By Roman Soto
South Park, the iconic show notorious for its satirical criticism of contemporary political controversies, just released its newest episode, which hilariously mocks and criticizes the Trump Administration’s recent government policies. Titled “Woke is Dead,” the episode cleverly hints at the superficially extinct culture of “wokeness”—meaning an individual’s awareness of social issues and inequalities—heavily indicating Donald Trump’s blatant ignorance towards many societal issues (evidently expressed in the episode). Fearless, creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker ensure they cover every aspect of the topic, mercilessly taking shots at the President and Vice President.
Throughout the episode, South Park establishes the main topic: Donald J. Trump and the issues coinciding with his administration. The episode starts boldly: Trump is seen walking out of an airplane with Satan, where a large group of white reporters–humorously deemed “diverse”–await the president and his presumed demonic fictional lover with lanyards very obviously labeled “Fox News.” Aside from Parker and Stone’s intended ridicule of the lack of cultural diversity within the heavily Republican-supportive news station, the anaphorically repeated phrase “Trump is ____ing Satan” has an immediately literal meaning in the show, which questions fictional Trump’s intimate sexual relationship with the devil as well as an ironic shorthand for whether “Trump is actually evil.” Subsequently, the subplot regarding the United States’ tariffs on China appears through the trending Labubu dolls and a Chinese storeowner abandoning his business to scam children out of eighty-five dollars to buy the “demonic” dolls. In the end, Stone and Parker take one last shot at the President, regarding policies on abortion; the Devil expresses his commitment to Trump as his lover and bearer of their baby, explaining how he is stuck with the president for “many years to come,” which implies the inability to abort the child.
South Park proves yet again its ability to completely satirize even the most controversial topics with thoroughly disrespectful remarks. The episode, now recognized as one of South Park’s most notable callouts, is quickly gaining popularity. With the President adamantly expressing his disdain towards the episode, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have done what most of the media nowadays avoid.