It's Amazing How Donald Trump Fundamentally Doesn't Understand This 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Joke
On Monday night Donald Trump tweeted out a clip from the premiere of the current season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. In the episode, Larry David realizes that if he wears a Make America Great Again hat, good people will want nothing to do with him. Being a curmudgeonly asshole who just wants to be left alone, this is pretty much Larry's dream. He doesn't care about the politics of it, he doesn't care that people see him as a morally bankrupt Trump supporter—he just wants everyone to stay the hell away from him. The intent of the comedy is to show the MAGA hat as something to be detested and avoided at all costs.
Trump's tweet was a clip from later in the episode. Larry is driving somewhere and cuts off some big biker on a motorcycle. The guy on the motorcycle starts cussing and threatening Larry for his mild driving faux pas. They stop alongside each other at the next red light and it looks like this guy on the hog is going to kick Larry's ass. Larry reaches down, pulls out his MAGA hat, and the guy immediately calms down, telling Larry to just drive more carefully next time. The joke here is that this scumbag on the motorcycle—a guy who would intimidate, threaten, and possibly even kick the shit out of a stranger for a harmless mistake is a Trump supporter. And because Larry is perceived as a Trump supporter, hog guy will leave him alone—further implying that motorcycle guy would have continued to escalate the situation against a non-MAGA idiot. Let's be clear, Larry is an asshole, and the guy on the motorcycle is an asshole. It's a scathing indictment of the depravity of Trump supporters and everything MAGA stands for.
But Trump fundamentally didn't understand that joke. He tweeted the clip with the caption: "TOUGH GUYS FOR TRUMP!"
TOUGH GUYS FOR TRUMP! pic.twitter.com/DbjZjGzLWU
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 11, 2020
Now, it's unclear how, exactly, Trump came across this particular clip of Curb Your Enthusiasm. It's possible he's a fan of the show. Maybe Trump really doesn't understand the comedy, and watches Curb thinking Larry is a hero while identifying with the purposefully selfish, dickish protagonist. Or, more likely, Trump searched his name on Twitter, saw some MAGA egg tweeting about the clip, stole the clip of what he saw as just some guy with muscles wearing a MAGA hat, and tweeted it without any critical thinking about the subject. This is somewhat similar to the times that Donald Trump didn't fully grasp the nuances and meaning of the Game of Thrones references he made.
For the record, Larry David detests MAGA idiots. When asked after the episode aired if he was worried about alienating Trump supporters who watch his show, Larry said: "Alienate yourselves, go, go an alienate, you have my blessing. No, I could give a fuck."
I love Larry David with all my heart and soul. pic.twitter.com/OEDANgVLho
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) February 11, 2020
What's amazing about this tweet is how representative it is of the divide between the right and the left in terms of culture, comedy, entertainment, and perception of reality. MAGA idiots see this clip how Trump saw it: A depiction of a tough guy Trump supporter. People on the left see this clip the way it was intended: A satire of the assholes who support Trump. And somewhere in there, that disassociation with reality, is why this country is fucked.
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