Louis C.K. Sums Up This Political Season Perfectly

It’s been a long political season so far, one that has been full heated moments and plenty of surprises. The Democratic and Republican conventions haven’t even happened yet, and already people are threatening to leave their parties and the country altogether. To say that the stakes have never been higher definitely rings true for the 2016 election. But the stakes — and the candidates fighting for them — can sometimes be a little confusing. So leave it to Louis C.K., your resident funny man, to come up with the perfect analogy that explains this political season entirely. Just in case you’ve been trying to make sense of the differences between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, or if you’ve been trying to explain to your roommate why Donald Trump is a troubling candidate, this hilarious analogy really is all you need to make sense of the 2016 Presidential election.

In New York Magazine’s TV issue, the comedian spoke exclusively about a number of important issues: gender, the internet, feminism, and the next huge comedic talent coming our way. But it really was his comments about the current political climate that seemed to ring the most true. As hilarious as Louis C.K.’s comments in the interview were, they also provide a decent dose of reality to help explain what has, at times, seemed like an insane race to November. Explaining the 2016 Presidential election in a way we can all understand, Louis. C.K. said:

It’s like if you were on a plane and you wanted to choose a pilot. You have one person, Hillary, who says, “Here’s my license. Here’s all the thousands of flights that I’ve flown. Here’s planes I’ve flown in really difficult situations. I’ve had some good flights and some bad flights, but I’ve been flying for a very long time, and I know exactly how this plane works." Then you’ve got Bernie, who says, “Everyone should get a ride right to their house with this plane.” “Well, how are you going to do that?” “I just think we should. It’s only fair that everyone gets to use the plane equally.” And then Trump says, “I’m going to fly so well. You’re not going to believe how good I’m going to fly this plane, and by the way, Hillary never flew a plane in her life.” “She did, and we have pictures.” “No, she never did it.”

This totally nails it, right? When it comes to what each candidate's expertise is, it can be tough sometimes to make sense of what's really happening beneath all of those political moves. But I can’t think of a better way to describe the differences between these candidates — both good and bad — than in these terms. It makes clear what each candidate is fighting for, and the various ways that they are tearing each other down to get to the top. Tackling their respective experiences and attempts to seem more qualified than the others, this analogy really does nail the tension that's been coursing through this political season.

So leave it to Louis C.K. to drive a stake through the heart of the political matter we’re all facing with perfect simplicity and humor. Isn’t that what the best comedians always do?