The most unrealistic thing about this scenario is that there are two men running for president under the age of 70.

"America Decides" - what an irony of an episode title when it's literally decided by what, 4 people.

You can’t be Logan and be a good dad at the same time Kendall

Greg is able to do what shiv cannot, and that is play all sides to his advantage.

I think they all fail miserably in the end. Logan's "you're not serious people" is just manifesting until the finale.

This episode was like watching Kendall battle the Kendall his dad wanted

"He's someone we can do business with." Ken is trying to convince himself more than anything.

Romans last words while he was on top to Mencken were "Over the road and into the bar". The ending of the following episode is when he hit rock bottom and decided to go into the road of protesters and get himself hurt by the physical manifestation of his backfired decision. This all led Roman to the conclusion he wasn't meant for any of this and in the finale the final shot of Roman is him sitting alone at the bar. Brilliant stuff

When Shiv was criticizing Mencken in S3, I thought they might spin him as a Trump-like figure. But what makes Mencken worse is that he comes accross as an actually _competent_ and _capable_ facist politician. Incredible move by the writers.

Romans line “we just made a night of good TV” was most chilling to me bc he is so outside of his sense of humanity and empathy. He’s a child with the god-like power of his dads company who doesn’t realize his choice just impacted the lives of 300 million people (and the rest of the world). Not to mention the idea and model of democracy. You can’t even call Roman evil he’s too fucking dumb to be conniving

Fun fact: Justin Kirk was recovering from COVID while filming Mencken's speech, he'd even lost his voice. He nailed his performance here, the speech was both chillingly eloquent and riddled with dog whistles about his beliefs. "Haggling between cunning men", "welfare kings and queens", "a leader willed into being", "something clean in this polluted land", "proud and pure", and so on.

Greg going from parks to firing high level staff and being the person to report on the projected winner of a presidential race. On top of, being buddies with a potential Waystar buyer. He definitely coming out on top at the end.

Menken's speech is so blatantly fascistic that it sent shivers down my spine. Brilliant writing!

Classic Kendall, every time there’s a hope I can root for him, he always does this. “What I did is to protect my children. SIX CONTINENTS!” My ass

I think this move could backfire horribly. “The president is elected by the electoral college after a legal fight which is not over at the end of this episode” said Jesse Armstrong in the post-show podcast. Even here they allude to the fact that the legal contest on this could keep going for the next three moths. Imagine the ballots are found, the results are contested and the Roys are left with a flaming, crashing-to-the-ground, monster of a firm that loses all its credibility and stock value over this.

This episode reminded so many people how awful the Roy’s are lmao

Jeremy's acting is so on point here. The nervous excuses and justifications in calling in an election TOO early just so the company can survive. That dead behind the eyes look. The growing feeling of regret and fear in knowing they've just handed power to a dangerous demagogue whose beliefs are already impacting on his own family, all for the sake of spiting his sister. He is flat out one Tony Soprano away from having the worst panic attack.

I love how everyone at the chain of command washes their hands off the decision. Rome says nothing will happen, Tom states it's not his call, Greg says he's just following orders and the tech guy just calls someone else to put the add. Tom even complains when other networks begin to point fingers at him in particular.

Shiv destroyed what was left of her marriage, Ken destroyed what was left of his soul and Roman destroyed the country. Rich kid grief is nuclear, man.

I think this is my favorite scene from the show ever. No words. Just Mencken's horrifying speech. Everyone's face speaks for itself.

If Shiv never lied even though a deal with Nate was not possible, Kendall could have choose Jimenez.

The shift in tone of Mencken's voice and the music at 02:54 is absolutely haunting. Stunning, sensational stuff.

“Things do happen …Rome.” Her intensity saying that was real af. Next ep we’ll prob see her win back.

Shiv played herself so hard

Kendall had a look of post-nut clarity for this entire scene. The "he's a guy we can do business with" sounded like he was justifying his actions to himself more than anything.

I find it hilarious that immediately after that speech, Kendall confidently states "He's a man we can do business with." LOL

Something about the delivery of Mencken’s “State” is like it’s dripping with blood

Mencken is such a great actor. Makes such a great self assured and narcissistic psychopath by just looking cool.

What people don’t realize is this was the last shrivel of humanity Kendall had left. But with him calling it, it’s gone. He wrestled back and forth but he has decided he’s “not a good guy” and “not a good father” but he’s a killer. Full Logan mode at the end of the funeral is my bet.

By far one of the most chilling scenes in the entirety of this show. The "tradition" Mencken comes from will destroy the country, and it was the Roy family who brought him to power. To them, it's just fun and games. It's monopoly money. But Mencken is the rational conclusion to the empire the Roys are trying to run, and everything he'll do is on them.

This ep was a whole panic attack omg 😂😭

“We’ll go far” “Over the road and into the bar” Feels like fascist signaling (it was said twice this episode?) - and when you rewatch the other interactions between Mencken and Roman, it becomes clear. Roman’s a rich spoiled billionaire kid who’s at least open and honest about where his class interests lie: in democracy, nobody has more to lose than the rich. Because of the evils of colonialism and the nightmare system that arose from its poisonous soil: most of the oligarchy is white. So fascism is the cleanest and clearest system to maintain the dominance of the rich over us all. Roman is at least transparent about that. I think Shiv represents the mainstream neoliberal Democratic Party: complicit & connected to the system at every turn, but tries to act like they’re different: nothing but empty platitudes, and no real resistance until it’s too late. The “we can do business with him” line from Kendall is just so bone chilling. I think he represents the big business & elite writ large: when push comes to shove, the money and power is what matters - at any cost to us all. So the fascists are fascists. The Democrats act like they’re not complicit but water down any real meaningful changes because they feed from the same trough. When the time came, Waystar had more to gain from a fascist regime so Kendall made the business choice (because corporations are inherently sociopathic). I think this show is brilliant - what a big warning sign for our democracy. This is all just my take but yeah. “Some people just can’t cut a deal Fikret” - the power this tiny cadre of people in these broken sociopathic institutions yield over us is dangerous.

I think this would be a good time to address that Connor Roy was interested in politics from a very young age

I liked how they did their research on elections and had consultants, it’s hard to immerse yourself in a shows election when the results are so utterly batshit but this is entirely realistic and plausible

Oh no... Poor Connor... I was rooting for him. 😢

This episode was like an one hour long panic attack

The way he moved his eyes and smiled looked sinister

No one at ATN wanted Mencken. Even Roman only wanted him for personal gain, not politics.

Mencken's speech is insane. Perfectly captures the powerful rhetoric of fascism. Make everyone feel like they can be awesome at the cost of everyone else. The Roy's have made a grave mistake

2:04 the music that plays along with this scene is so good, it’s like a defeated version of the theme

"Don't we long sometimes for something clean? Once, in this polluted land?"

The literal fascist terminology he seeps in such as "leader emerging from the people" and being "willed into being".

Found it so striking how the “old guard” of Frank and co were shown to be mere observers of it all - can do nothing else but watch as the reckless next gen unleashes their carnage with no one longer there to stand in their way!

I think what’s so striking here is that even Roman looks like he’s known what he’s done

If Roman and Kendall were smart, they would listen to that speech very carefully, particularly the part about how Mencken is not “grubby and transactional”, despite all the people who “think that’s how things work.” They’d think about who is more likely to appeal to Mencken as someone he can rely on to be effective, and get things done for him: the Roy brothers, or Matsson, who will undoubtedly be reaching out to Mencken that very evening to make his pitch. Sure, the Roy kids got you through the door, Mr. President, but who do you think can take your media dominance to the next level? It was the whole logic for the original GoJo deal in the first place. If Roman ad Kendall we’re smart, they would have thought about that. But Roman and Kendall are not smart.

I love how u can see a moment of humanity in Shiv when she says “things do happen, Rome” Because of her background in politics, I do think she genuinely hated Mencken and knew the harm he would cause. the one time she has a moral backbone she still shot herself in the foot due to her other schemes

4:19 the dismissiveness from Tom hahaha this episode made me realise he knows how to cut the cord when he needs to. I liked the Tom-centric episode

This episode hits a little too close to home.

A night of good TV!

Less than 24 hours later: Comes to a grubby compromise with cunning men haggling for his attention. Populist of the year, this fella.

Some people just can't cut a deal, Fikret.

Mencken's speech was legendary.

Average situation in argentina

'Cunning men haggle for the best price. That's not me' Sych hypocrisy

They showed menckens victory in such s way if the allied were defeated snd the Axis now holds the keys to Europe and the world

This is one of those times where you can see the influence of hip hop. This speech was practically on string beat. Everything from the first moment of "ah well" is so musical and the whole speech is incredibly lyrical and rhythmic.

"Things do happen... Rome"

this show is so good at finding the sort of actors who believably look like they could be corrupt, arrogant politicians/businessmen lmao

“we just made a night of good tv”

Kendalls is one shove away from being entirely dead inside.

Ken was so sad and hot in this ep

Y saber que así es como se han puesto presidentes, ellos protegidos en su burbuja de privilegios mientras todo un pueblo lo padece. Excelente manera de mostrar la perversidad de los Roy.

This episode made me want the deal to happen, They fully deserved what happened in the finale !!

This Speech Rivals Frank Underwood

It's funny how all these fascist on TV shows like Succession or Peaky Blinders are way more believable and subtle vs the actual fascists in real life. The writers obviously put so much work went into this speech, it's on the level of "Tomorrow belongs to me" from Cabaret.

Key part of the speech starts @1:55

Beautiful speech

that was COLD

Shiv critiquing menkyn is the funniest thing I think. She’s sitting on her high horse like she cares about people and social justice when she truly just wants her bag. Great writing in this show to demonstrate how in politics there is no morals, only greed.

Absolutely Chilling speech from Mencken which is reflected in the character reactions to what they've just done except Roman who dismisses it as Good TV.The writing is so on point for demagogue/fascist about 'emerging from the people' and 'Cunning men haggle' this is where Succession is at its best and also Justin Kirk deserves some kind of Emmy recognition for this

Contrast Roman's high-and-mighty attitude here with his sheer anguish among the protesters in E409.

for some reason i was hoping that Connor would become menckens running mate so he could secure his 1% on top of his votes to secure the win and he becomes the VP.

Shiv is a professional Self Sabotager

Dude. The title alone is spoilers. I don't even subscribe to you the algorithm threw this in my face. Wtf

tbh if Mencken is a real person, he can win the presidency easily. He is literally Trump with youth, good looks, and well-written speeches

They actually just announced Greg’s victory in taking throne of waystar

Kendall sinking the country into fascism and betraying her daughter for power is EXACTLY what Logan wanted for him, he finally turned into the killer and Kendall hates it lmao

The sly, impish smile when he says something about "something pure" in "this polluted land" Terrifying.

The first section of this scene plays This is Not for Tears, but an extended version I don’t think we’ve heard beginning at :45. Could be a splice from a different composition, I would really like someone’s help here. This has been killing me trying to find this OST!

"ahhh well!" Amazing line

Loved the speech!

“Pure” and “Clean” are Nahtzee talk

‘Things do happen’ straight out of the Claire Underwood playbook!

love that he says the most batshit stuff but the news bracket just says very moderate snippets

Mencken's actor delivering some truly unhinged like a door performances.

I love how all of them are pretty much "Are you sure?" plus "F*ck, what have we just done" xD

i rather have this guy than the current choice we have

The show has had so many terrible things slip by without affecting the main cast for a while, but here… I really think they did something so horrible that even they might see some sort of consequences. That like from Shiv “things do happen… Rome” is so foreboding. The person they just helped into power isn’t just some useful idiot they can control. He’s a fascist. Pure and simple. The FBI raid happened in the show to demonstrate that the family isn’t nearly as untouchable as they think they are when it comes to the president. The only check they had on the power of the president was that they could help him win elections. The thing about fascists… they aren’t worried about the next election. Meaning, they have no real power over him.

I really like to think how many different viewers felt like this election was similar too. For most probably Donald T vs Hillary but I feel like there has been a lot of similar ones

He would make a great Joker.

I wish the Murdock boys could choose trump like this 😂😂😂🤞

I find the responsibility awesome LOL i cant hate him lmao

Is the music that plays over Menckens speech on any of the soundtracks? Or a different version of something that is?

Terrific scene. But how will Kendall execute his “reverse viking” strategy now? Mencken has run on a campaign of breaking up the media empires.

Gotta say. That was a great speech.

Damn it, now I want a version of house of cards where he will be the main character! this actor has just incredible charisma and he is great for portraying the nationalist people 's leader

3:07 Fate-sealing moment here.

Anyone knows which piece of the soundtrack is playing in this scene?

As a non American whose country already has our own toxic political environment - I gotta say it is pretty refreshing to not get affected by a (relatively fake) political climate of a tv show 😅

Love the way they kind of made the flags look like Horns. Coupled with the music it's like the Devil won.