{"id":854,"date":"2018-03-23T13:38:49","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T17:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=854"},"modified":"2018-04-01T13:46:28","modified_gmt":"2018-04-01T17:46:28","slug":"how-do-you-write-political-satire-when-politics-are-a-farce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=854","title":{"rendered":"How do you write political satire when politics are a farce?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By\u00a0Armando Iannucci\u00a0March 29<\/p>\n<h1>The creator of \u2018Veep\u2019 says reality has trumped art.<\/h1>\n<h1>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/video\/c\/embed\/28a16bba-32bc-11e8-b6bd-0084a1666987\" width=\"480\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/h1>\n<section id=\"top-content\" class=\"col-xs-12 layout\">\n<div id=\"fn4Fuv1QxJx8Nq\" class=\"moat-trackable pb-f-theme-normal pb-f-dehydrate-false pb-f-async-false full pb-feature pb-layout-item pb-f-article-article-topper\" data-chain-name=\"no-name\" data-feature-name=\"no-name\" data-feature-id=\"article\/article-topper\" data-pb-fingerprint=\"0f5T9ZFOKqf\">\n<div class=\"border-bottom-off border-bottom-100-pct\">\n<div id=\"article-topper\" class=\"article-topper \">\n<div>\n<div id=\"topper-headline-wrapper\" class=\"col-xs-12 col-sm-8 col-lg-9\">\n<p data-pb-field=\"custom.topperDisplayName\">\u00a0Want to write good political satire in the Trump era? Stick to the facts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"main-content\" class=\"col-xl-9 col-lg-8 col-md-8 col-sm-12 col-xs-12 col-xs-offset-0 col-sm-offset-0 col-md-offset-0 col-lg-offset-0 layout\">\n<div id=\"fpaANh1QxJx8Nq\" class=\"moat-trackable pb-f-theme-normal pb-f-dehydrate-false pb-f-async-false full pb-feature pb-layout-item pb-f-article-article-body\" data-chain-name=\"no-name\" data-feature-name=\"no-name\" data-feature-id=\"article\/article-body\" data-pb-fingerprint=\"0fGyO6riMqB\">\n<div id=\"article-body\" class=\"article-body content-format-default\">\n<div class=\"inline-content inline-video\">\n<div id=\"powa-28a16bba-32bc-11e8-b6bd-0084a1666987-0\" class=\"posttv-video-embed powa powa-processed small\" data-org=\"wapo\" data-uuid=\"28a16bba-32bc-11e8-b6bd-0084a1666987\" data-ad-bar=\"1\" data-playthrough=\"1\" data-blurb=\"1\" data-object-id=\"5abbe96ee4b0d0033b2af9cd\" data-youtube-id=\"\" data-live=\"0\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-nth-video-on-page=\"0\" data-mpulse=\"true\" data-preload=\"metadata\" data-autoinit=\"true\" data-autoinit-ads=\"1\" data-sticky-player-mobile=\"0\" data-autoplay-fallback=\"muted\" data-autorun=\"true\" data-device-class=\"deskweb\" data-viewable-fired=\"true\">\n<div id=\"powa-28a16bba-32bc-11e8-b6bd-0084a1666987-0-powa-pane\" class=\"powa-pane\">\n<div class=\"powa-shot-masthead\">\n<div class=\"powa-shot-sharing\">\n<div class=\"franklin-bold powa-shot-sharing-embed powa-shot-sharing-item\">\n<p>\u00a0<span class=\"powa-tease\" style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">\u201cThe Death of Stalin\u201d director and creator of \u201cVeep\u201d Armando Iannucci says that when the truth turns dumber than fiction, facts are the best punchline.<\/span><span style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"powa-byline franklin-light\" style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">(Adriana Usero\/The Washington Post)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pb-sig-line has-headshot has-1-headshots has-bio is-not-column\">\n<div class=\"headshot-to-the-left\">\n<div class=\"pb-bio\">Armando Iannucci is the creator of \u201cVeep\u201d and \u201cThe Thick of It\u201d and the co-writer and director of \u201cThe Death of Stalin.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><span style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">\u2018You should do a \u2018Veep\u2019 about Trump.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<article class=\"paywall\">\u201cYou should make an \u2018In the Loop\u2019 sequel about Brexit.\u201d\u201cHave you ever thought of doing \u2018The Death of Stalin,\u2019 but about Paul Ryan?\u201dI get lots of requests to take my fictional TV and film projects and write versions of them responding to current events. My answer is inevitably \u201cNo!\u201d What\u2019s the point of fiction if it\u2019s not somehow different from reality? Yes, it should bear a similarity, but don\u2019t we go to it because it\u2019s also a relief from the real world \u2014 a heightened, absurd, dramatic or amusing version of what\u2019s happening in front of us? And I get paid to make things up, so ironically, by making my shows more real, I\u2019d be committing fraud.But reality has jumped the shark right now, and any attempt to present a fictional version of today\u2019s events would never be as crazy as the real thing. The truth \u2014 in Washington, London or Moscow \u2014 is much more demented than fiction, signaling a full-on existential crisis for the comedy writer. No showrunner in his or her right mind would make their sitcom president urge his press secretary to go out on Day 1 of his administration and change the laws of math. If a hapless Sean Spicer character on a TV comedy had to spin photos showing a half-empty Mall into proof of the biggest inauguration crowd ever assembled, ever, period, President Trump would\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/805278955150471168\">tweet that it was \u201cunwatchable.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\u00a0Unwatchable\u00a0comedy has come to\u00a0Britain,\u00a0too. Last year, Prime Minister Theresa May\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/worldviews\/wp\/2017\/10\/04\/theresa-mays-speech-overshadowed-by-a-persistent-cough-and-a-prankster\/\">stood before her party conference<\/a>\u00a0and had a coughing fit while the letters in the slogan \u201cBuilding a country that works for everyone\u201d started falling off the screen behind her. If that had been presented to me as a script idea, I would have rejected it as too childish. It would have been a step up in maturity if the writers then suggested that the remaining letters should form the word \u201cbutt.\u201d<\/div>\n<div class=\"incontext-insert show v2\">\n<div>\n<span style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">When people say to me that the Trump White House is so like \u201cVeep,\u201d I take that as an insult to \u201cVeep.\u201d We hired experienced consultants to tell us what language political operatives use and to walk us through the rhythm and pace of their daily lives. The real White House tried to nominate for a lifetime judicial appointment someone who was unable to answer\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\" title=\"www.washingtonpost.com\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/morning-mix\/wp\/2017\/12\/15\/trump-judicial-nominee-fumbles-basic-questions-about-the-law\/?utm_term=.5928e89aad67\" shape=\"rect\">the most basic questions<\/a><span style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">about how trials work. As a plot twist, that\u2019s just too on the nose. On the HBO show, the creative team spends long days writing and rewriting to get four or five plotlines neatly dovetailing and dancing to a satisfying climax. In the Trump White House, there is no neat dovetailing and certainly no satisfying climax; the president says he\u2019ll sign a spending bill, then\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/977166887493799936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnews%2Fpost-politics%2Fwp%2F2018%2F03%2F23%2Ftrump-threatens-to-veto-omnibus-bill-because-it-does-not-address-daca-recipients%2F\">tweets that he won\u2019t sign it\u00a0<\/a><span style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">, signs it anyway, wants us to know he\u2019s signed it so he tweets about signing it, but then tweets that he didn&#8217;t like signing it and that he\u2019ll\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/977319371277156352\">never sign another one like it<\/a><span style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">.\u00a0That\u2019s a terrible plotline. And also a signal that someone needs medical help.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Sometimes, Trump\u2019s arbitrary and disjointed actions in the Oval Office accidentally align in such a way that if you squint, they could be taken to resemble a classic comedy storyline \u2014 just as a room full of an infinite number of monkeys with typewriters might one day happen to write \u201cHamlet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"interstitial-link\"><i>[<a title=\"www.washingtonpost.com\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/posteverything\/wp\/2017\/09\/29\/president-trump-has-the-best-words-but-what-if-he-had-more-of-them\/\" shape=\"rect\">President Trump has the best words. But what if he had more of them?<\/a>]<\/i><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0It nearly came together that way in the past couple of weeks. Trump had been\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/944666448185692166\">teasing Andrew McCabe\u00a0<\/a>, the deputy director of the FBI, that he might be fired before his pension could kick in. For a while, it looked like we might be in for a masterpiece of comic plotting: Trump would wait till Jeff Sessions fired McCabe before firing Sessions, to replace him with an attorney general who would then fire Robert Mueller. It would have been the third act of a screwball comedy worthy of Preston Sturges. Instead, once Sessions did his bit, Trump forgot his lines and fired national security adviser H.R. McMaster. He also switched genres, since the arrival of John Bolton is more tragedy than comedy.<\/p>\n<p>Trump came to Washington from the world of television, and he seems to think he\u2019s still making it, though liberated now from any quality control that a professional creative team might have imposed. Perhaps the dissonant mixing of genres is deliberate, and Trump believes he\u2019s producing some hybrid reality entertainment drama mixed with a suspense movie. He loves sudden disappearances, unforeseen plot twists and characters that look, as he\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/donald-trump-is-holding-a-government-casting-call-hes-seeking-the-look\/2016\/12\/21\/703ae8a4-c795-11e6-bf4b-2c064d32a4bf_story.html?utm_term=.77229458880e\">reportedly said about<\/a>\u00a0members of his Cabinet, like they are straight out of \u201ccentral casting.\u201d (Only if you were casting a dystopian horror film.)<\/p>\n<p>We are therefore encouraged to see Trump as\u00a0<a title=\"www.washingtonpost.com\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/posteverything\/wp\/2017\/02\/24\/president-trump-wants-to-put-on-a-show-governing-matters-less\/?utm_term=.19179b49ef4e\" shape=\"rect\">primarily a showman<\/a>, which makes it even harder for actual comedians to compete. If he says anything outrageous or racist, his press secretary appears the next morning and says he was just \u201c<a title=\"www.thedailybeast.com\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/just-kidding-the-donald-trump-story\" shape=\"rect\">making a joke<\/a>.\u201d Normally, we castigate the comedian if his or her jokes are no good, but Trump chooses to chastise his audience for just not getting it. And how will he answer for more momentous acts? After bombing North Korea, would the White House declare that it was \u201cjust a skit\u201d?<\/p>\n<div>\u00a0As Trump acts like a professional clown whom we booked for a party four years long, the comedians who have the better take on current events are those such as John Oliver and Samantha Bee \u2014 who act like journalists. They just present the facts: \u201cLook at this .\u2009.\u2009. and this .\u2009.\u2009. and then this happened.\u201d The facts are so bizarre that all these comedians have to do is use their skill and judgment to find the best ones and line them up in a sequence for our entertainment. Facts become a gateway drug to hard-core political satire; with each edition of their shows, we snort a line of news and laugh our heads off.<\/div>\n<p>As for me, 2018 is too ridiculous to make any funnier. My new movie, \u201c<a title=\"www.washingtonpost.com\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/goingoutguide\/movies\/the-death-of-stalin-from-the-creator-of-veep-deploys-pointed-satirical-stings\/2018\/03\/12\/0602afca-224e-11e8-badd-7c9f29a55815_story.html?utm_term=.1faeff9dbfd1\" shape=\"rect\">The Death of Stalin<\/a>,\u201d looks at the Kremlin tussle in 1953 to find a successor once the Soviet dictator dies. My next movie is an adaptation of Charles Dickens\u2019s \u201cDavid Copperfield,\u201d set in 1840, and I\u2019m about to shoot a new HBO show taking place 40 years in the future. I seem to be avoiding the present day as much as I can. Maybe the only way to make any sense of the present is by refracting it through other times.<\/p>\n<p>We can\u2019t get away from it entirely, though: The present is, unfortunately, the only reality we have.<\/p>\n<p><strong><i>Twitter: @aiannucci<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By\u00a0Armando Iannucci\u00a0March 29 The creator of \u2018Veep\u2019 says reality has trumped art. \u00a0Want to write good political satire in the Trump era? Stick to the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/2018-04-01_13-42-52.jpg?fit=762%2C426&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8VBh7-dM","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":153,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=153","url_meta":{"origin":854,"position":0},"title":"The True Source of the N.R.A.\u2019s Clout: Mobilization, Not Donations","author":"Donnie","date":"February 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The True Source of the N.R.A.\u2019s Clout: Mobilization, Not Donations By\u00a0ERIC LIPTON\u00a0and\u00a0ALEXANDER BURNSFEB. 24, 2018 Photo A gun store in Florida. The N.R.A. has advanced a broad agenda in the state, including making it easier to carry concealed weapons.\u00a0CreditLynne Sladky\/Associated Press WASHINGTON \u2014 Few places have seen the National Rifle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Weapons&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Weapons","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=19"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_13-50-22.jpg?fit=762%2C509&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_13-50-22.jpg?fit=762%2C509&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_13-50-22.jpg?fit=762%2C509&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_13-50-22.jpg?fit=762%2C509&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1048,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=1048","url_meta":{"origin":854,"position":1},"title":"Opinion &#8211; Let\u2019s Rain on Trump\u2019s Parade","author":"Donnie","date":"June 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Opinion by Greg Weiner Mr. Weiner was a senior aide to Senator Bob Kerrey before becoming a political scientist. CreditHarry Campbell The inflation of presidential power over the last century would mystify James Madison. He predicted that the people would be\u00a0more loyal to legislators\u00a0than to the executive and that Congress\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Presidential Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Presidential Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-02_13-14-57.jpg?fit=531%2C666&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-02_13-14-57.jpg?fit=531%2C666&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-02_13-14-57.jpg?fit=531%2C666&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":657,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=657","url_meta":{"origin":854,"position":2},"title":"Women in Politics Have Sex Scandals, Too","author":"Donnie","date":"June 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"By\u00a0Samantha Henig\u00a0\u00a0June 8, 2011 It\u2019s a numbers game. It\u2019s\u00a0a matter of attraction. It\u2019s being too busy with \u201cdiapers and bottles and bills and votes and markups\u201d to \u201cpossibly think about doing anything else.\u201d There are a number of explanations offered for why men seem to be overrepresented when it comes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Family&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Family","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=15"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-17_21-25-57.jpg?fit=236%2C364&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":648,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=648","url_meta":{"origin":854,"position":3},"title":"Ex-CIA director accuses Trump of moral turpitude","author":"Donnie","date":"March 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"DON KNIGHT\/THE HERALD-BULLETIN VIA AP Former Director of the CIA John O. Brennan. By Associated Press\u00a0MARCH 17, 2018 Former CIA director John Brennan is accusing President Trump of \u2018\u2018venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption\u2019\u2019 for rejoicing over the firing of the FBI\u2019s deputy director. Brennan responded Saturday to a tweet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;National News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"National News","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=21"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-17_21-08-45.jpg?fit=785%2C514&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-17_21-08-45.jpg?fit=785%2C514&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-17_21-08-45.jpg?fit=785%2C514&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-17_21-08-45.jpg?fit=785%2C514&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":661,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=661","url_meta":{"origin":854,"position":4},"title":"The Sex Lives of Politicians During the Primaries \u2014 According to Their Escorts","author":"Donnie","date":"February 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"By\u00a0Hannah Smothers Feb 9, 2016 KATARINA SIMOVIC\/STOCKSY Nothing makes men hornier than a tight political race, so I would guess Iowa and New Hampshire have been the horniest states in the nation lately.\u00a0The\u00a0Iowa caucuses\u00a0and New Hampshire primaries\u00a0bring to town politicians, campaign workers, and political fanboys who \u2014\u00a0aside from diehard\u00a0political fervor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Family&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Family","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=15"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-17_21-34-29.jpg?fit=864%2C433&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-17_21-34-29.jpg?fit=864%2C433&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-17_21-34-29.jpg?fit=864%2C433&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-17_21-34-29.jpg?fit=864%2C433&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1129,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=1129","url_meta":{"origin":854,"position":5},"title":"Virginia\u2019s Racist History Clashes With New South Image","author":"Donnie","date":"February 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"To those who are eager to see Virginia move beyond its racist past, this past week\u2019s tribulations have obscured the real progress the state has made in recent decades. 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