OMG This Stupid Election Is Right Out Of A Veep Episode!

TV junkies are quick to point out when life imitates art via shows like The Simpsons and Black Mirror — but this time we REALLY mean it!

Veep, which finished its 7-season run last year, starred Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer, an incompetent VP who went on to make a run for the presidency. During her season 5 presidential campaign, Selina is losing badly and demands a recount of the vote in Nevada — sound familiar yet?

There have been plenty of memes about Nevada slowly tabulating their mail-in ballots, but as it turns out, Veep already covered this ground back in 2016, in the first months of Donald Trump‘s presidency. As the (fictional) recount begins, dueling protests come out to both support and oppose the action. But when things start going south for the Meyer campaign and it’s clear she’s going to lose anyway, the (fictional!) candidate then demands the votes stop being counted.

In typically offensive fashion, Louis-Dreyfus’s character lashes out:

“You’re going to cancel this recount like Anne Frank‘s Bat mitzvah. … I’M TIRED OF LOSING THINGS!”

Wow, we can almost hear those words in a certain orange-faced fascist’s whiny voice…

Confusion abounds as Selina’s team fights in court to stop counting any outstanding ballots and tries to redirect the protest from “count every vote” to “stop the count.” The decision ends up being sent to the House of Representatives after the recount gambit fails — and Selina ends up losing the election. (That outcome sounds good to us!)

JLD herself responded to the similarities on Twitter (below):

Really. https://t.co/TjTRWmStha

— Julia Louis-Dreyfus (@OfficialJLD) November 5, 2020

Showrunner David Mandel also seemed amused by the coincidence. In his own tweets, he joked:

“Life imitates art and then beats the s**t out of it with a crowbar.”
“And yet we never won a Golden Globe.”

Maybe not, but those mountains of Emmys (including 3 for Outstanding Comedy Series and 6 consecutive wins for Louis-Dreyfus’ performance) are looking VERY well deserved right now!

When one fan pointed out the Veep writing staff “hit it over and over” with their satire, Mandel responded:

“It was like we were running from the giant boulder in Raiders that was the Trump administration.”

LOLz!

As more people started pointing out the eerie similarities and the series began trending on Twitter, the showrunner added:

“I’m not sure #veep trended when we were actually on the air… not really worth it.”

Well, we’re certainly not glad President Donald Trump is making such a mess of the post-election process that it looks like a satire show, but anything that makes us laugh right now is definitely worth it in our opinion!

Ch-ch-check out some more of the comparisons (below):

This was my first episode of #Veep https://t.co/2M4jMFk1fM

— David Mandel (@DavidHMandel) November 5, 2020

HOW HAS VEEP BEEN RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING pic.twitter.com/WNVUym2Nl3

— davey (@jerseyh0mo) November 5, 2020

THIS IS LITERALLY AN EPISODE OF VEEP https://t.co/TkNdIRCxo9 pic.twitter.com/n5BpNwsuiZ

— Alyssa hallucinated a pandemic? (@alyssalavacca) November 5, 2020