'South Park' season 27, episode 5, "Conflict of Interest." Courtesy of Comedy Central Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text It may be hard for many, given our collective issue remembering anything that happened in politics more than six months ago, but recall the unprecedentedly bleak vibe shift that rattled the nation across the first half of 2025. Dark days for millions of Americans began Jan. 20 with Donald Trump's return to the Oval Office. An inauguration featuring a Nazi salute from the world's wealthiest man gave way to the signing of a staggering number of sweeping executive orders that rescinded many of the previous administration's actions and zeroed in on vulnerable members of the working class. Over the subsequent weeks, news of Trump testing his power with the courts and for vendetta fulfillment became quotidian; by June, the chilling effects of the sacking of those who dared question or cross our fairly elected president brought about an unheard-of level of silence from the chattering class. Related Stories TV 'South Park' Gets a Dark Twist as Season 28 Closes Business "I Think It's Imperative That CNN Be Sold": Trump Plays Warner Bros. Kingmaker Where could one turn in this moment while so unnerved by all of it? Certainly not the newly neutered Democrats, merely staring at their shoes amid the chaos, then only in its dawn. The collective silence was perhaps just as much of a shock as it was catching clips of the waves of ICE raids in our cities, or the graphic images of abuse from El Salvador's CECOT prison, or, really, seeing how quickly so many fell in line with Trump in his second coming, gripped with fear of his power and rolling over as he collected settlements from nuisance lawsuits against major media outlets. How could the pushback be so weak, the decision to just look away for four more years so widespread? Who will be a patriot in this moment and say something? Trey Parker and Matt Stone have indicated that, as this all was unfolding, they may have gotten to the task a bit sooner had their post-Skydance-Paramount merger $1.5 billion 50-episode deal with Paramount closed sooner; it was held up by the corporate sale, the blessing for which, incidentally, was his to rescind. Post-corporate deal, it was in late July when they brought South Park, their beloved, decades-running hit animated series, back to Comedy Central after a two-year hiatus. With the return of their show and the confidence that likely comes when you've been buoyed up to the billionaire class, Parker and Stone brought an agenda to rip Trump, his deeply inexperienced cabinet heads and the culture he's created in America, new assholes. Trump was a topic the show refused to address directly during his first term, instead opting to use a longtime character as a stand-in for the president in his first term; he was already an unparodiable parody of himself, the creators' logic seemed to indicate when they were questioned about that decision. But this go-around and their fast and wild success at the task led to an absolute roasting of the administration and the show delivering a send-up of Trump that's disgustingly crass, precisely on-point, and sidesplittingly funny over the two back-to-back seasons; the second season's conclusion on Wednesday night with perhaps a series-best episode that has left most everyone barking on the internet satisfied is another commendable feat. But it's the longtime comedy writing pals' show of bravery, reemerging at this dark moment that had become far too silent as the fear of what wrath Trump may bring spread, that should be considered a true act of patriotism; they shook out of that fear and told us the emperor had no clothes. Parker and Stone have indicated that it was this fear of Trump's wrath that lit a fire under the two longtime friends and creative partners, who brought their crass animated short about four mountain town pals and their gross adventures to Comedy Central in the mid-1990s and managed to ink an initial deal. As season 27 rolled out fortnightly and chilling effects shot through multiple media tentacles after the Sept. 10 killing of political pundit Charlie Kirk, the South Park guys seemed to be undeterred - even as late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air for a mention of Kirk and the GOP. "Trey and I are attracted to that like flies to honey," Stone told The New York Times in a rare interview in November. "Oh, that's where the taboo is? Over there? OK, then we're over there." They didn't start the season 27-28 run with even a lick of subtlety - in fact, some of the moments in the July 26 season 27 premiere episode were the most raucous aired in years. By the end of the premiere's first act, we'd been introduced to the flapping-head, cut-out South Park version of P