‘Donald Trump: The Selina-est Candidate’

The executive producer of the HBO political satire Veep, David Mandel, expressed his frustration with people who draw unfavorable comparisons between the show’s fictional vice president Selina Meyer and Democratic presumptive nominee Kamala Harris. Mandel spoke about his concerns in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, highlighting how it bothers him when online meme creators use the character of Meyer, portrayed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, to “diminish” Harris’ accomplishments.

Veep, which aired from 2012 to 2019, has experienced a 353 percent increase in viewership since July 22, according to Luminate’s Streaming Viewership data. This surge coincides with the rising profile of Harris’ candidacy. Mandel’s concerns were also echoed by the show’s creator, Armando Iannucci, who previously stated that any comparisons between Harris and Meyer were coincidental.

Mandel acknowledged that while some viewers enjoy the show’s humor, others misuse it to unfairly criticize Harris, reducing her achievements to simplistic critiques. He expressed his dismay at this trend:

I get driven crazy when people try to use Veep to diminish her. I hate that. Yes, they are both women. Yes, they are both VPs being elevated. Selina was elevated into office; Kamala is being elevated to head of the ticket. There are some simple comparisons. But there are two types of people doing Veep memes right now: There are people really enjoying Selina’s moment of telling her staff that she’s running for president; there’s a joy there that’s fun and nice and celebratory. And then there are assholes who are using it differently. Surprise surprise, Kamala is a woman of color, and it seems like those people are using it as a simple way of insulting her. So I don’t like that part.

Mandel also discussed how Meyer’s shortcomings align more closely with former President Donald Trump and his media appearances:

…back to the comment earlier about the people who are trying to hang Selina around Kamala’s neck: The Selina-est candidate is Donald Trump. Vain, worried about his looks, has a ridiculously better relationship with his body people than his own children, petty, vindictive, worries about his own money, doesn’t believe what he says, says whatever to get elected. Even Selina supported a woman’s right to choose — on that, she held firm. Somewhere in there, she had a moral compass … or some kind of something. Maybe a gyroscope.

As Harris continues her campaign activities, including potential debates against Trump, Mandel mentioned that his team is ready to assist in any way they can:

The Veep team is standing by and ready to do their part! I think there’s a generational thing going on. It’s so TikTok heavy. It’s beyond Twitter — we are in TikTok world. It’s kind of great. With the coconut thing — if you can have fun with that, my God, that’s great… We’ve been talking with our old friends at WisDems. We’re plotting some things. Things got a lot more interesting in the past couple days.

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