No one invites controversy quite like Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The “South Park” creators have stirred up all kinds of trouble throughout the show’s staggering 26 season run, but the pair really pushed the envelope just a few weeks ago with the arrival of their latest season. The long-awaited season 27 premiere not only lampooned their parent company Paramount in the wake of a $1.5 billion deal to keep “South Park” on the air for another five years, but it also took ruthless jabs at the Trump administration. “Sermon on the ‘Mount” depicted President Donald J. Trump as a loudmouthed annoyance who speaks in the same ridiculous cadence Stone used for Saddam Hussein in “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.” Animated using actual pictures of Trump (including his infamous mugshot), the show’s depiction of the “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” actor constantly threatens to sue everybody who disagrees with him. The cherry on top is a live-action “pro-Trump” PSA that uses deepfake technology to overlay details of Trump’s face onto a lookalike who wanders through the desert, strips naked, and has his teeny tiny penis speak an endorsement message. To say that Stone and Parker were poking the beast is an understatement.

The White House predictably responded the following day to lambast “South Park,” saying the show “hasn’t been relevant for 20 years and is hanging on by a thread” (via Rolling Stone). The past few weeks have shown that this simply isn’t true by any measure, as the premiere drew nearly 6 million viewers across cable and streaming packages. It practically breathed a whole new wave of interest concerning “South Park,” as videos and memes spread across social media like wildfire. I hadn’t seen new seasons of the show in years, but this reignited my curiosity to keep tuning in and see how Stone and Parker could possibly top this.

Two weeks after the season premiere, last night’s episode, titled “Got A Nut,” split its focus in two different directions. The first is a riff on terminally online right-wing grifters like Charlie Kirk. Clyde (Parker) starts a podcast saying sexist and anti-Semitic nonsense because it makes money, with Cartman (Parker) following suit as an overcorrection to have some kind of a grasp on his shtick as a provocateur. But despite this, he still can’t catch up with other kids trying to take his agitator mojo. “South Park” eviscerates the podcast industrial complex by labeling them as “master debaters.” The A-plot, however, somehow poked and prodded the Trump administration even more. It relegates his role to the climax, but it still takes a bold swing at controversial policies, figures, and institutions transpiring under his watch.

Mr. Mackey (Parker) becomes the center of attention this week, as “Got A Nut” follows the elementary school guidance counselor grappling with losing his job due to budget cuts. In wondering how he’s going to make his nut, a teller informs him ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is hiring just about anybody to join up. Mr. Mackey initially resists the idea, at least until he hears that he’ll be offered a $100,000 salary. “If you need a job, it’s a job,” says the twisted ad jingle enticing new recruits. It becomes the easiest job interview in the world, as Mr. Mackey doesn’t really have to say much of anything to be welcomed onboard. Even the homebound keyboard guy from the season 10 episode “Make Love, Not Warcraft” gets inducted in. Things get truly wild with the arrival of (current) Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

There are no holds barred when it comes to making fun of the former governor of South Dakota. Throughout the episode, Noem is shown shooting all manners of puppies in the face, even the beloved scene-stealing Krypto the Super Dog from James Gunn’s “Superman.” It also goes to show how Stone and Parker can’t quite keep up with the bizarreness of our current reality, as ex-Superman actor Dean Cain (“Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”) has now actually signed up to be an ICE agent himself (via CNN). Meanwhile, Noem’s brutal skewering is a reference to her 2022 memoir “Not My First Rodeo,” in which she admitted to shooting her 14 month-old dog Cricket after they supposedly ruined a hunt and killed some chickens (via Politico). In addition to her dog killing spree, of which the episode ends with her performing a mass shooting inside of a pet store, the “South Park” version of Noem also doubles down in saying the quiet part out (very, very) loud.

ICE raids are depicted as inhuman operations, as hoards of masked agents descend upon a “Dora the Explorer LIVE!” show and even heaven. That’s right. Noem’s mantra of “if it’s brown, it must go down” goes to such extreme lengths that she literally moves heaven and earth to arrest souls that have since passed on. It’s cruelty for cruelty’s sake. The face-melting head of ICE even manages to execute her dead dog yet again at the pearly gates. The actual Secretary of Homeland Security has yet to respond to the episode, but I have a strong feeling that she’ll have thoughts about her less-than-flattering depiction.

Mr. Mackey is the perfect character to use as a vehicle opposite Noem and her raids, considering he’s constantly grappling with his inherent nature as a school counselor. It’s clear that he doesn’t want to be doing this, but he needs the money (the titular nut) and does it anyway. It gets to the point where Mr. Mackey becomes so good at being an ICE agent that he’s invited to Mar-a-Lago, where he’s set to be thanked by Trump himself for his record-breaking achievement in “rounding up the most Mexicans.”

The initial promo for “Got A Nut” featured a moment where Trump plays with Satan’s leg under the table at a White House gathering, but it isn’t present in the episode. This fits in line with Stone and Parker animating clips that are never meant to be in the episodes themselves, as is the case with the initial trailer for season 27. The brief glimpse of ICE agents in that promo prompted the actual government agency to use it in a post for recruitment, only to have the official “South Park” account hit back on social media.

Mar-a-Lago is similarly spoofed as an upside-down version of the resort from the ABC television series “Fantasy Island,” with Trump looking out of the window wearing a white suit as Mr. Mackey’s plane arrives. The funniest part isn’t so much Trump, but the reveal of Vice President JD Vance in miniature form. He’s also animated like Trump, with the hilarious difference being that his face is from a meme that doctored the VP’s face to look like a baby with chubby cheeks. In “Got A Nut,” Vance is the Tattoo (Hervé Villechaize) to Trump’s Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalbán), albeit with more kicking on the receiving end. Mr. Mackey is horrified as the President strips down to nothing, while his little lackey offers to massage Satan’s butthole with baby oil. Vance has since responded to his mocking portrayal on social media with a post that reads “Well, I’ve finally made it,” seemingly taking the joke in a better stride than his boss.

At the end of it all, Mr. Mackey’s plot ends up coming full circle as he ends up stepping back into his guidance counselor shoes. Clyde also gets an invite to the Florida resort after winning the Charlie Kirk award, but similarly doesn’t feel fulfilled by his newfound notoriety. They both realize the extent of what they’ve gotten themselves into and, along with a captured Dora, make a run for the first plane out of there. Time will tell if Mr. Mackey gets his job back in the next episode, much less if Cartman will have to go even further to reclaim his provocateur status.

“Got A Nut” brilliantly expands the show’s horizons on how the Trump administration is affecting other members of the “South Park” community in a truly brutal and hilarious fashion. Ultimately, Stone and Parker cram a whole lot into 22 minutes of television, which only makes you wonder what other wild ideas they have in store with the season’s remaining eight episodes.

Every season of “South Park” is currently streaming on Paramount+.