THE DOCTOR OF POLITICAL SATIRE IS IN

A visit to London to talk Trump, Musk, and the state of democracy with Veep creator Armando Iannucci

- By STEPHEN RODRICK

In Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, United States Air Force Brig. Gen. Jack D. Ripper goes rogue and launches an unprovoked nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. He is asked by RAF Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake - a voice of reason in the madness to recall the B-52 bombers that will end civilization. Ripper refuses. The general talks of how forces beyond our comprehension are slowly poisoning America with a toxic chemical known as... fluoride.

"Mandrake, do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk... ice cream? Ice cream, Mandrake! Children's ice cream!"

Over 60 years later, I'm watching Armando Iannucci's reimagined Dr. Strangelove at the Nöel Coward Theatre in London. Directed and co-adapted by Sean Foley, it features Steve Coogan in the multiple roles made famous by Peter Sellers. The fluoride line gets giggles, but not from me or a nearby American couple. They look at each other with horror and both whisper "RFK Jr." The fluoride speech is one of the sections of Kubrick's original screenplay that Iannucci, the visionary behind Veep, The Thick of It, In the Loop, and The Death of Stalin, didn't tinker with; it was too perfect and too timely as originally written.