U.S. President Donald Trump just made irony great again by tweeting an out-of-context clip from the HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm in which Larry David uses Trump’s signature MAGA hat to avoid a dust-up with an angry biker.
“TOUGH GUYS FOR TRUMP!” the president tweeted, while apparently missing the fact that the clip was making fun of his supporters.
The clip comes from the first episode of the latest season of Curb, in which the socially awkward David learns he can use Trump’s Make America Great Again hat as a “people repellent” in various situations.
In the clip that Trump tweeted, which includes several swear words, David cuts off a mean-looking biker with his car, prompting the biker to swear profusely and threaten to beat him up.
“I ought to rip you out of your f—ing car!” the biker says to David in the clip.
David puts on the MAGA hat, and the biker’s attitude immediately softens.
“Just be more careful next time, OK?” the biker says, before driving off.
WARNING: The following clip contains harsh language. Viewer discretion is advised.
Trump critics immediately pointed out that he obviously didn’t understand the joke and probably hasn’t seen the entire episode of Curb.
“Once again, the joke’s on you,” user Cyrus McQueen wrote.
“This has to be the stupidest tweet he’s ever wrote,” added another user. “Larry David should be proud.”
Another user suggested Trump was “too narcissistic” to realize he’s being mocked.
“This episode of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ is mocking MAGA culture (if that’s the appropriate term),” author Joyce Carol Oates tweeted. “The glaring red MAGA hat is used by Larry David to repel people he doesn’t want to meet with in L.A.” She also spelled out the word “JOKE.”
In the episode, David gets the idea to wear a MAGA hat after his friend Jeff declines to play golf with a Trump supporter.
“I never play with a Trump supporter,” Jeff tells David. “I see him around town with that hat — ‘Make America Great Again.’ I don’t need that crap. He just makes me not want to be anywhere near him.”
In the next scene, David wears the hat to lunch with an acquaintance he wants to avoid. The acquaintance sees the hat, sees other people scowling in the restaurant and immediately makes an excuse to leave.
In another scene, David throws the hat on to prevent a couple from sitting beside him at a sushi bar.
“Sad!” he says after they decide not to sit near him. “Very sad. Sad!”
David later tells Jeff that he’s no Trump supporter, but the hat is “a great people repellent.”
It’s not the first time Trump has shared a pop-culture joke that reflects poorly on him in its proper context. His campaign tweeted a video of Trump as the Marvel villain Thanos last year, moments before the character loses to the Avengers.
Nevertheless, some Trump supporters seem to enjoy seeing people correct their favourite president.
“Triggered,” a pro-Trump account tweeted in response to the video.
Another user responded with a clip of a puffed-up person steaming from the ears. “Liberals after watching this,” the pro-Trump account wrote.
David, who also co-created Seinfeld, has shown no remorse for mocking Trump supporters in his latest season of Curb.
When an interviewer asked him earlier this year if he was worried about “alienating” Trump supporters, David shouted: “Alienate yourselves! Go and alienate, you have my blessing.”
He then added: “No, I could give a f—.”
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