"South Park" is taking on the 2026 midterms – sort of.
The animated series' latest episode opened with a brief acknowledgment of the midterm elections, which saw Democrats sweep into control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Political analysts widely described the election as a rebuke of President Donald Trump
, though Trump has denied responsibility for Republicans' poor showing and said he was not on the ballot.The episode, "We Be Clubbin'," began with Mr. Garrison holding a school assembly and delivering remarks that served as a meta explanation for why "South Park" would not be delving into the midterms too much this week.
At the same time, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone still got in a few shots at Trump.
"Now, I know you've
all heard about the midterms and the severe beating our president took," Garrison said. "And, of course, we could just go on and on and make a bunch of jokes about him, but it's no fun punching down on a helpless loser, so we're just going to sort of not do that this week, OK?"
But in response to the blue wave, Garrison announced the school would be implementing some "liberal changes," and PC Principal, a character introduced in 2015 as a parody of liberal progressives, triumphantly entered.
"We are back!" he exclaimed as celebratory music played, and he announced that the school would be rolling out sex changes for students and support Palestine.
As promised, the rest of the episode had nothing to do with the midterms: The main plot focused on Tweek getting involved in club sports to spend more time with boyfriend Craig in a parody of the hockey romance series "Heated Rivalry." Tweek had been sidelined from the show for years before taking center stage in the episode.
The newest episodes of "South Park" have notably not been too focused on parodying the White House, a shift from its prior two seasons that turned Trump into a recurring character and spoofed the latest developments in his administration each week. For the most part, the series seems to have settled back into its usual mode and turned its attention back to the kids of South Park, though Trump has still had a presence.
At the start of the season, the town of South Park was renamed South America, a parody of Trump's move to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and Lake Ontario to Lake America. The underlying gag in the first episode was that no one in South Park was willing to push back on the change and simply went along with it, and South America has remained the town's official name ever since.
The season's second episode, which skewered billionaires, also featured a live-action rendition of Trump in a vulgar gag that showed him sitting on a toilet. An animated Trump, depicted rubbing himself with the American flag, was also added to the show's intro for this season.
"South Park" had also made the midterm elections a running joke all season. Since the premiere in September, characters had frequently referenced the fact that everything was going to change for the better in November. The joke was that it always sounded like they were talking about the midterms, but they were actually referring to the release of "Grand Theft Auto VI."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'South Park' mocks 'loser' Trump for 'severe beating' in midterms
