Dem
52
Ties
3
GOP
45
Since we've got a theme going of Donald Trump getting poked in the eye, let's stick with that. Trump will most certainly go after private entities that he has power over, which mostly means: (1) media outlets that need White House access, (2) any company with a pending merger that needs to be approved by the Department of "Justice," and (3) any person, company or institution that receives government grants or contracts.
The problem for the administration is that there are plenty of entities that are not included in any of those three lists, and who are free to behave as if the United States actually does have a Bill of Rights. Among those entities is TSFKASP. That is short for "The Show Formerly Known as South Park." And the reason that they are formerly known by that name is that, with the debut of the new, 29th season, the program is now known as South America.
What is the gag here? Well, it's probably easiest to just quote from the press release that creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone used to announce the name change:
Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google, we are changing the name of South Park to SOUTH AMERICA. We especially want to thank our parent company Paramount—a Skydance Capitulation.
The debut episode of the new season had the (now usual) naked Donald Trump character (complete with small... hands), as well as many gags at the expense of Lake Ontario/Lake America, New Mexico/New America and the Gulf of Mexico/Gulf of America.
If Trump finds out about the mockery, he may well denounce the show's creators as "Dumbocrats" or "biased liberals," or the like. However, the truth—and this is hardly a secret—is that Parker and Stone are more libertarian than anything else. And, by temperament, they are actually more likely to turn their sights on liberals than on conservatives. In particular, they really loathe anything that comes within a country mile of political correctness. But they also really loathe Trump, in substantial part because of his penchant for censorship.
Another place which should be reasonably Trump-friendly territory is the NFL. After all, the owners of the teams are all billionaires, and several of them are outspoken Trumpers. Indeed, the Jets' owner, Woody Johnson, served as an ambassador during the first Trump administration. A lot of the players are Trumpy, and so are a lot of the fans.
Canada, of course, does not have an NFL team. They could certainly have the Bears for the asking, but they have wisely chosen not to ask. Consequently, many Canadian fans in Quebec have adopted the Buffalo Bills as "their" NFL team, while many Canadian fans in Ontario have adopted either the Bills or the Detroit Lions.
As chance would have it, the Lions played the Bills, in Buffalo, on Thursday night of this week. And while the general consensus in Canada is "don't support anything American," some fans there know the NFL teams had nothing to do with Trump's anti-Canada policies and rhetoric. Meanwhile, the Bills and Lions both appreciate fans sticking it out, despite plenty of motivation to jump ship. So, before the game on Thursday, the Bills arranged for a performance of "O, Canada!" right before "The Star Spangled Banner."
It is not customary to perform "O, Canada!" at American sporting events, unless one of the teams is Canadian. In fact, it's basically unheard of when both participating teams are American. Folks on the right perceived the gesture as, in substantial part, a middle finger to Trump. Folks on the left perceived the gesture as, in substantial part, a middle finger to Trump. And both are right. Who said bipartisanship was dead? (Z)