No show suffers from Trump Derangement Syndrome more than CBS’s The Good Fight. In addition to the episode titles, which are simply the number of days President Trump has been in office, almost every episode features a fake, absurd news segment on the President. In Sunday’s episode, “Day 450,” the Democratic National Committee interviews ten law firms with the goal of finding the best strategy to impeach Trump when the Democrats win both the House and Senate in November. The solution our righteous main characters come up with? Lie.
Democratic National Committee consultant Ruth Eastman (Margo Martindale) poses the question “If Mueller doesn’t come in with a definitive result, what case should we prosecute, and why?” Liz Reddick (Audra McDonald) suggests leveling numerous false accusations against the President, including that he raped a 15-year old Miss Teen USA contestant, that he had a three-some with two porn stars and paid them off, and that he made lewd remarks about an African-American contestant while he was on The Apprentice. Although it is clear that even in the fictional world of The Good Fight none of these accusations are true, Liz decides the truth is irrelevant.
She justifies her position, explaining, “It’s about who he is. It’s about what the presidency is.” When someone points out the obvious—that she wants to impeach Trump based on lies—she retorts, “This isn’t about truth anymore. And it’s not about lying. It’s about who’s backtracking and who’s attacking.” So….lying.
Other accusations fly around. One lawyer claims, “He colluded with the Russians. What else do we need to say?” Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) asserts, “He fired James Comey. He tried to fire Robert Mueller…He fired the FBI Director who was investigating him. That is impeachable. He’s not above the law!” Another lawyer drones on about emoluments. The episode ends with an animated presentation on the impeachment process that includes a whole slew of apparently impeachable accusations against the President.
Diana ultimately agrees with Liz’s idea to accuse Trump of salacious acts until he’s impeached, claiming, “I’m tired of when they go low we go high. Fuck that. When they go low, we go lower.” The liberal writers get on their soapbox and whine about the apparent injustice of Trump and the Republicans through Diane’s speech, which ends by her stating she has a gun and is “this close to taking to the streets.” Apparently the right to own a gun is the one position where The Good Fight is taking a break from the liberal agenda.
Diane: I've changed my mind about obstruction of justice.
Adrian: Diane, we just moved to your position.
Diane: And I've just moved to Liz's.
Adrian: Diane, I think we can save us-
Diane: I'm tired of "when they go low, we go high." Fuck that. When they go low, we go lower.
Adrian: Diane, we've already agreed.
Diane: No, what we agreed is that impeachment isn't just about the law. It's about persuading people. And if it's one thing that we've seen this past year, it's that lies - persuade.
Julius: Oh, my God.
Diane: Truth only takes you that far and then you need lies.
Julius: Uh, this is deranged. This is the Trump Derangement Syndrome. You're just as bad as you're accusing him of being.
Diane: No, I'm just done with being the adult in the room. I am done with being the compliant and the sensible one, standing stoically by while the other side picks my pockets, while the other side gerrymanders Democrats out of existence. A three-million-person majority, and we lost the presidency. A Congress that keeps a Supreme Court justice from being seated because he was chosen by a Democratic president.
Julius: That's not what happened.
Diane: That is exactly what happened, Julius.
Julius: Okay, then, take to the streets! Man the barricades. Because if that's what you really think, you've given up on the law. Y-You've gone well beyond any-
Diane: Actually, you don't know. I have a Smith & Wesson 64 in my desk, and I'm this close to taking to the streets.
Diane ignores the fact that the last two things she complains about are constitutional. It’s also absurd that she claims Republicans are the senseless, evil party while Democrats are the “adults.”
The idea to impeach Trump by throwing false accusations at him ultimately wins Liz the bid. She joins a team of lawyers from four other firms, “like the Avengers.” One of her partners calls her Wonder Woman. The DNC consultant announces, “Let’s kick his ass, okay?”
The Good Fight pretends to represent the other side by having its pro-Trump character, Julius, list some arguments against impeachment. Of course, the show isn’t content to just talk about how silly liberals are being. Instead, Julius repeatedly claims that Democrats are acting exactly how Republicans acted during Obama’s presidency: “I had a lot of friends who were Republicans and they all had that same gleam in their eye whenever they talked about impeaching Obama.”
Don’t be fooled. Not only does Trump-voting Julius join the side of the debate pushing for Trump to be impeached due to obstruction charges, but he is asked to withdraw from the debate completely.
In positive news, the show acknowledges that regular people need guns for protection. Diane admits that the real reason she keeps a gun in her desk is due to the epidemic of lawyer murders taking place in the show.
This episode is only the beginning of The Good Fight’s Trump impeachment plotline. It astounds me that this show can dedicate its season to ridiculing Trump and his supporters, even going so far as to champion impeachment, all while having characters in the show complain about the media’s over-obsession with Trump.
