How ‘South Park’ Helped Empower The ‘Alt-Right’

‘South Park’ conditioned the public to a very Trumpian ideology: be the biggest asshole possible to society’s most vulnerable.

O n August 13 of this year, Trey Parker and Matt Stone will celebrate 20 years of making South Park, a show that glorifies being an asshole with the excuse that it’s “comedy.” Meanwhile, Donald Trump continues to be President of the United States.

These statements are more related than they may seem.

While it has enjoyed major popularity, particularly among white male youth, South Park has also done more than perhaps any other American program to desensitize the public to bigotry, bullying, and downright cruelty. In the South Park universe, it’s cool and — more specifically — an act of heroic anti-establishment rebellion to defy “political correctness” and mistreat the most marginalized in society. If that ethos sounds familiar, it might be because it defines the proudly asshole white nationalist “alt-right,” and its beloved son, the bully to rule them all — our current commander in chief.

Two decades later, it’s time to assess the political impact of what’s championed by many as a modern classic.