you fairly? Or would you rather go to the Wall Street Journal? The question answers itself.

The fools at Paramount destroyed the reputation of a once-great news brand, just as Disney and Jeff Bezos have. History will remember them as shameful cowards.

The Week’s Siren 🚨

Donald Trump has always been obsessed with Barack Obama. The 45^th president is everything Trump is not — admired, successful and cool. Yet, we should not ignore the crazy and dangerous statements and social media postings from Trump about his predecessor. Tulsi Gabbard is already spewing conspiracy nonsense, and the Department of Justice has set up a “strike force” based on her claims. This is undoubtedly theater aimed at diverting attention from the Epstein scandal, but it is still dangerous and important to follow.

Overlooked This Week 👀

While attention was focused elsewhere, more states reported receiving demands by the Department of Justice to access sensitive voting data. According to Democracy Docket’s tracker, at least 14 states — including Rhode Island, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania — have now received such requests. This is deeply troubling and should not be overlooked.

Watching Next Week

The decision by the Deputy Attorney General to personally interview a convicted child sex trafficker should raise all kinds of alarm bells. That is, until you realize that Todd Blanche is there to protect Donald Trump, not the victims. As more news reports leak out about the relationship between Trump and Epstein, the lies this administration has told become unsustainable. Next week will be a critical one. We will see if Trump admits to some of the facts or if he continues to try to stonewall.

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