David Cross came to semi-prominance as the co-creator of HBO’s comedy sketch show Mr. Show in the mid-1990s. He has released a handful of stand-up specials and starred in all kinds of television and film. His humor is coarse and political. He has never shied away from being far left and he’s never minced words when it comes to right-wing hypocrisy and intolerance. If you don’t like curse words or “adult humor,” he isn’t for you. For the rest of us—he’s just a peach! He has a new stand up special on Netflix titled Making America Great Again, which was shot in April. It’s fantastic! Cross talks about a lot of things but a sizable chunk of his material comes in the early middle of the set and it’s dedicated to Trump and Cruz and the Republican Party’s bullshit. He talks about imagining any Republican trying to wrap their mind around the Statue of Liberty. He begins by reciting some of poetry on the bottom of the statue—“The New Colossus,” by Emma Lazarus.
‘Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’
And I was thinking what a beautiful, optimistic, humane ideal to have and one that is quite literally the opposite of what Republicans believe. LITERALLY the opposite of what their candidates’ platform is.
From here he imagines Republican candidates having to take photo ops in front of the statue and the mental olympics they go through to say the literal opposite of the thing they are pretending to support, while standing in front of the symbol of their utter hypocrisy.
It’s so interesting to me, how faux-mystified everybody is by Donald Trump’s rise, his ascension. It’s no mystery to me. It’s no mystery at all. At least 25 percent of this country has always been ignorant, racist, xenophobes—who are easily appealed to on an emotional level. That’s it. That’s always been the case.
What’s Trump’s appeal?
The reason I think so many people like to go to Donald Trump gatherings is because it allows them the opportunity to finally go to a White Power rally...without all the guilt, you know?
Here’s a clip. But do yourself a favor and watch the whole thing when you have the time.