The only thing stranger than the times we’re currently living in are the Republican nominees for president and vice president — as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz recently put it : “These guys are weird.” But the weirdness of politicians is hardly new to Americans, especially those who watched the HBO series Veep . Not only did the Emmy-winning comedy prove prescient when it came to the ascent of Vice President Kamala Harris as the presumptive Democratic nominee in the 2024 election, but it gave us a lens through which to understand the weirdness of candidates like Donald Trump and JD Vance, in the form of the very weird, very embarrassing Jonah Ryan ( Timothy Simons ).
As the Republican party aims its best barbs at the very experienced, very normal Democratic candidate, it’s becoming clear that Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) wasn’t the biggest cautionary tale from David Mendel’s black-hearted political satire. If you’ve seen Veep , I know what you’re thinking — “Yikes” is pretty much the only word that comes to mind when you think of Jonah, the absurd, truly horrific White-House-liaison-turned-incel-blogger-turned-New Hampshire congressmen-turned-Vice President. But within that “yikes” is a very real, very depressing reminder that Jonah’s right-wing extremism in the show does not live in a vacuum — it’s already within the ranks of our government and thriving within the current-day Republican Party.
When Biden made his departure announcement, social media was flooded with memes comparing the turbulent political journey of the fictional Selina to that of Vice President Harris.
But actually comparing the two in terms of policy, effectiveness, and intentions is a much knottier exercise. Veep took some big narrative swings that relied on Selina and her team’s incompetence, and it’s up to you to decide whether or not you see Meyer’s character-driven narcissism in Harris.
Meanwhile, from the very first episode, Jonah Ryan is appropriately reviled by everyone around him. He is a crass, entitled buffoon that initially stands for nothing beyond personal gain; soon, his political makeup becomes more solidified as he’s exiled from Meyer’s administration, and Jonah uses his “outsider” status to gain followers.
Often in Veep , Jonah’s ignorance is rewarded with more power, and when he begins his inane presidential run in Season 7, the already-unhinged character fully flies off the political doorframe: He runs on an anti-vaccine, anti-education, anti-immigrant platform. He ends up marrying his half-sister (thinking she was just his stepsister, which, still weird), he can’t stop saying racist and misogynistic slurs, and much of his political leanings stem simply from being alienated by the popular crowd in D.C.
There’s more, of course — prior to his running, Ryan’s tenure in Congress saw him literally making it harder for the government to make decisions, destroying key debt ceiling legislation and causing a government shutdown. He even picked one relatively harmless thing to make an unnecessarily huge fuss over, lobbying (unsuccessfully) to end Daylight Savings Time nationwide.
Each of these Jonah Ryan characteristics are echoed in major swaths of elected Republicans in the US government. Anti-vaccine? Senator Rand Paul, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, and dozens more have made public statements questioning vaccine efficacy and mandates. Anti-education? Senator Tom Cotton, Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Ron DeSantis, and former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have all made statements that rebuke higher education, promote disinformation, and dismiss the importance of history for the sake of getting “wokeness” out of schools. Anti-immigrant? Take your pick .
Both JD Vance and Jonah Ryan voted against bills that would raise the debt ceiling, both have spread misinformation about vaccines (Vance claimed in 2021 that mask mandates “failed to control the spread of respiratory viruses” and were “unscientific”), and both have expressed archaic, anti-feminist views towards women (Vance recently drew criticism for suggesting in 2021 that the government was run by a bunch of Democratic “corporate oligarchs” who were chosen by “childless cat ladies” that were “miserable”).
Vance, like Jonah, used his “outsider” status as a mask to demonstrate his sympathies for the working class and get elected to Congress, but has since cozied up to the ultra-rich Silicon Valley elite who are happy to dump millions behind him (a la Jonah seeking backing from bad rich dude Sherman Tanz). Vance is arguably even weirder than Jonah, especially when it comes to sex and gender — which is exactly why it’s so easy to believe that this man did fuck a couch , even if he didn’t. Doesn’t that rumor sound like the kind of shit-housery that followed notable weirdo Jonah Ryan through his entire political career?
All of these political inclinations existed at the time of Veep’s initial run — there were, and have always been, plenty of representatives and government officials who have been determined to make extremism the norm. (In 2019, Timothy Simons said that his portrayal of Jonah was largely inspired by Ted Cruz .)
But the way Veep contrasted Jonah Ryan’s absurd, nonsensical views with Meyer’s own political indifference led to great comedy and, above all, outlandish satire. The writers of the final season were just coming up with genuinely stupid viewpoints like they were middle schoolers playing Mad Libs. Publicly attacking Muslims in a campaign speech because they invented math? That’s a new level of weirdness that, even in 2019, seemed far-fetched.
To see that absurdity become a fixture of the Republican party’s identity is no longer outlandish or silly — it’s terrifying. It’s alarming to think there are conspiracy theorists on committees in the House and Senate, shaping state laws and skewing our already-fractured justice system. It’s even sadder to think that these figures, and many of their constituents, have been politically and psychologically shaped by the same catalyst that caused Jonah Ryan to be so extreme — being bullied, exiled, and shamed.
Jonah Ryan represents the spurned hand of those who’ve felt excommunicated from the mainstream political system. And when they eventually achieve power, much of their purpose lies in sticking it to those who cast them out. It’s cynical to assume that these are the subconscious intentions of people who have spent their entire careers attempting to govern; and yet, the tenets of the alt-right platform are unequivocally rooted in hurt, in shame, and the inability to accept change or lack of control.
It is, however, so fitting that Jonah Ryan ends up being Selina Meyer’s running mate in Veep , because they both represent the way politicians can take advantage of their constituents and still be oblivious to their own role in it. The conclusion of Veep asks you to reconcile with the fact that Jonah and Selina are not that different — if anything, Meyer’s behind-the-scenes tyranny is more insidious than Jonah Ryan’s, who is much more obviously inept from an outsider’s view.
But now, 12 years after the initial run of Veep , Jonah is no longer the occasionally grating, profoundly idiotic slice of comedic relief. He’s a cautionary tale, a prime example of the weirdness that nobody asked for in the United States government. It only took until 2024 for us to call it what it is.
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