Elmo Learns He's A Casualty Of Trump’s Budget Cuts In This ‘Sesame Street’ Parody Video

Trump’s proposed budget cuts last week included a litany of organizations dedicated to helping the less fortunate, preserving the arts, and even feeding the elderly. Most of us object to these cuts on an ideological basis, but this Sesame Street parody video from What’s Trending reminds us that these cuts not only undercut social progress; they put Americans out of work.

Americans like Elmo:

In this video, an incredulous Elmo learns he’s getting laid off, thanks to the proposed budget. After digesting the shocking news, Elmo gets a little pissed off that his 32-year tenure means far less than the trivial amount of money saved by cutting off the National Endowment for the Arts and public broadcasting.

Things only get worse when Elmo asks about the state of his health care coverage:

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Thanks to a recent partnership with HBO, Sesame Street will, in all likelihood, survive these budget cuts. But aligning with the pay cable juggernaut has its drawbacks. The people who really need public television—the ones who can’t afford cable—aren’t likely to have access to HBO. Many PBS shows and other public programs proposed to be cut partially or wholly don’t (yet) have private sponsors or partners looking out for them.

Hopefully, refinements to the budget will spare many of the programs and organizations set to be gutted, but if not, it may be time for the private sector to step up and go out of pocket to fund the programs we’ve taken for granted.

For Americans. For Elmo.