Who is Turd Sandwich vs giant douche?

According to South Park, the 2016 presidential race is just another election between a giant douche and a turd sandwich. Last night, the controversial comedy premiered the first episode of its 20th season, and we’re going political. South Park reignited an old in-show political debate, calling its Donald Trump stand-in a “giant douche” and Hillary Clinton a “turd sandwich.”

The pairing is a reference to the 2004 episode “Douche and Turd” where the students of South Park elementary are forced to vote on a new school mascot — either a giant douche or a turd sandwich. The episode was created in response to the 2004 George W. Bush vs. John Kerry presidential race and boiled down to the idea that every election is between two unpleasant choices. You just have to choose which choice you can tolerate more. Clearly, Matt Stone and Trey Parker are applying that mentality again to the 2016 election, which feels a bit lazy to be honest. However, there’s one big piece missing from this douche and turd formula: Donald Trump.

You may remember that last season the Republican party hopeful was raped and then murdered by elementary school teacher Mr. Garrison. It was an intense moment even by South Park standards that left more people confused than outraged. However, in continuing with the show’s recent experiments with continuity, Donald Trump is still dead, and his stand in, a now orange-faced Mr. Garrison, has now become the Republican nominee. There were a couple of really good moment in this season opening episode, including the silence of Hillary Clinton’s addresses compared to the ravenous fans of Mr. Garrison’s speeches. But the strongest point of this plot came when Mr. Garrison realized he may actually become president.

The second Mr. Garrison realizes he has an actual shot at winning this election, he panics over his lack of a plan and starts self-sabotaging. It’s a moment of self-reflection that many have wondered if the real Donald Trump has experienced yet. Weirdly, having the over-the-top Mr. Garrison stand in for Donald Trump allowed for the episode’s Trump criticism to hit harder. There’s a lot more to this episode, including a sharp criticism of people uncomfortable with Colin Kaepernick sitting out the national anthem, an online trolling subplot, the introduction of something called member berries (berries that help you remember the “good old days”), and a reboot of the national anthem written by none other than J. J. Abrams. However, starting off the season with an episode that heavily criticizes the presidential race proves we’re in for a political season.

Leslie explains why she chose Kyle to help her and convinces him to tell everyone what he has learned.

12/09/2015