From Esquire

At one point during the first episode of Showtime's Who Is America?, Larry Pratt, executive director of firearms lobbyist group Gun Owners of America, is cracking up over the idea of a man raping his own wife. This is before Sacha Baron Cohen, dressed as an Israeli anti-terrorism expert, convinces him to participate in a commercial for Kindergarten gun training in which children are encouraged to play with Uzi's disguised as teddy bears.

In any rational society, this would be more than enough to end the man's career. At the very least, it would be enough to start a conversation about pro-gun advocates and their love of these instruments of death. But this is America in 2018.

This is a country where Republican lawmakers looking into a camera and saying children should be taught how to kill with assault weapons and explosives (which Cohen gets them to do at the conclusion of Episode One) will likely engender support among some constituents. This is a country where reality TV star Donald Trump can be elected president after he's heard on tape bragging about sexually assaulting women. In fact, the Access Hollywood tape could have been a scene from Who Is America? (if Billy Bush was trying to expose Trump's predatory nature, not laughing along with him).

What Cohen fearlessly sets out to do with Who Is America? is recreate moments like this through provocative comedy and subjects who are currently running the country. Unlike his previous characters, Ali G and Borat, and his less successful two follow-ups, Cohen isn't here to embarrass Americans and the occasional celebrity. This is about directly calling out lawmakers and, in some cases, tricking them into revealing their darkest natures. At his best, Cohen's characters are mirrors pointed directly at the xenophobic, homophobic, violent heart of America.

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In terms of subversive, provocative comedy, Cohen has stayed relatively quiet through much of the 2010s. He rose to prominence in the early 2000s with HBO's Da Ali G Show, where he played three different characters-the titular Ali G, Borat, and Bruno-all of whom got their own feature length films. Borat remains Cohen's most famous work, for which he even won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy.

But his 2012 comedy, The Dictator, received mixed reviews. As the country went to shit ahead of the 2016 election, he remained notably absent. This July 4, Cohen resurfaced on Twitter with a mysterious announcement. He dug up the old video of then-reality star Donald Trump threatening him for a 2003 interview with Ali G. His tweet warned that he’d been working on something for the last year and was coming for Trump.

A message from your President @realDonaldTrump on Independence Day pic.twitter.com/O2PwZqO0cs - Sacha Baron Cohen (@SachaBaronCohen) July 4, 2018

Since then, a number of Republicans-including Sarah Palin, Roy Moore, and radio host Joe Walsh-have shared their disgust at being duped by Cohen’s characters. They’ve even called for a boycott of Showtime. This has proved to be nothing but good promotion for the series.

Roy Moore says he was duped by Sacha Baron Cohen for his new CBS/Showtime series & threatens legal action "If Showtime airs a defamatory attack on my character..." pic.twitter.com/ovQjdXGyjw - Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) July 12, 2018