4 Reasons Why the 2016 Presidential Election is like Game of Thrones

The wait is over – Game of Thrones Season 5 is now airing, and as political junkies, we can’t help but see some similarities between the show and the 2016 Presidential Election.

In case you don’t know, Game of Thrones is an HBO series based off George R.R. Martin’s book series titled A Song of Ice and Fire. Generally, Game of Thrones is about a dynastic war among several families for control of Westeros (also known as the Iron Throne). There are many characters and plot twists, especially because Martin is famous for killing off key characters unexpectedly.

Thinking about the past episodes, we can’t help but notice four similarities between Game of Thrones and the 2016 Presidential Election.

1. Red Wedding: Republican Edition

The “Red Wedding” in Game of Thrones occurred when one of the families promised their son to another family’s daughter and lets just say… there was a lot of bloodshed.

Thankfully, there probably won’t be a literal “Red Wedding,” but with so many Republicans entering the race, there is bound to be war in order to get the Republican nomination.

We’ll see this in attack ads, in the debates and undoubtedly from the Democrats. It will make you think we’re preparing for war.

2. House Rivalries: Lannister vs. Stark, Clinton vs. Bush

Source: LA Times

The Lannisters and the Starks have had been bitter rivals since the beginning. Both want the Iron Throne and both will do anything to get there. Kind of seems like another family rivalry we’re familiar with… the Clintons versus the Bush Family.

We’ve all imagined it coming down to Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush (even though neither have officially announced yet). Similar to Game of Thrones fashion, we expect that nothing will be held back in order to the win the presidency.

3. Brace Yourselves. The 2016 Presidential Election is Coming

How many seasons of Game of Thrones has it been now where we have been warned, “winter is coming?” Well if you can imagine how long that has been, it feels like it’s been twice as long waiting for the 2016 Elections, especially when the hype started the day after the 2012 Presidential Election. Winter will soon be here, as well as November 2016.

4. Westeros Super PACs

What if the contenders for the Iron Throne put down their weapons, calmed their dragons and, instead, used good old-fashioned negative campaign ads on each other? Well we’re not sure what the public opinion polls would say, but it would definitely be an interesting tactic.

We’re in luck, because there are negative attack ads by “Crossbows GPS” and “Committee to Protect Dragons” Super PACs aiming to attack Robb Stark

And Daenerys Targaryen

Bonus Material: Sesame Street

We couldn’t wrap up this post without mentioning Sesame Street’s parody of Game of Thrones. The spoof “Game of Chairs” teaches kids how to count, while at the same time predicting who will win the last chair. (Trust us, Sesame Street parodies are pretty funny. You should also check out the House of Cards parody.)