Sacha Baron Cohen Fires Back At Donald Trump's Reaction To Borat

In perhaps the most compelling sign that 2020 has officially jumped the shark, the feud between a fictional Kazakhstani cultural ambassador and the non-fictional President of the United States has broken the fourth wall. Now, there's a sentence.

The surprise announcement and subsequent release of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (hereinafter referred to simply as "Borat 2"), may not have been the kind of October surprise the American electorate was planning on fielding, though perhaps it's exactly the October surprise we all deserve at this point. Thanks to a few outrageous scenes implicating serious government officials and political operatives — most of them Republicans — funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen finds himself thrust into the middle of this election cycle's vitriolic final act. Spoiler alert: He's into it.

While Cohen has remained in character — even on Twitter — for most of the early sparring with actual political figures in the wake of his bombshell movie release, a recent shot across the bow from President Donald Trump drew him out of character to issue a rare dig in his own authorial voice.

Borat 2 marks the long-awaited return of Cohen's most famous character, the outrageous Central Asian stereotype who speaks almost-Polish and hails from a village actually in Romania, Borat Sagdiyev. Cohen's general Borat schtick includes fake interviews and pranks aimed at exposing xenophobia and American cultural hypocrisy. At its best, Cohen's satire is raw and illuminating, walking right up to (and some would say well past) the line of propriety.

Much ink has been spilled over two particular moments from Borat 2, given their timeliness and electoral relevance. The first places former New York City Mayor and Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani in a compromising position with 24-year-old Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova, who was playing Borat's 15-year-old daughter at the time. The second never actually made it into the film, but it involves the right-wing One America News Network, and some pretty shoddy security around a presidential presser.

Needless to say, Cohen's satire in Borat 2 does not exactly paint a flattering portrait of the modern-day GOP, for which Donald Trump is the indisputable standard bearer. In a development as predictable as the rising of the sun, President Trump publicly unloaded on Cohen, saying, "That's a phony guy. And I don't find him funny. I don't know anything about him other than he tried to scam me." He also reportedly called Cohen a "creep."

In response, Cohen extended Trump a job offer.

Instead of replying in character, Cohen actually took to his own verified Twitter account to deliver a scathing appraisal of President Trump's job performance, as well as a suggestion for where Mr. Trump might find gainful work should he wind up facing unemployment after November 3.

"Donald—I appreciate the free publicity for Borat! I admit, I don't find you funny either. But yet the whole world laughs at you," Cohen tweeted. "I'm always looking for people to play racist buffoons, and you'll need a job after Jan. 20. Let's talk!"

January 20 is, of course, the day the presidential torch will be passed should Trump lose his reelection bid on November 3. With only a little over one week to go until the final ballots are cast in the 2020 Presidential Election, we don't doubt that Trump is likely preoccupied at the moment with a few of his more pressing grievances. We also wouldn't be surprised if he makes time in his busy schedule to offer Cohen a little more of that sweet "free publicity." 

All eyes remain on Twitter to see how long the feud carries on.