it's a cultural metaphor of nationalistic fervor that promotes xenophobic murder.  If it were just a TV show a standard plot device of the show would not be readily accepted by the candidates of a major political party.

The show is no more "just a show" than Birth of a Nation, the movie that legitimized the KKK was just a flick.

I wrote a diary, Republicans run for President-of 24 up on this subject that I wrote at 2AM last night in order to release some of my disturbance from watching this spectacle of a debate.  It was scary to the extreme.