‘Designated Survivor’ Takes on Institutional Racism and Wins (Commentary)

Through two episodes it’s very thoroughly an idealist’s fantasy — specifically of the “people are basically good” variety, which makes it a liberal fantasy, to be sure.

Last week I described the basic premise (the Capitol is bombed during the State of the Union address, with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development ascending to the presidency) as a compelling but realistically impossible “what if.”

There’s even a video of the cops in Michigan beating Danny Fayed, as he lies on the ground with his hands tied behind his back with zipties.

None of that wishy-washy “everybody needs to respect law enforcement” stuff you see cable news pundits dropping every day.

President Kirkman, meanwhile, is the good guy, and he’s 100 percent against arresting and beating a bunch of people based on their religion or skin color.

When the governor claims he’s just trying to keep his citizens safe, Kirkman pretty much nails the response: “How safe is Danny Fayed this evening?”

Beyond all that you have a General strongly encouraging Kirkman to publicly blame a fictional offshoot of al-Qaeda as the perpetrators of the bombing, based on an undetonated bomb the FBI found in the Capitol rubble.

True to the unsubtle nature of the show, a character explains outright why that and the abuse of the Muslim community by police in Michigan is happening.

Nobody’s really gonna blink if the U.S. response to the decimation of its government is to blame some brown people who live on a different continent and go after them.

[...] judging by the real-world popularity of Donald Trump, there are plenty of Americans who would be cool with having all the brown people (even the brown Americans) rounded up and locked away just in case.

[...] it’s just nice, as I have an ongoing internal debate about whether I should just officially become a nihilist already, to watch a show like “Designated Survivor” that attempts to paint a more hopeful picture.