Trey Parker and Matt Stone are many things — silly, rebellious, creative and battle-tested after years in Hollywood.
Most of all, they're not dumb.
The "South Park" creators saw the landscape teeming with anti-Trump rhetoric ever since the real estate mogul entered the political scene. They watched as comic institutions — think late-night TV and "Saturday Night Live" - were held captive by Trump attacks.
So the duo pulled a "Bartleby the Scrivener" move. They preferred not to pile on like everyone else. That left "South Park" as an "Orange Man Bad"-free zone. How refreshing. How subversive.
Why tell the same hacky jokes as everyone else? Except, alas, that stance collapsed last year.
The most recent "South Park" season found the show dog-piling on all things Trump. The Comedy Central series mocked Vice President J.D. Vance, President Trump and even former Secretary for Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
The jokes were clunky, obvious and hardly inspired. One example? President Trump started an affair with Satan. Stop ... you're killing us!
A show renowned for hitting both sides of the political aisle dramatically changed its tune. Now, it was 24/7 Trump bashing, just like every other mainstream comedy program. This happened at a time when the political Left lost its collective mind, supporting trans women in women's sports, for example.
Once upon a time, "South Park" torched that groupthink.
Yet the show that ignored a sitting president's cognitive decline couldn't stop mocking President Trump. Guess what happened next?
The media rallied behind the show, for starters. Suddenly, every new episode got blanket media coverage, and the fawning went on and on. A decades-old show was now a media darling.
Who saw that coming? That change was easy to predict. Here's betting Parker and Stone did, too. Again, they're not stupid.
So it came as no surprise that the show just won its first Emmy award since the 2013 season. What a shock! The duo even used social media to celebrate the win AND mock Trump anew.
Courage, as Dan Rather might say.
It was equally shocking to see far-Left comedian Jimmy Kimmel win for Best Game Show host at the same creative Emmy awards gala. Deadline predicts Kimmel will win even bigger Sept. 14 when the primetime Emmy awards gala happens.
Why? Need we even say it aloud?
Except "South Park" isn't done with Trump or will baldly play to its new Hollywood base. The show just announced a name change — it'll be called "South America" now, to mock President Trump's eagerness to rename things in America's image.
Sick burn! Fight the power! It's hard, if not impossible, for a counter-culture show to resist the mainstream indefinitely. "SNL" was dangerous for years, but now the show regurgitates all the "approved" jokes slamming the agreed-upon targets.
It's now as cutting edge as a spork.
Yes, Parker and Stone know exactly how to win awards, gin up favorable media coverage and ensure their "South Park" brand endures.
Embrace Trump Derangement Syndrome, full stop.
If that means trashing the show's comic legacy, well that's a small price to pay, apparently.
