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7x01 0017

Selina Meyer arrives at the incorrect airport after mistaking the rally being held in Cedar Rapids for Cedar Falls. This is similar to a gaffe committed by Barack Obama's 2008 campaign, wherein the campaign plane accidentally landed in Des Moines while the scheduled rally was being held in Cedar Rapids.

During and after Veep's broadcast run, many people noted similarities between the fictional events occurring within the Veep universe and what occurred in real life. Some of these similarities were intentional, wherein the writers were inspired by a particular event or mishap to put it in the series. Other similarities are notable for a real event mirroring an event that occurred on Veep, after that particular episode was broadcast.

Specific events[]

Season 1[]

Border wall tirade[]

  • In "Chung", Senator Bill O'Brien claims that he supports a fence along the U.S.–Mexico border because "if you had bad neighbors who came into your yard every night to crap a buttful of drugs and beans on your flowers, you might think about building a fence". O'Brien's strong opinions on the subject are comparable to those of Donald Trump's, who kicked off his 2016 presidential campaign by criticizing some illegal immigrants from Mexico as murderers and rapists.

Season 2[]

Timing of government shutdown[]

  • The episode "Shutdown" aired in June 2013. An actual government shutdown occurred four months later–the first government shutdown since 1996.

Season 3[]

Candidate forgets a talking point during primary debate[]

  • In "Debate", Vice President Meyer, while reciting her "three Rs" during the primary debate, forgets the third R and improvises one. In 2011, during a primary debate, Rick Perry listed three government agencies he would cut funding to, but was only able to name two and forgot what the third one was.

Season 5[]

Undecided election[]

  • The tied 2016 presidential election and the indecision in the immediate aftermath drew similarities to the real-life 2020 presidential election, wherein a winner wasn't declared until four days after election day.

Nevada[]

  • In "Morning After", the nation's attention was directed towards the extremely close race of Nevada, wherein a recount could determine a different outcome. In the real-life 2020 presidential election, Nevada was one of several states closely watched after election day due to the closeness of the margin.

President on Twitter[]

  • In "The Eagle", Mike McLintock panics after he discovers that President Meyer accidentally sent an incendiary tweet about her opponent. Real-life president Donald Trump is notorious for his unfiltered thoughts on his Twitter account, and many have believed that his tweets have caused headaches for White House staff.

Mixed messages regarding presidential recounts[]

  • In "Mother", as the Nevada recount unfolds, President Meyer directs her staff to attempt to cancel the recount she had wanted as it turns out new ballots are skewing heavily towards her opponent. This results in the supporters for Bill O'Brien, who had previously been wanting to stop the recount, to begin chanting "count every vote". Dan Egan unsuccessfully tried to get Meyer's supporters to switch their messaging to "stop the count". This drew similarities to the Trump campaign's mixed messages in the days after the 2020 presidential election, wherein they were wanting officials to stop counting ballots in certain states (where he was leading) while wanting the continue the count in other states (where he was behind).

Salmonella outbreak before Thanksgiving[]

  • In "Thanksgiving", Meyer relies on Vice President Andrew Doyle and Senator Tom James to address a salmonella outbreak on Thanksgiving, which were spread by turkeys. In November 2018, a real-life salmonella outbreak was linked to raw turkey, infecting at least 160 people and resulting in at least one death.

Candidate's unallowed usage of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down"[]

  • In "C--tgate", Jonah Ryan's campaign is prohibited from using Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down", with Petty sending a cease-and-desist order because he found Ryan "odious". In June 2020, the family of Tom Petty decried Donald Trump's use of "I Won't Back Down" during a campaign event and sent a cease-and-desist order so it would not be used again.

The scream[]

  • During a rally in "Congressional Ball", Jonah yells in a manner similar to Howard Dean's infamous 2004 "Dean scream".

Season 6[]

Presidential candidate disfigured after assassination attempt[]

  • In "Georgia", Georgian presidential candidate Nikolai Genidze was left disfigured after an assassination attempt. This is similar to the controversy over Ukrainian presidential election of 2004, in which the opposition candidate's own face became covered with unsightly pockmarks after being poisoned with dioxin left in his soup, allegedly by Russian agents.
Screen Shot 2020-11-21 at 9.56

A Woman First by Selina Meyer; Spoken from the Heart by Laura Bush.

Cover of A Woman First: First Woman[]

Season 7[]

Candidate arrives at the wrong Iowan airport[]

  • In the episode "Iowa", Selina Meyer arrived to an empty runway at the Cedar Falls airport, while the rally awaiting her arrival was staged at an airport in Cedar Rapids. This was inspired by a mishap that occurred in November 2007, wherein Barack Obama's campaign plane landed in Des Moines instead of Cedar Rapids, where a rally had to be delayed for at least an hour.
  • Similarities were also later made to the Trump campaign's November 2020 press conference, which was held at the Four Seasons Total Landscaping company. The seedy location led to widespread speculation that the campaign had mistakenly booked the venue with the intention of booking a Four Seasons hotel.

Primary Debate[]

  • In "Pledge", Kemi Talbot says that she is tired of hearing about Andrew Meyer's fraud, in a matter similar to that of Bernie Sanders saying he is tired about hearing about Hillary Clinton's 'damn emails'.

Foreign election interference[]

  • In "South Carolina", Meyer is contacted by Chinese officials, wanting to strike a deal that could give Meyer the presidential nomination in exchange for the fulfillment of certain requests. This drew similarities to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and the Trump campaign's communications with the Russians.

Section of another speech given to party nominee at convention[]

  • In the series finale, former Ohio governor John DeVito was informed by Meyer that she was going to use a well-written section of his speech in her address to the convention. A similar thing happened to Barack Obama during the 2004 convention, wherein Obama was informed that John Kerry liked a portion of Obama's speech so much that he decided to use it in his own convention address.

People[]

Selina Meyer[]

  • Hillary Clinton: Meyer in the Veep universe is the United States' first female president. Clinton, who was largely expected to be the victor in the 2016 presidential election, was expected to be the country's first female president, and, as of 2020, is the only woman to be nominated for president of the United States. They both endured highly publicized losses in presidential elections. This has led to numerous comparisons between the two.
  • Amy Klobuchar: Meyer's hot-headed and often times cruel demeanor to her staff has been compared to that of Amy Klobuchar, who has been rumored to be merciless to her aides. Specific allegations include Klobuchar throwing a stapler at a staffer and forcing one to shave her legs during a meeting (the latter of which was specifically mentioned in "A Woman First" as something Amy Brookheimer did for Selina Meyer).
  • Kamala Harris: The real-life first woman Vice President shares a strikingly similar political ascent with Selina Meyer: she was a rising star in the United States Senate and the Democratic Party, launched a presidential campaign, performed poorly during the primary process, dropped out of the race, and was later selected by the frontrunner to be his running mate. Their ticket won the election, and she became the country's first woman Vice President.

Mike McLintock[]

  • Sean Spicer: McLintock's often gaffe-ladened press conferences were compared to those held by Sean Spicer, Donald Trump's first White House Press Secretary.
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