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The Perfection of Veep, in One Subplot

I'd vote for her.
April 21, 2015

It is an undeniable fact that Veep is the best show about Washington, D.C., that has ever been made. It eschews the heartwarmingly self-righteous smarm of The West Wing and avoids suggesting that This Town is run by flawlessly manipulative smooth operators like House of Cards. Instead, Veep shows the District for what it is: a town run by low-level, self-obsessed dolts more likely to trip over their own feet than get anything done right, flunkies who are themselves encircled by a silly media searching for the latest dumb scandal to drive easy headlines.

This weekend's edition of Veep perfectly encapsulated that sensibility. In it, President Selina Meyer is working with the Israelis to come up with yet another road map to peace. She manages to pull off a marginally important agreement related to when the discussions should start or end or some such. Naturally, she thinks that she has singlehandedly brokered peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians (a questionable and self-important reading of the events, sure, but whatever) and wonders why the media isn't more focused on the deal.

They're not focused on the deal because they've been distracted by the latest shiny object: earlier in the episode, the president and her staff removed a truly hideous piece of artwork—"I think it's called 'The Man Who Shits Triangles,'" Selina says of the monstrosity—from the White House. While the removal may have improved the aesthetic qualities of the West Wing, it has done great damage politically: that was the only piece of art in the White House painted by a Native American.

Naturally, the press corps jumps on this total nontroversy. And it's perfect. It's perfect because this is exactly the sort of silly thing the media would obsess over. It's the sort of story that hits all the right buttons: It's a fake gaffe about identity politics, the sort of thing that is easy to find guests to yammer on about—you can easily imagine the endless hours of coverage on MSNBC, an unceasing parade of diversity experts and the professionally outraged "activist" class. Or something similar on, say, Fox to discuss the removal of a statue.* It's the sort of story that's more heat than light, that provides headlines for multiple days (a congresswoman that two of Meyers' underlings is trying to woo to support a plan backs out because her district has a large Native American cohort) and an endless stream of clicks.

Yet it's totally meaningless. Totally, utterly meaningless. Meaningless and vapid and stupid and ...

I could go on. But I just found out that Scott Walker ordered a Big Mac and didn't tip the person who swiped his credit card. So I'm outta here. Gotta focus on the real stories, you know.

*This line by Andrew Rosenthal on The Great Churchill Bust Scandal of 2009\ could've been uttered on Veep:

Bottom line: The complaints about Mr. Obama’s decision regarding the bust are without merit. The White House’s handling of the issue was bumbling and amateurish. In other words, business as usual.