"South Park" episodes mocking the Trump administration are doing more than enraging the president and his allies, former GOP strategist Tim Miller told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on "Deadline: White House" Friday — it's making the broader pop culture, even individuals with more right-leaning inclinations, permission to make Trump the butt of the joke in a way he hasn't been since being re-elected.
"Does any of it matter politically?" said Wallace.
"Well, I think there are two parts to this," said Miller, a frequent critic of the president. "One is can it give other people the backbone to get to speak out? And that's like the most frustrating part about all this, is you would think that 'South Park' would be showing the way, that there's not the risk here that all these people say there is that you can speak out against Trump, especially if you come from a place of power and privilege."
This, he said, is "the most frustrating thing about watching all these tech execs go there and slobber over him yesterday as if, you know, the richest people in the history of the world could not survive and keep their dignity intact at the same time. But hopefully, I don't — I'm not, you know, counting our chickens on that."
However, Miller added, there is one way in which "South Park's" war on Trump is breaking through the culture.
"You're seeing this trickle down into other more kind of comedians that appeal more to people on the MAGA right, particularly the kind of manosphere-type comedians," said Miller. "I'm thinking of Tim Dillon in particular, and Andrew Schulz. I don't — your viewers might not be familiar with them or they might, but I've been watching a lot of their shows lately and they are pretty — they're starting to get pretty skeptical of this administration and they want to be outsiders, they don't — you know, comedians don't want to be talking heads and mouthpieces for the administration like a Charlie Kirk might. They, you know, they want to be contrarian."
In that regard, he said, "Trump's given a lot to work with, whether it be, you know, the military stuff or whether it be, there's a lot of funny material out there about JD Vance I've been watching and how how and Peter Thiel and his four speeches on the Antichrist he's giving recent coming up and, and how maybe we should be a little bit concerned if one of the most influential people in MAGA is giving four speeches on the Antichrist in the next in the next month."
"So, I think that, like, the 'South Park' and the Tim Dillons, you know, starting to poke fun at these guys, I think could have a real political impact because it might pop the bubble of invincibility that Trump has had with some part of his base."
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