History Main / ArtisticLicensePolitics

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' episode "OPERATION: W.H.I.T.E.H.O.U.S.E.", Numbuh 1 wakes up in an alternate universe where he is the President of the United States of America, and the government wants him to sign the "Bill of No Rights For Kids" to finally get rid of the KND. Not only would the bill be a massive violation of the Constitution, Numbuh 1 could never be President of the USA because he was born in England. [[spoiler:Either way, it works in the show's favor because it was AllJustADream.]]

** A Solicitor General like Heather Dunbar would probably not make a good presidential candidate. [[http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/03/08/house-of-cards-is-the-worst-show-about-american-politics-ever/ As pointed out]] by ''The Washington Post'', not many people know the name of the Solicitor General in real life[[note]]the Solicitor General was Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. in 2015, and Noel Francisco in 2017, hardly household names[[/note]]. A relatively unknown politician would probably never be nominated as a Presidential candidate for good reasons: when someone is being nominated for President, part of the process involves entails determining if the person actually functions well as a candidate and wins votes, and if this person will advance the policies the public will approve of and not cave the moment public opinion starts to shift. In other words, parties tend to nominate people with some history of behaving as a public official and running in multiple elections.

* EasilyElected: A character manages to get into a leadership position without fulfilling the basic qualifications and/or the due process typically required to take the office. (Sometimes TruthInTelevision for smaller municipalities, but much less likely at the national level.)

* ''Series/TheGoodWife'': In ‘Payback’, Marissa tells Eli that Eyal Naftali, Chief of Staff to Israel’s Communications Minister, wants to run for the Knesset, and later for Prime Minister, and wants him to manage his campaign. Aside from the fact that this position does not exist[[note]]The ''Ministry as a whole'' has a Director-General, whose name as of the episode’s air date is Shlomo Filber; their role is basically the same as a permanent secretary in Britain[[/note]], but you don’t run for Knesset--you run for the party leadership in a party that has primary elections, and then the ''party'' runs for Knesset. Becoming Prime Minister means your party is big enough and you can manage to form a coalition with enough parties to get the majority of Knesset members on your side (i.e. a Westminster-style parliamentary system, sans ridings); although the Prime Minister was elected directly by the public in the 1990s, this reform was abandoned after only three election cycles due to not actually giving the promised government stability. Also, even more JustForFun/{{egregious}}ly, she tells him it’s his chance to get rid of Netanyahu (who is all too chummy with the Republicans in RealLife), while a person at this position would almost certainly be in Netanyahu’s coalition, or at least be to a member of Netanyahu’s coalition what [[Series/YesMinister Sir Humphrey is to Jim Hacker]].[[note]]Although in real life, Netanyahu eventually ''was'' unseated by a member of his coalition who had turned on him, Naftali Bennett, so perhaps this one was more prescient than it initially looked.[[/note]] And, incidentally, as of the episode’s air date, the Israeli Minister of Communications name is... Benjamin Netanyahu. The episode seems to assume the Prime Minister of Israel is [[EaglelandOsmosis equivalent to US President]], with similar elections. Israel does in fact have a President, who is a ceremonial figurehead chosen by the Knesset.