The Big Bang Theory Creator Chuck Lorre Warns of Trump's Creeping Fascism

Thursday night's The Big Bang Theory, "The Allowance Evaporation," was a short (only 17:49), unmemorable episode about Raj (Kunal Nayyar) trying to grow up and stop living off his rich father's (Brian George) money, as well as Sheldon (Jim Parsons) learning a lesson about public vs. private information after he humiliated Amy (Mayim Bialik) by telling everyone about their sex life.

But that wasn't the interesting part. The interesting part came in the closing credits, where creator Chuck Lorre used his vanity card (a little note about whatever's on his mind he sometimes includes at the end of episodes of his shows) to speculate that President Donald Trump will use a tragic or relatively trivial event to justify consolidating power and stripping citizens -- especially women -- of their rights.

Borrowing the style of the fables in Kahlil Gibran's classic book The Prophet, "Chuck Gibran" writes:

And then a man stepped from the group of villagers and asked the Prophet, "In these troubled times, what should we be most wary of?"

The Prophet said, "Beware the opportune tragedy. The Reichstag. The Gulf of Tonkin. The Archduke. For this will surely portend the end of your freedom, as well as the Bill Maher show. Now that I think of it, Oliver and Bee are also toast."

Then a young woman approached the Prophet. She looked up at his not-half-bad-looking-for-a-man-his-age face and asked, "Why do men seek to possess and control my body?"

To this the Prophet said, "Men covet the divine. And what is more transcendent than the power to create life. To have power over a woman's body is their misguided attempt to have power over god. To be god. With this in mind, keep an eye out for the man who builds golden temples so people may worship him. Having a Canadian passport is also not a bad idea."

The Reichstag fire was one of the key events that led to the creation of Nazi Germany. It led to a crackdown on Communists and the suspension of civil liberties. The Gulf of Tonkin incident was a false battle that then-President Lyndon Johnson used to justify escalating the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand kicked off World War I.

Lorre, in his sarcastic way, is warning viewers to be wary of the Trump administration's predilection for misinformation and aggression. Lorre fears that unless we learn from history, we will fall for another Gulf of Tonkin. Lorre seems to have read the "trial balloon" and "head fake" conspiracy posts that went viral last month. He also attempts to explain Republican lawmakers' fixation on legislating women's bodies.

This is not the first time Lorre has used his vanity cards to get political; during the week of the election, Lorre told Trump "%#&@ you."

The Big Bang Theory airs Thursdays at 8/7c on CBS.

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