Yesterday during the TCAs, FX announced that the new season of American Crime Story would be Impeachment and center on the Clinton sex scandal of the late 90s. The show would also premiere in September 2020, bringing it in line with the final stretch of the 2020 Presidential race. This raised the obvious concerns about whether or not the show, if it ends up a sensation, could affect the 2020 election.

FX Chairman John Landgraf dismissed the idea as “a little hysterical” reported THR, saying:

"Let me just say something about the current environment," said the executive. "So this person knows what the show is, knows how the audience is going to respond to it, knows how it's going to impact history, right? This certainty that says, 'We can't have conversations, we can't make art, we can't have nuance, I won't even wait to pronounce judgment on it,' is toxic in the media environment."

 

Langraf went on to note that he "believes very, very strongly" in the project. "I've read it, I think it's great. I don't believe it's going to determine who is the next president of the United States.”

While I agree that we shouldn’t judge Impeachment before we’ve seen it, Donald Trump is Presdient, white supremacy is on the rise, and children are in concentration camps. Maybe a little hysteria is warranted at the prospect of four more years of that shit. Could the 2020 Presidential Election turn on a single TV show? I don’t know! Trump seemed pretty sunk when he was caught bragging about sexual assault but then a few weeks later, the FBI announced they had found more Clinton e-mails, and apparently that was equally as bad if not more so, and now we have a white nationalist as President. Yes, the prospect of Impeachment being an unintended campaign device for Trump is unlikely, but we’ve seen some pretty unlikely things in the last three years. I wouldn’t criticize people for an overabundance of caution.