People used to say that “sometimes reality is stranger than fiction,” but now it feels like it’s most days. And by fiction, we mean a Succession–like, satirical dark comedy wherein insanely rich and out-of-touch people have somehow been handed the country’s steering wheel, and most citizens have little option but to sit back and hang on for dear life. For those who now sit in the backseat when there may have once been the hope that we were “not going back,” the energy C radiates in this TikTok may hit close to home.
C, who goes by @____rewardiffound____ on the social media platform, is acting as if she’s a tour guide or a flight attendant welcoming unwitting tourists aboard the wild ride that is present-day America – or, more specifically, Donald Trump’s America.
The satirical skit follows a similar pattern throughout: C states something that reflects the current state of the U.S. and the implications of a felonious billionaire being reelected to lead and represent the nation. That said, C gives off the impression that she’s – understandably – closer and closer to a full meltdown each time she goes to open the door to welcome whoever’s watching into a country that, at this point, if it didn’t exist, it had to be the setting of a dystopian, absurdist dramedy – with the occasional pinch of psychological thriller.
Welcome to America. Enjoy your stay?
C’s attitude feels like she’s been through the many stages of grief and now she can’t help but mock what is, to put it mildly, a bizarre political landscape – even if part of her may continue crying on the inside.
In less than a minute and a half, C pokes fun at the fact that, technically, Donald Trump being convicted of 34 counts of felony fraud – pertaining to the falsification of business records – couldn’t enter the country legally were he an immigrant; that Trump has been choosing cabinet picks that you’d only expect to find in a nightmare blunt rotation, too many of whom allegedly should not be “anywhere where minors might be;” that the low literacy rates are not going to be magically cured by imposing the Bible on every school child – looking at you, Ryan Walters… The list goes on, and like C, the more one enumerates items on this frightening list, the more inwardly horrified one tends to feel. But, hey, at least we still have humor as a coping mechanism, right?
“It’s funny because if we don’t laugh,” one netizen remarks, “we curl up into a ball and rock back and forth, sobbing into the abyss.” Another commenter, a non-American citizen, writes, “Thanks for the welcome, but I decided to skip the US from my list of holiday destinations for the next 4 years.” Some even pointed out how C’s video could make for a great Saturday Night Live skit.
Well, on the bright side, Matt Gaetz is no longer going to lead the DOJ – one less potential high government official who probably shouldn’t be allowed “around parks, schools, or anywhere where minors might be” – Pete Hegseth may follow suit in losing his nomination, and Democrats managed to flip the last House seat – although remaining 5 seats short of the Republican total. None of this may be monumentally game-changing but, at this point, it may be best to welcome every minor win one can get as we buckle up for what is sure to be a wild 4 years.