South Park’s caricatures of President Trump and JD Vance
Comedy Central/South Park
An internet-altered version of Vice President JD Vance made its way into season 27, episode 2 of South Park, which satirized life inside Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
What Happened In The ‘South Park’ JD Vance Episode?
South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have seemingly made it their mission in the show’s 27th season to lampoon Trump’s White House, and satirize the culture war.
Episode 2, “Got A Nut,” continues the story of Cartman’s existential crisis—the monstrous id of the show is shocked that his bigoted opinions have become common on the reactionary podcast scene.
Seeing an easy way to make money, Cartman starts a debate podcast, targeting easily flustered “woke” students, and editing out the moments where his talking points fall flat.
Cartman’s podcaster outfit was a clear parody of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, and Kirk acknowledged the show’s satire on X (Twitter), writing “Not bad, Cartman,” followed by laughing emojis.
Meanwhile, the school’s long-time guidance counselor, Mr Mackey, gets fired due to cuts to education, and is convinced to work for ICE, working under a caricature of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
Noem is depicted as a psychopathic dog-killer whose face repeatedly melts, leading her squadron of immigration officers to a family-filled Dora the Explorer musical, and afterwards, to the gates of Heaven.
Mr Mackey eventually finds himself invited to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, where Trump and his lover, Satan, make another appearance.
This time, Vice President JD Vance appears as Trump’s round-faced, baby-voiced lackey, who Trump literally kicks around.
Vance reacted to South Park’s parody of him on X, writing, “Well, I’ve finally made it.”
The episode ends with Mr Mackey resigning from ICE, concluding that the work goes against his nature. The final scene sees Krypto from James Gunn’s Superman swoop in to save the day, only to be brutally shot by Noem.
Online, some expressed surprise that the long-running, edgy animation had become so critical of the Trump administration, noting that South Park was one of the loudest critical voices out there.
Why Did ‘South Park’ Depict JD Vance As A Baby?
South Park lifted the caricature of Vance directly from social media—memes making their way into film and television is an increasingly common phenomenon of the modern internet.
The infamous JD Vance memes first arose on X after a tense meeting between Trump, Vance and Ukrainian President Zelensky. Vance’s words to Zelensky immediately inspired a distorted, childlike depiction of Vance that proved popular online.
After a couple of insulting caricatures, increasingly bizarre depictions of the Vice President started to spread through the internet, the trend becoming a competition to see who could create the most hideous, weird or original Vance.
Interestingly, the Vance memes were far more surreal and absurd than South Park’s caricature, which retained the simple, bloated design of the first few images.
The previous episode of South Park managed to get a reaction from the White House, which described the show as “desperate” and “hanging on by a thread.”
Once again, the creators of South Park seem to be actively goading the White House and President Trump into some kind of a response.
MORE FROM FORBES
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2025/08/07/the-south-park-jd-vance-parody-explained/