Half a mile from the Potomac. Muskets and sabers glint in sun. You can see the wool beginning to pill on the scarlet and blue coats. The breeches look threadbare. Some sort of cloth is wrapped around the shoes of the soldier standing nearest me. You get the sense that these boys have seen a lot of action.
I am outside Kogan Plaza at George Washington University watching Mike Huckabee and Martin O’Malley do a promo for Turn: Washington’s Spies, an AMC drama whose third season debuts April 25.
A semi-circle of stone-faced Redcoats surround the former governors, like a ludicrously anachronistic security detail. Both men are grinning widely. They’re enjoying this a little too much.
"We’re gonna do a mess of selfies!" O’Malley shouts.
Both of these men are small-time retail political pros. Huckabee is the champion of every novelty tractor pull and sausage eating contest between Sioux City and Green Island. I chalk up O’Malley’s talent to his having spent a lot of time in bars. These men can show up anywhere and BS at the drop of a hat—in this case, a tricorn.
It’s clear from the promotional material I was handed when I identified myself as a journalist that AMC is hoping to capitalize on the Trump ratings phenomenon that has been so good for their primetime cable news competitors. They’re pitching the chaos of 13 colonies whose citizens are divided over the issue of revolution as an antecedent to the equally tumultuous 2016 presidential election. This, says Linda Schupack, AMC’s executive vice president for marketing, "feels appropriate to the period but incredibly fresh as well."
To their credit, neither of the special guests is really buying this. "We don’t hang spies!" O’Malley says.
Because it is the be-all end-all of human existence, both governors take a few questions about the election from the horserace angle. Voters aware of the enormous sway these men have over the hearts and minds of the American electorate will be interested to know that neither has any plans to endorse a candidate. Huckabee says that while Donald Trump might be right to call the Republican primary system "rigged," this has always been the case. O’Malley is worried about the problem of Democratic unity. "I’m going to channel all my energies into the healing process."
Huckabee and O’Malley dropped out of their respective parties’ primary races on the same day in January. They are also both keen amateur musicians. (As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee even pardoned Keith Richards, who had an outstanding reckless driving ticket in the Natural State; Keef returned the favor in his 2010 memoir Life by noting that Huckabee "thinks of himself as a guitar player.")
Have they ever thought of banding together to form a super group à la Humble Pie or Derek and the Dominos?
"We were talking about that on the way over," O’Malley says.
"I think it would be fun, a civilizing force," Huckabee says.
"We’re both looking for something to do," O’Malley adds ruefully.
"If we get together on stage and hum in harmony, it would be historic," Huckabee says.
"I’m still working on pitch," O’Malley says.
I see a gleam in Huckabee’s eye.
"We could sell tickets."