'House of Cards' continues prophetic, topical storylines in its new season

Writer's note: spoilers for Season four of "House of Cards" (2013-present) to follow.

No seasoned political observer could have foreseen one of the wildest moments of this presidential election season so far. But a handful of TV writers did.

Several days after Donald Trump refused to disavow the white supremacist positions of former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) David Duke, the fourth season of “House of Cards,” the hit Netflix show starring Kevin Spacey as President Frank Underwood, became available for streaming. The show still retains many of the dark and unsettling elements that have made it so popular. But in the third episode, the narrative hits closer to home. Seeming to predict the firestorm over Trump’s recent comments, the episode depicts Underwood’s scrambling to manage a crisis created by a leaked photograph seeming to link him with the KKK, whose specter looms large over his home state of South Carolina. The image is so damaging that an African-American Democratic congresswoman and her daughter, who were stumping for Underwood, are forced to distance themselves from his campaign. The fallout from this scandal mirrors the numerous public condemnations from Republican party leaders in the wake of Trump’s inflammatory comments.

This is not the first time “House of Cards” has anticipated real-life current events. On the day that the third season — which involved a storyline involving a fictional Russian leader with a penchant for silencing dissidents — premiered, news broke that prominent Russian dissident Boris Nemtsov had been killed mysteriously.

Whether the show can continue its clairvoyant streak is up for debate. What is clear now, however, is that it may not be fair to dismiss it as political caricature anymore.