Read This: New Girl’s Liz Meriwether on how Republicans identify with Tyrion Lannister
New Girl creator and showrunner Liz Meriwether turned political correspondent for the week, attending the Republican National Convention for Vulture. So how did the comedy writer relate to the people she encountered? The way any of us find connection in this sad, brutal world: She talked to them about Game Of Thrones. Meriwether asked the delegates to determine which Thrones characters would belong to their political party. To one, Ted Cruz is basically the same as Jon Snow. “He was cut down by the leadership within his own organization. He was stabbed in the back by the establishment of the Wall,” the man said. Others claimed the likes of Tyrion Lannister for the Republican cause. Take, for instance, the insight of one Mike Hopkins:
Mike Hopkins, a delegate from Montana, also thought that Peter Dinklage’s character, Tyrion Lannister, would be a Republican. “But it’s kind of hard to cast all the Lannisters as one political ideology,” he said. “The father is obviously quite fascist. And the daughter’s just kind of bat-shit crazy.”
As speakers inside the convention hall shouted about how ISIS was coming to kill us all, Mike from Montana broke down which political party each character would subscribe to. Ned Stark, everyone in Winterfell, and the wildlings would be Libertarians. “Those little tree children people” are members of the Green Party. Mike saw Olenna Tyrell, the matriarch of the Tyrell family, as Hillary Clinton. “You can tell that the woman is very intelligent, if not slightly immoral, and her husband is just dumb as shit. Hillary Clinton was the secretary of state, so you can’t say that she’s a stupid woman.” That was actually the nicest thing I’d heard anyone say about Hillary all week.
Hopkins, however, really deemed Oberyn Martell the “most Republican” character. Meriwether didn’t talk to anyone who wanted to side with Joffrey, so at least there’s that. Read the full piece here.