'Madam Secretary' goes off the rails with climate change propaganda

For its first two seasons, the TV show “Madam Secretary,” was a joy to watch. Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord, played by Tea Leoni, was a pragmatic diplomat with a touch of idealism who was more interested in solving problems than scoring ideological points. She was depicted as competent and more than a little bit brave. The show enjoyed a strong supporting cast with Keith Caradine as President Conrad Dalton, Zelko Ivanek as White House Chief of Staff Russell Jackson, and Tim Daley as husband Henry McCord, a professor of divinity and a part-time spy.

With the first episode of the third season, “Sea Change,” someone decided to toss a hand grenade in the form of climate change advocacy and turn the show into leftwing propaganda.

The episode starts with a super storm wiping out the American naval base in Bahrain. Some climate change advocates have suggested that cyclones may form in the Persian Gulf sometime in the future though none have taken place in that region in recorded history. In any case, the super storm seems to be very specific as no mention is made about damage to civilian areas in Bahrain or any other part of the Gulf.

The catastrophe causes Secretary McCord to conclude two things.

First, the United States really needs to do something about climate change. What those things might be are decorously left unsaid. Second, the United States needs to cut all military ties with Bahrain because the Persian Gulf is not all that important anymore and because Bahrain is a human rights abuser. To be sure, in the real world, the government of Bahrain, a constitutional monarchy, suppresses dissent. But compared to Saudi Arabia and Iran, particularly in its treatment of women and religious minorities, the country is an island of freedom in the Middle East.

Inexplicably, President Dalton decides to go along with this new agenda. As a result, he loses his party’s nomination to a more hard-line candidate.

Secretary McCord then persuades her boss to go Bull Moose and run as an independent. The move will be seen as a heroic gesture. Of course, Teddy Roosevelt still lost and ensured the election of a man he detested, Woodrow Wilson, a southern racist and a borderline fascist. But this is Hollywood and not the real world.