TV Quote of the Day (‘Arrested Development,’ As a Real Estate Developer Explains How He Got Into Legal Trouble)

George Bluth Sr. [played by Jeffrey Tambor]: “I was set up. By the Brits. A group of British builders operating outside the OC…for a partnership to build homes overseas. I did not know they meant Iraq.”—Arrested Development, Season 3, Episode 2, “For British Eyes Only,” original air date Sept. 26, 2005, teleplay by Richard Day, Mitchell Hurwitz, and Karey Dornetto, directed by John Fortenberry

Funny how a script from nearly two decades ago predicts a real-life occurrence: a real-estate developer claiming to be “set up.” And this developer announcing plans to plead not guilty as a spectacular protest—or, a “protestacular,” in the words of (fictional) son Gob.

Well, that might be one area where satire diverges from reality: Nobody cares a whit what happens to George Bluth Sr., but America in 2024 hangs on every word and whine from a counterpart every bit as ridiculous but far more dangerous.

The U.S., you might say, is in a state of arrested development because of one arrested developer.