(CNN) The following contains spoilers about the April 21 episode of "Veep."

"Veep" has provided a broadly satiric look at politics through its six seasons, in a knowing fashion that has more than a few times caused life to imitate art. Yet as the show heads into its final flurry of episodes, the HBO series has incorporated what appear to be a few rather overt art-imitates-life flourishes.

After the writers have lamented that they're hard-pressed to match the absurdity of the current news cycle, they seem to have wryly adopted the strategy that if you can't beat them, join them.

In a plot that could hardly be better timed with the release of the redacted Mueller report, Sunday's campaign-themed fourth episode featured past and possibly future president Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, brilliant as always) engaging in back-channel negotiations with the Chinese government, who approach her campaign through a dimwitted if pliant surrogate.

The Chinese then proceed to assist her in a key primary, which includes employing shadowy tactics designed to suppress African-American voter turnout in South Carolina.

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