Hillary, Bill and Donald in House of Cards

The six writers of House of Cards are in luck. The fifth season of this political TV thriller is already on the cards. The program tells the story of a Washington power couple – the Underwoods – who are willing to do anything to get to, and stay in, the White House. And reality, which often surpasses fiction, has come to lend them a hand. The writers can simply take the amazing story of the race to the White House in 2016 that is unraveling in front of their very eyes.

It is likely that the presidential elections of Nov. 8 will give the Oval Office and the White House its first female president, who was formerly a first lady, and living with her, in the East Wing, a former president as first gentleman. Will Hillary make the erroneous decision, as has been suggested, of entrusting Bill to revitalize the economy? How will they avoid the conflict of interest that strictly separates public and private life?

If you combine the previously unthinkable nomination of Donald Trump with the return of the Clintons, the series could lay off a writer or two. On Tuesday, California, the most populous U.S. state, will vote in their primaries. Hillary must defeat her old socialist rival, Bernie Sanders, who, with his mantra of inequality and a social-democratic platform, has galvanized lots of young people. This, however, will cost her votes. On Wednesday, Clinton will have enough delegates to be the presumptive Democratic candidate.

Yet no one thinks that Hillary will easily defeat Trump in November. Clinton has come out fighting though, by accusing Trump of not being ready, both intellectually and in his temperament, to put his finger on the nuclear button. His election, she warns, would be a “historic error.” Now with the finish line in sight, both candidates have more negative ratings than positive. But this is the year of surprises. In the White House, where Obama, whose popularity is on the up, perhaps due to the calm with which he is facing the political polarization and the populist surge that has hit the U.S., is outlining his place in history. It’s likely that the first African-American president may be the trump card that Hillary uses to get herself elected.

The primaries have got her three-fourths of the way to the finish line. In the two parties there is an appearance of rebels against the establishment. Trump is trying to win over the Republican party, which has been forced to accept him, using the widespread medium of television very skillfully to give people simple, easily digestible solutions to complex problems. He receives disproportionate amounts of media coverage for his insults and wisecracks.

Late into the game, the big newspapers have realized the danger of this, and they are scrutinizing the real-estate developer’s business life, the fraud of Trump University, and his long career of contempt for women — scrutiny that he will not put up with. Finally, the billionaire’s connection with the discontent and anger of the least educated white working classes who have been impacted by the economic crisis and, supposedly, by globalization has created nostalgia for a socially homogeneous America that no longer exists.