South Park has never been shy about parodying and satirizing pop culture and current events. And before its recent turn, where creators Trey Parker andMatt Stone made Donald Trump the butt of their jokes, Season 26 made a significant change, retiring an old joke that was already starting to sour. For years, South Park had already been satirizing Trump, and during the president’s initial 2015 campaign, the character Mr. Garrison (Parker) became a vehicle for that comedy. Mr. Garrison has been the subject of controversies before, so him picking up the persona of Trump, donning a suit, red tie, and orange makeup, isn’t necessarily a shocking twist. But the show was right to leave this aspect of the character behind.
‘South Park’s Season 26 Finale Perfectly Wrapped Up Mr. Garrison’s Trump Storyline
In the Season 26 finale, “Spring Break,” Mr. Garrison and his boyfriend, Rick (Stone), go on a vacation together to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. While on the boardwalk, Garrison comes upon a Trump-themed shop, selling all the merchandise from his Trump persona. In a commentary on addiction, Garrison soon becomes addicted to acting like Trump once again, after giving it up in a prior season. Although the episode was not rated the highest, the plotline still brought some detrimental consequences for the character of Garrison and his path moving forward on the show. After being threatened with the end of his relationship with Rick, Garrison vows to quit the Trump routine in the hopes of keeping Rick in his life. The finale ends with the two of them making amends.
Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most? Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek
Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🚀Star Wars
💍Lord of the Rings
🧙Harry Potter
👑Game of Thrones
🖖Star Trek
01
What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning? Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.
02
Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit? The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.
03
How do you prefer your conflicts resolved? The shape of a world’s conflicts tells you everything about its soul.
04
Who do you want beside you when things get difficult? Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.
05
What is your relationship with power? How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.
06
How does your universe treat good and evil? A world’s moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.
07
What role would you naturally fall into? Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?
08
What do you ultimately believe about the future? The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.
Your Universe Has Been Chosen You Belong In…
Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.
You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
You’d find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.
Middle-earth
Lord of the Rings
You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world’s beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.
Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
Tolkien’s universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.
The Wizarding World
Harry Potter
You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what’s right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.
The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
Harry Potter’s universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.
Westeros · The Known World
Game of Thrones
You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.
Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don’t confuse the world as it is with the world as you’d like it to be.
Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
Winter always comes. You are already prepared.
The United Federation of Planets
Star Trek
You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.
Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
The Federation is the universe’s most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
You don’t just hope that’s possible. You think it’s the only thing worth working toward.
‘South Park’ Pivoted With Trump After His Re-Election
Thanks to the shortened time it takes to create South Park episodes, Parker and Stone have always been able to comment on pop culture as it is happening. Mr. Garrison’s Trump persona was created as a result of Trump’s rise in 2015, but as outrageous as it seemed at the time, when Trump won the presidency, Garrison’s persona no longer worked for the show. In a 2017 interview, Parker commented on the fact that satire now felt like reality. In trying to come up with new storylines for the show, Parker said, “We were really trying to make fun of what was going on, but we couldn’t keep up and what was actually happening was much funnier than anything we could come up with.”
Later in 2024, before Donald Trump was re-elected, both Parker and Stone admitted that presidential elections have always been difficult for them to cover. Stone said, “Obviously, it’s fucking important, but it kind of takes over everything, and we just have less fun.” With Parker adding that they simply didn’t know what more they could say about Trump. However, this all changed after November 2024. With South Park set to premiere Season 27 in July 2025, Parker and Stone stopped pulling punches when it came to the president.
The premiere, “Sermon on the ‘Mount” took direct shots at Trump, putting him in bed with the literal devil while commenting on everything from the Epstein files to the Paramount Skydance merger. Once again, the show was able to comment directly on recent events regarding the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which had only been announced over a week prior. This time, South Park didn’t dress Mr. Garrison up like Trump to make a statement. Instead, we see Trump exactly as the series once depicted Saddam Hussein, with his actual picture, and in bed with the literal devil. Trump threatens to sue the town for their rejection of Christianity, while the townspeople are advocating for the separation of church and state.
Unsurprisingly, the episode’s success and the reaction from the public was instant. The White House offered a statement on the episode, saying, “This show hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention,” and that “no fourth-rate show can derail President Trump’s hot streak.” However, the episode quickly topped the charts on Paramount+ after its debut and broke viewership records by attracting 5.9 million views, making it the biggest premiere for the show since 2022. Parker and Stone made the right decision to retire Mr. Garrison’s Trump persona, and by changing their approach to talking about current events, the show continues its legacy as one of the most relevant TV shows in history.
