How the Latest Season of 'House of Cards' Mirrors the 2016 Campaign
— -- Presidential elections extend from real life to fiction with the latest season of “House of Cards,” and the similarities between the two worlds are striking.
Here is some of the more comparable action between the fictitious and, at times, frightening Washington, D.C, world of President Frank Underwood and the real drama unfolding in the nation's capital this year.
Cast members have even spoken out about the parallels because, in many cases, the scripts were written months in advance of what’s playing out in the Donald Trump-dominated 2016 primary campaign.
Neve Campbell, who was a new addition to the cast this year, said showrunner Beau Willimon's experience working in politics before turning to television is helpful because he "has a lot of people on the phone" with whom to consult about real-world politics.
"It was very interesting to be shooting the show and observing what's going on in the real world," Campbell said on “Live! With Kelly and Michael” Friday.
Warning: serious Season 4 spoilers ahead. Stop reading now if you don't want to know.
Threat of ICO Versus ISIS
The similarities between the two terrorist groups extend beyond their acronyms.
Some of the concerns that Underwood's team has about ICO -- destroying dams, taking out oil reserves and its skilled use of social media -- have been raised as real possible ISIS threats.
Presence of the KKK in Political Discourse
The white supremacist group has made appearances in both real and scripted life this year, as a hidden photo from Underwood's past causes him problems in South Carolina, while there have been reported ties between Trump supporters and the infamous supremacist group.
Replacing a Supreme Court Seat During an Election Year
There were no warning signs before the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, but the prospect of having to replace a judge on the highest court in the land was apparently too dramatic to pass up.
On screen, it isn't a death but a degenerative disease that prompts the call for a replacement, and President Obama finds himself in a similar predicament right now.
First Brokered Convention in Decades
Frank and Claire use a brokered convention as a way to finagle her way to the vice presidency, but the prospect of a brokered Republican convention is far less organized.
The anti-Trump movement, which includes Mitt Romney, is loudly pushing for a brokered convention to help determine the Republican Party's nominee, though a Trump win Tuesday in Florida and Ohio would make that less of a possibility.
Terrorist Incident Prompts Talk of Banning Muslims
The domestic terrorist incidents perpetrated by people with ties to ISIS (in real life) and ICO (on the show) differ in the details but had similar outcomes when they lead to suggestions that Muslims be registered or banned from the United States.
Such a reaction was written into the show after a family is taken hostage by ICO sympathizers, and an activist warns of the danger of targeting Muslims. In real life, Trump, in one of his most widely criticized statements, suggested that Muslims be temporarily banned from entering the United States in the wake of the shooting in San Bernardino, California.
