South Park‘s new season continues to poke the sleeping bear of political correctness while also skewering Donald Trump in only the most South Park of ways. The second episode of this year’s 19th season of South Park entitled “Where My Country Gone?” continued the plot line of South Park being overtaken by politically correct bullies and the running gag that Caitlyn Jenner is considered a “stunning woman and hero” regardless of anyone’s personal opinion or Caitlyn’s own actions.
The episode opens with Kyle Broflovski accepting an award for giving a speech supporting Caitlyn Jenner and then Caitlyn showing up and whisking Kyle away in a car, only to run someone down with the car. South Park‘s less than flattering depiction of Caitlyn Jenner, coupled with having him run over pedestrians, was just the icing on the cake; the cake itself was all about Donald Trump.
South Park‘s resident (adult) bigot, Mr. Garrison, decides he’s sick of seeing illegal immigrants all over ‘his’ country. The immigrants in this instance are Canadian. Mr. Garrison then begins to speak about his hatred for immigrants and his plan to “f**k them all to death” is applauded by like-minded racists. When Garrison suggests a giant wall be built to keep Canadians out of America, he is dismayed to learn that Canada has already erected a border wall to keep Americans out of Canada. When Garrison goes to visit the wall, he and his followers are greeted by a lone Canadian man sitting atop the wall teasing them about how Canada has a bunch of cool stuff that the Americans just cannot have.
Being denied entry to Canada leads Garrison to want to speak to the Canadian president. When we finally get a glimpse of the new Canadian president, we see that it is an obvious reference to Donald Trump with his huge, bright orange wig and inability to understand complex political issues. It is revealed to Kyle by a Canadian citizen that their new president was elected because they all thought he was a joke. They kept watching him on the news and laughing at his antics, but the joke ran too long, and before they could put on the brakes, he was being sworn in as president. Now everyone in Canada has either committed suicide or moved to the U.S. to escape Canada’s failing state. Thankfully, Mr. Garrison saves Canada by following through on his promise and literally raping Canadian Trump president to death.
While it may just seem like juvenile humor, there are some real lessons in this episode. Lesson number one is that just because we think Trump is a silly candidate to make fun of, he could still potentially end up the leader of our nation. The episode also suggested that if Canadian Trump made Canada so bad that most Canadians moved south to America, then maybe real Donald Trump would make America so bad that most Americans would feel more secure moving to another country. The second lesson of the episode suggests that the solution to the Mexican immigrant situation is to make Mexico a better place to live. When Garrison kills Canadian Trump, real politicians are left in charge, and all the Canadian immigrants decide it’s safe to go back home. Perhaps Trey Parker and Matt Stone are suggesting that to reduce the amount of illegal Mexican immigrants in the United States, all we need to do is make Mexico a safe and habitable place (not that it’s an easy task).