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The only thing stranger than the times we’re currently living in are the Republican nominees for president and vice president — as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz recently put it: “These guys are weird.” But the weirdness of politicians is hardly new to Americans, especially those who watched the HBO series Veep. Not only did the Emmy-winning comedy prove prescient when it came to the ascent of Vice President Kamala Harris as the presumptive Democratic nominee in the 2024 election, but it gave us a lens through which to understand the weirdness of candidates like Donald Trump and JD Vance, in the form of the very weird, very embarrassing Jonah Ryan (Timothy Simons).
As the Republican party aims its best barbs at the very experienced, very normal Democratic candidate, it’s becoming clear that Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) wasn’t the biggest cautionary tale from David Mendel’s black-hearted political satire. If you’ve seen Veep, I know what you’re thinking — “Yikes” is pretty much the only word that comes to mind when you think of Jonah, the absurd, truly horrific White-House-liaison-turned-incel-blogger-turned-New Hampshire congressmen-turned-Vice President. But within that “yikes” is a very real, very depressing reminder that Jonah’s right-wing extremism in the show does not live in a vacuum — it’s already within the ranks of our government and thriving within the current-day Republican Party.
When Biden made his departure announcement, social media was flooded with memes comparing the turbulent political journey of the fictional Selina to that of Vice President Harris.
Kamala right now pic.twitter.com/Moh2e7znn5 https://t.co/dyfYXcCIir
— austin (@jesuissupreme) July 21, 2024
But actually comparing the two in terms of policy, effectiveness, and intentions is a much knottier exercise. Veep took some big narrative swings that relied on Selina and her team’s incompetence, and it’s up to you to decide whether or not you see Meyer’s character-driven narcissism in Harris.
Meanwhile, from the very first episode, Jonah Ryan is appropriately reviled by everyone around him. He is a crass, entitled buffoon that initially stands for nothing beyond personal gain; soon, his political makeup becomes more solidified as he’s exiled from Meyer’s administration, and Jonah uses his “outsider” status to gain followers.
Often in Veep, Jonah’s ignorance is rewarded with more power, and when he begins his inane presidential run in Season 7, the already-unhinged character fully flies off the political doorframe: He runs on an anti-vaccine, anti-education, anti-immigrant platform. He ends up marrying his half-sister (thinking she was just his stepsister, which, still weird), he can’t stop saying racist and misogynistic slurs, and much of his political leanings stem simply from being alienated by the popular crowd in D.C.
There’s more, of course — prior to his running, Ryan’s tenure in Congress saw him literally making it harder for the government to make decisions, destroying key debt ceiling legislation and causing a government shutdown. He even picked one relatively harmless thing to make an unnecessarily huge fuss over, lobbying (unsuccessfully) to end Daylight Savings Time nationwide.
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