On April 27, Hillary Clinton will throw a swanky fundraiser with several cast members from the ABC hit show Scandal.
Scandal is an enormously popular show about the seedy side of the seat of power — the sort of thing a leading political candidate ought to dismiss as pure fiction, rather than bring it into a very real campaign. What, was the cast of House of Cards busy that evening? (If you think I’m taking this too far, imagine you’re looking for a new doctor and come across someone who recently hosted a party with the cast of Grey’s Anatomy. Would you get the impression that the doctor takes his or her job seriously?) Kerry Washington, who plays protagonist Olivia Pope, is not expected to attend the fundraiser, though she did lend her star power to a campaign ad for Hillary in recent weeks.
The name “Hillary Clinton” was associated with the word “scandal” long before this fundraiser was scheduled. There was her suspiciously lucrative cattle futures trades in the late 1970s, all the way up to Benghazi in 2012, and now, the use of her private email server and mishandling of classified information. One would think that Clinton would want to distance herself from political scandals, but on the contrary, she is really “leaning in” to her scandalous reputation. The similarities between the plot of Scandal and the current state of American politics are striking:
[SPOILER ALERT]
A married president has an affair while in office. His wife, the first lady, later runs for president herself. There’s a government program that spies on citizens’ communication.
[SPOILERS DONE]
There’s even an upcoming episode called “Trump Card.”
Just in case the similarities weren’t clear enough, consider this: Hillary is bringing along two of her aides who are also embroiled in her email fiasco. Jake Sullivan will be in attendance, along with Huma Abedin. As Heat Street has pointed out, Abedin “will likely be deposed over an ongoing lawsuit” over the server, and Sullivan “is the Clinton aide most likely to face legal and criminal consequences for his role in Clinton’s use of private email.”
Attendees will be charged $250 just to get in, and tickets cost $5,000 for those who want to meet the TV stars. There goes Hillary, being a champion for the middle class again!
A candidate for the highest office in the nation is fundraising with the cast of a show about political shadiness…WHILE she is under FBI investigation. It’s like she’s taunting us.
