“Cards Against Humanity,” the company responsible for the raunchy, eponymous card game, has recently upped its political involvement from previous endeavors. As 2016’s Presidential campaign heated up, the company began to offer a survival kit in May as a response to notion of Trump’s election. Three months later, the company launched a pair of electoral expansions to their card game, one for Hillary Clinton and the other for Trump; a portion of the money earned from the sale of these two items was then donated to Clinton’s campaign and has nearly raised $400k. While these are lofty endeavors, the company’s latest “stunt” was the establishment of a super PAC.
Thanks to a decision by the 2010 Supreme Court, political speech can receive the sort of unlimited capital that a Political Action Committee can generate. Cards Against Humanity has christened their organization as “The Nuisance Committee” in homage to Ira Weinstein’s POW group during World War II. Ira Weinstein was the grandfather of company co-founder Max Temkin. Additionally, the super PAC’s press release was intended to directly compare Donald J. Trump to Adolf Hitler.
The Nuisance Committee’s first step in political clout was to purchase a billboard directly outside of O’Hare International Airport. The billboard’s message taunts Trump’s financial aptitude and links to a site that highlights Trump’s inability to pay income his taxes. Trump headed for the airport the day after the billboard’s signage was put into position.
In an interview with certain media, Temkin was asked about the impetus for getting involved with the politics. He responded that after lengthy consideration of releasing an election pack, the bold realization that Trump would be the GOP candidate lit a fire within the company. Temkin went on to remark that the 2016 election was appearing more and more to be a choice of fascism vs. democracy. When discussing the idea of donating the sets’ profits, Temkin spoke for the company and said that the notion of handing the money over to Trump’s campaign would scare everyone sleepless.
When pressed about founding a super PAC, Temkin said that while a portion of profits from the expansions would go to Hillary and another portion would have been sent to organizations working toward increasing government transparency it made more sense from an ethical and comedic standpoint to just make a committee. Every facet of The Nuisance Committee is engineered to thwart Trump while being kept separate from the business of “Cards Against Humanity.” Specifically, the committee will encourage as much interest in voting and voting for Clinton as possible, notably in collegiate towns of swing-states and it will exploit the 24/7 news cycle’s fixation on Trump until it turns against the man.
Temkin went on to comment that while the very concept of a super PAC is abhorrent to him, he also believes that a person should use their material wealth to further his beliefs. Temkin is so strongly motivated to defeat Trump that he is willing to use every legal procedure under the sun to stop Trump from winning the election.
When asked about the success of comedy in the election, Temkin remarked that satire was ineffective. While satire can be used to magnify a candidate’s quirks to insane levels, Temkin commented that Trump seemed immune to being satirized; the man seems so outrageous that anything seems plausible. Temkin went on to address how his company’s product exists as a means for Americans to laugh at themselves and the situation. Lastly, Temkin cautioned people to take Trump’s words at face value; Trump’s speeches sound more like a dictator masquerading as the jester.