Over the course of his career, Louis C.K. has rarely been political insofar as supporting one candidate or party over another. The enemy is normally "the system" or humanity in general, and our capacity and appetite for absurd bullshit. But like so many others, the candidacy of one Donald J. Trump led Louie to find his political voice. In March, he penned a letter to his fans calling the then-Republican nominee an "insane bigot" and "Hitler," which, in the modern media environment, was the Content Apocalypse.
He told Stephen Colbert last night that he regretted it, but didn't take it back. He also had a little extra to add:
Explaining the different kinds of liars, C.K. declared Trump was the worst variety. "He's just a gross, crook, dirty, rotten, lying sack of shit," he told Colbert. It's tough to back up much of this description empirically, although the president does have a record that includes the Mobile Locker Room and ripping off subcontractors—gross, and rather crooked. The lying part, though—that's easy to verify. According to Politifact, 69 percent (nice) of the president's statements are some degree of false. A third are outright false, while 16 percent are "pants on fire."
Beyond the headline-making soundbite, though, Louie tackled voting in this country. "It's boring to vote," he said. "You've got to stand in line and stuff. But people don't want to do it, and it's a shame." Just 58 percent of eligible voters showed up in 2016, despite the campaign being one of the most fraught, controversial, and engaging of any in recent memory. That's actually up from some presidential years, like 2000, but slightly down from 2012. However, it's up significantly from the pitiful turnout of the 2014 midterms, when just 36 percent of those eligible cast ballots. Compared to other industrialized democracies, this is absolutely disgraceful.
"People that didn't vote, they said, 'I didn't want to.' That's their thing. 'I didn't like Hillary.' Well, they didn't even show up to give him an opposite Congress," Louie continued. "They just didn't want to. But voting isn't something you do because you want to. You don't look at it like, what do I want? What do I feel? You say: What will happen if I don't? And what will happen if I do? That's called being an adult."
"An election is bigger than your little tastes," he said by way of conclusion. We'll see if the next midterms see more Americans concluding the same.
