The people are fighting. The ballot boxes are on fire. The politicians are lobbing insults. The news desks are debating their news slant. The executives are using their power to shift the democratic process. All of this in the award-winning drama series ‘Succession’… and the reality of the US election.
‘America Decides’, the eighth episode of Succession’s final season, follows the Roy family (the thinly-veiled Murdoch stand-ins) as they control the election from inside their news network ATN (basically Fox News). It’s all there, the side-splitting comedy and the extreme drama about a group of billionaires so removed from reality that the election result is nothing more than “your team playing my team”, as Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) so eloquently puts it.
What’s so impressive is that this episode aired 14 May 2023. But it is just television, remember? It’s entertainment. Plain and simple. Until it’s not. And then, it doesn’t feel like just entertainment for much longer. More of a parable. Or a warning.
Jeryd Mencken is our Donald Trump stand-in. The writers did an excellent job writing a republican candidate that feels different to Trump yet just as dangerous. He’s young, fifty-ish. Incredibly well-spoken, uber-eloquent. And, hits all the anti-establishment notes of a far-right candidate with zero utterance of MAGA (or even QAnon) rhetoric. He’s mean and risky, but by no means a caricature. When he wins (spoilers!), there is a looming sense of dread.
Mencken is crowned the winner because of a sibling’s argument. Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) lies about a phone call to seem in control, and upon finding this out, Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) sides with his brother Roman to call the election for Mencken. ATN calls first, not all ballots have been counted – and some are on fire! Every other news network wants their head, they called too early. But the temptation to win kills their instinct to protect themselves. The episode ends with a feeling of glee from Roman because ‘his team won’.
Mencken is in their pocket. And ahead of an enormous case with the Department of Justice for suspected (and yes, there was) sexual abuse on Waystar Roy Co. cruise ships, they wanted a man on their side, so they put him in the White House. This, against today’s instances of Jeff Bezos blocking ‘The Washington Post’s’ endorsement of Kamala Harris in his interest or Elon Musk parading with Trump, bouncing around the stage, just proves that high-powered people try to sway elections for their gain. America will decide, but only under the manipulations put upon them by those with agendas.
Then there’s Connor Roy (Alan Ruck), the eldest boy of the Roy family. The forgotten child. A man who has never worked a day then decided, way back in season one, that his first job will be… President of the United States of America. He runs as a libertarian, probably because he’s never been tied down by laws to begin with. It’s almost laughable how much like Connor Roy, independent candidate RFK Jr. is. A man born into wealth, hopping between political beliefs to suit himself. Hosting his own debate, and answering the questions posed in the one between Trump & Biden as through he were there – is the most Connor thing in the world. Unlike RFK back in August, Connor didn’t concede the election until the decision was almost made, hoping to grab some sort of ambassadorship out of the Mencken administration while he still could. Could RFK, having endorsed Trump and forgone his deeply rooted support of the democrats (family legacy and all!) look to Trump for the same if he wins? Maybe. Or maybe he’ll just go back to dumping the bears he hunts in Central Park – whatever suits him. I’m sure he doesn’t have to work a day in his life either.
It’s not a fluke that so much of today is reflected in this episode from over a year ago. On the night of Succession’s first table read, Donald Trump was crowned President-elect. The show is deeply, deeply cynical, and the writers are highly intelligent. The satire is so spot-on that it’s scary. Mencken’s election sees rioting the next day, as I imagine we will also no matter who’s elected. Life imitates art, but I hope America gets to truly decide – with no interference and undeterred.