Why watch the news if you can just watch House of Cards? When it first debuted, the show was an escapist joyride through corrupt politics. Now, it's just a prophetic enactment of 2017 politics — the show is just all too familiar, even in imagery. Following the iconic photo of Trump offering his hand to Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit, Instagram user @_theblessedone made the realization that it matched a very similar photo from House of Cards of Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) and the show's fictional Russian president (played by Lars Mikkelsen). Yes, it's that mirroring.
The photo from House of Cards is of a scene in season 3, which premiered in 2015, well before Donald Trump was president. (Really, well before it seemed like Donald Trump could even be the president.) In season three, the Russian president Viktor Petrov comes to America for an official visit that does not go particularly well. In the corresponding photos, the American presidents (Trump and Underwood) are holding out their hands; the Russian presidents are not interested in shaking hands.
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Of course, in House of Cards, there's no suggestion of collusion with the Russian government in a government election — although "Russian interference in the election" sounds an awful lot like a plotline in the show. In reality, things are much murkier; Trump and Putin, during the meeting at the G20 summit, clarified that Moscow hadn't meddled in the 2016 election. During the meeting, the two agreed to collaborate on a joint group that would "address cybersecurity." The meeting ran for two hours, because the two had a lot to catch up on, I guess!
The rest of the third season of House of Cards details a fumbled allyship between the Russian president and President Frank Underwood. Ultimately, the Underwoods agree that meeting with the eastern leader was a mistake.
Huh. Wonder if Trump feels the same way.
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