The Top 10 Worst Movie Presidents
In Honor of Another Election, Here Are the Worst Movie Presidents
With another election coming to a close, I’m celebrating the beauty of democracy by counting down the worst movie Presidents of all time. How is that celebrating democracy? Well, it’s a system that allows even the dumbest, close-minded, uneducated, and intolerant among us to have a say, no matter how detrimental it might be to society as a whole. Thanks to democracy, even the most unqualified, ignorant, and dangerous candidates have a shot of becoming leaders of the free world. Now, the idea that everyone gets a say is a wonderful concept in theory, but anyone who’s read a comments section can tell you that letting everyone have a say can be dangerous. However, I wanted to pull a Ghost of Elections Yet to Come by providing some cautionary examples of what might come to pass if unfit candidates find themselves in the Oval Office. Don’t worry, I’m not going to be a total downer with this list. I’ve mixed in a few comically inept characters among the monsters who found themselves commander-in-chief. Hopefully, this list of the worst movie Presidents of all time will motivate you all to get out there and vote. Remember, it’s only by voting that you earn the right to complain about how the country is being run by whoever becomes the new idiot in the White House.
10. President Thomas “Tug” Benson- Hot Shots! Part Deux
Let’s kick off this list of the worst movie Presidents with one of the most ill-suited men to ever sit in the Oval Office (at least in movies). Lloyd Bridges is Tug Benson, a war hero who served in the United States Navy as an Admiral. Despite his record of service and a truckload of purple hearts from various injuries (from ceramic eyes to skin made from asbestos), he’s hardly the right man for the job when it comes to running the country. Sitting behind a desk has never been his style, which is why he was eager to get back in the field to support Topper Harley in his mission to topple Saddam Hussain. President Benson has never been known to back down from a fight and infamous for his battle cry, “We’ll settle this the old navy way; The first guy to die, LOSES!” That being said, he’s an absolute disaster with diplomacy, and I’m pretty sure he’ll be responsible for WWIII.
9. President James Dale- Mars Attacks!
Some might argue that including President James Dale (Jack Nicholson) among the worst movie Presidents of all time is a little unfair. Dale’s administration was thrown a heck of a curveball when terrifying little green men landed and began conquering the planet. However, there have been plenty of other movie Presidents who have faced alien invaders and they managed to do a pretty good job, all things considered. President Dale, on the other hand, shows a disturbing lack of judgment at every turn. First, look at the idiots he surrounded himself within his cabinet. Then there’s the fact that he keeps letting the Martians run amok in hopes it’s all just a misunderstanding. Finally, he meets his demise by falling for a modified “joy buzzer” gag after trying to make an impassioned speech to creatures that clearly don’t speak English. Even if he hadn’t died, I think his approval ratings would have taken a serious hit.
8. President Skroob- Spaceballs
Unlike in Star Wars, the fascist dictator in Spaceballs is more incompetent than intimidating. President Skroob (Mel Brooks) did what any “good” leader would do and when faced with a serious public health problem, he ignored it until it was too late. Rather than fix the air problem on his own planet, he took a note from “great” leaders throughout history and forcibly liberated some resources from another sovereign planet. It’s the way things have been done for, well, ever, and Skroob really isn’t the kind of guy interested in seeing “how the sausage is made” in these situations. That’s why he lets underlings like Dark Helmet and Colonel Sandurz. Unfortunately for him, inept leaders tend to surround themselves with inept minions. Of course, I get that Spaceballs is a comedy, but that doesn’t make Skroob any less deserving of a spot among the worst movie Presidents of all time.
7. The President of the United States- Kingsman: The Golden Circle
You’ll find that many of the worst movie Presidents of all time often remain nameless in order to better represent the inhumanity of those in power within a soul-crushing bureaucracy. Bruce Greenwood has played cinematic commanders-in-chief a few times over the years, but for the sake of this list, I’m going with his character from Kingsman: The Golden Circle. In the film, a megalomaniac drug czar taints the world’s illegal drug market with a toxin that will kill anyone exposed to it, unless the United States ends the war on drugs. Rather than panic at the thought of millions of Americans dying painful deaths, the President celebrates the fact that he’ll be remembered as the man who won the war on drugs by getting rid of all the “junkies.” Some might call this approach pragmatic. After all, if you want to make an omelet, you gotta break a few eggs. However, I want to remind everyone that not everyone who uses drugs recreationally are all blights on society.
6. President for Life- Escape from L.A.
Despite what some people might think, there’s supposed to be a clear separation of church and state in the good old U.S. However, the Christian theocratic President for Life (Cliff Robertson) from Escape from L.A. quickly puts an end to all that. Sitting pretty on his high horse, the President takes advantage of a natural disaster that floods Southern California and turns L.A. into an island and calls it the wrath of an angry God smiting sinners. Staying on message, he sets into place a series of Moral Laws that are about as fun as they sound. In this new America, anyone caught smoking, drinking, doing drugs, having sex out of wedlock, and anything else “unchristian” will be shipped off the neo-Alcatraz that was once L.A. Well, those who repent can just get the death sentence. This guy is such a dick that even his own daughter was desperate enough to run off to L.A. just to get away from him.