House of Cards Season 4: Trump and Frank

House of Cards has always been about our political reality writ large and therein in effect criticized and caricatured, and in Season 4 that dissonant consonance moved much closer - this time, because of what's happened in our off-Netflix reality and screens with Donald Trump.  Just last night, violence at his cancelled rally in Chicago - cancelled as a cynical political move by Trump, to make him and his racist views and followers look sympathetic - played out on cable news, just as my wife and I were watching the conclusion of House of Cards season 4.

Frank Underwood and his story in House of Cards was always over the top. As corrupt and ruthless as our political system is, a House of Representative hotshot has never risen to Vice President and then President the way Frank did, a way that included not only exquisite political maneuvering, but two murders thrown into the mix to add a little spice.

The over-the-top kicker in Season 4 - Claire getting on the ticket as Franks's VP - should not be that shocking or hard to believe, if we've gone this far in the incredible story and willingly suspended our disbelief as per Coleridge.  But it was with typical flair and disconcerting zest in House of Cards.

And though Trump hasn't picked his VP as yet (thankfully, he's not yet even been nominated) and hasn't murdered anyone (as far as we know), he's veering close to murdering the primary process, at least in the GOP, and we've still got some months to go before the Republican National Convention this summer.

Whether that will be a rerun of Frank's nomination on House of Cards remains to be seen.  What is clear right now is Frank and Claire are the most frightening people ever to be in the White House - check out that chilling last scene and what Frank says about terror - and Trump is giving them a run for his money in the world outside your window.

See also House of Cards Season 1: A Review ... House of Cards Season 2: Even Better than the First, and Why ... House of Cards Season 3: Frank, Claire, "Putin," and Superb



McLuhan's "hot and cool" applied to Trump

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