Web Video / The Presidential Adventures

The Presidents going to an anime convention.

"The Presidential Adventures" is a series of videos on YouTube created by Krucial, utilizing AI-generated voice clips and starring the US Presidents. The videos feature US presidents Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un getting into all manner of wacky adventures, ranging from attending an anime convention to traveling to alternate universes.

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Contains examples of:

• Adaptational Attractiveness: When the gang meets their counterparts in the Sovereign Hierarchy, they are stunned to see that Sovereign!Obama is significantly more ripped than the main Obama; Kim insults Obama for his "skinny fat" physique while his counterpart is practically Hercules.
• Alternate Self: Going off the above example, all of the main characters and the various guest stars have counterparts in the Sovereign Hierarchy's world, as it was the same as world until the 2016 election. Subverted and played for laughs with Kim Jong-un, who the Sovereign residents constantly mistake for being a Panda Express agent named Mr. Chang, who is revealed to be armored samurai that supplies the Resistance with Panda Express meals.
• Arbitrary Skepticism:
  • Played straight with Donald in the Dangerously Haunted House video, where Trump is still trying to dismiss the paranormal occurences that occur, until the end. When Obama calls him out on this, pointing out that they ran into a skinwalker in the previous Haunted House episode, Trump says that it's called "being pragmatic."
  • Discussed in the Dangerous Robbery video. When the gang meets with Alex Jones, he's grateful that they're not as Starbucks because he believes they're being used as part of a major Clinton conspiracy to siphon off multiversal energy. Obama is skeptical, but George points out that given everything they've learned about Sovereign, it's not that outlandish, a point Obama concedes to.
  Alex Jones: First, I want to thank you for meeting me here instead of Starbucks. 90% of their baristas are actually interdimensional demogorgans funded by the Clinton Foundation to siphon off the essence of America's youth to fuel their multiversal soul appartus.
  (beat)
  George W. Bush: I mean, given what we know, that's really not that crazy, Barry.
  Barack Obama: Fine, I'll give you that.
• Arc Welding: After their intial journey through the multiverse, the Presidents have several adventures where they encounter a Kraken capable of devouring an orca whale at the end of "The Presidents Go To Sea World Again", a Yeti in "The Presidents Go To Mount Everest" and a paranormal abomination in "The Presidents Go To A Dangerously Haunted House". These turn out to not be coincidences, as the Sovereign Hierarchy and their Trump-terminator teleported these creatures into the main universe in an attempt to neutralize them.
• Artistic License – Paleontology: A couple examples pop up in the dinosaur universe in "The Presidents Go To An Alternate Universe":
  • The raptor whose egg Biden almost eats is based off the Velociraptor from Jurassic Park; regardless of whether it's meant to be a Velociraptor or a Deinonychus, their real-life counterparts had feathers, which the raptor shown lacks.
  • In addition to that, both the Velociraptor and the Deinonychus were already extinct by the time the meteor that finished off the dinosaurs crashed into the Earth, as was the featured Parasaurolophus and most sauropods (sans the titanosaurs, but it's unknown if they're the sauropod in question) had gone extinct by the late Jurassic. In addition, no species can last for close to 65 million years; depending on the animal, they typically last 1-10 million years. Of course, Rule of Cool is definitely in play.
• Artistic License – Politics: The Secret Service have been mentioned a grand total of once in the entire series, and it's never indicated that the Presidents are being accompanied by them throughout their adventures; in real life, the Presidents wouldn't be able to go anywhere without the Secret Service accompanying them, but it's much funnier to have the Presidents go on these adventures by themselves.
• Badass Boast: Steve Harvey makes one after Kim is tased for being too aggressive on Family Feud.
  Kim Jong-un: I thought you said you didn't make threats here on Family Feud.
  Steve Harvey: That's right. We don't make threats, we make guarantees.
• Bears Are Bad News: In the Dangerous Hiking Trip video, after all of their wacky hijinx, the gang ends up having to confront an angry brown bear; they believe they are doomed, but they end up defeating it through an astonishing series of events. Specifically, Trump fires his gun towards the bear while Joe throws a knockoff Native American arrowhead towards it, with the two ricocheting off each other, resulting the arrowhead hitting the bear in the head, after which Obama uses Kim's katana and jams it up the bear's ass, while Bush Jr annoys the bear by throwing oatmeal packets its way.
• Big Bad: Sovereign, a multiversal threat akin to the abominations of H.P. Lovecraf's stories, who has brought total ruin to many universes, and influenced Hillary Clinton in the universe where she was elected President over Donald Trump. He is the ultimate villain of the series, with the gang's goal being to ultimately stop him one day.
• Bigger on the Inside: In the Dangerous Hiking Trip episode, Kim's tent is absolutely massive on the inside, being able to fit stuff like a bed, a pool, and fridge with plenty of room to spare. He's relieved to hear that these are exclusive to North Korea and don't exist in America.
• Big Eater: Donald and Kim are constantly hungry and take any opportunity to eat, to the point a Chinese buffet instantly flipped their open sign to close once they saw them exit the car. In the Mount Everest episode, Trump takes five of John Schnatter's six pizzas that he brought with him to Mount Everest, and in the Dangerous Robbery video, Trump and Kim fill their bags with various snacks and Top Ramen.
• Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: The gang encounters a Yeti in the Mount Everest episode, represented visually by a Wampa from The Empire Strikes Back, and it's the main threat that the gang has to face when they're stranded in the cave due to the snowstorm.
• Big Good: Elon Musk is the leader of the main universe's effort to help liberate the Sovereign Hierarchy's universe from the totalitarian rule of the Clintons and of Sovereign. He ends up sharing this rule with Sanctus, who has made many efforts to stop Sovereign throughout the multiverse and who uses their power to help the gang and their counterparts escape Sovereign's current attack.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: In the Sovereign Hierarchy's world, Arnold Schwarzenegger is revealed to have been captured by the Clintons and brainwashed into serving them; he was made into a real Terminator and used to help create the Sovereign's other terminators. Bill Clinton frees him from their grasp after his Heel Realization.
• Breather Episode: The show has had two, thus far.
  • After "The Presidents Return To An Alternate Universe", which gives us insight into the true evil of Sovereign and shows that the stakes of this war are much higher than the Presidents could've ever imagined, the show follows it up with "The Presidents Go On A Dangerous Robbery", one of the gang's wackiest adventures, where they try to rob a drug compound with Alex Jones and Hilarity Ensues.
  • After the two-parter where the group returns to the Sovereign universe, and only manages to stall Sovereign's plans while that reality's resistance suffers major casualties (including that world's Trump and Obama), the gang barely escapes with their lives before the facility they were in is destroyed, and Joe Biden's tragic backstory is revealed along, the gang tries to have a more relaxing adventure going caving with Dr. Phil; in this case, the gang are trying to invoke this in-universe, as they are still reeling from their last encounter with Sovereign, having been cooped up indoors for months.
• Broad Strokes: In "The Presidents Return To An Alternate Universe", Joe laments how dark the gang's adventures have gotten and laments the days when they would just play Star Wars games and go to amusement parks, harkening back to the earlier videos from before the series found its identity (see Early-Installment Weirdness below); this indicates that these videos are to an extent canon to The Presidential Adventures, but because they featured JFK, who was dropped from the series and whose appearance would clash with the style of the show^note To elaborate, JFK appears alive and well, unaged from 1963, despite having been dead for over half a century. Once the show moved on its sitcom adventures and then to the Myth Arc, it would only showcase people who are still alive at the time of the videos., it is unknown if these videos happened the same way in-universe.
• Cerebus Retcon: Joe Biden goes on many incoherent and senile rants throughout the series; initially, this just appears to be satire, based on widespread speculation of the real Joe Biden having dementia. But come "The Presidents Save The Universe" and we find out the dark reason for these rants: the Joe Biden who travels with the other Presidents is not the Biden of our world (what happened to him is unknown), but from an alternate reality to either the main one or the Sovereign Hierarchy one, a reality where he tried to fight off Sovereign and narrowly lost. He worked with Sovereign's enemy, the being Sanctus, to travel reality after reality, trying to fight Sovereign and becoming overwhelmed by the sheer horrors and loss of life around him. Sanctus wiped his memories and sent him to the main reality, so that he could live the rest of his days in peace. But this muddled his mind, leading to the inane babbling that's been a staple of the series.
• Chekhov's Gag: When the alternate Presidents meet their main counterparts and learn of the main Joe's inane ramblings, Sovereign!Trump snarks that main Biden should distract Bill Clinton by telling one of his senile stories, saying that Bill will be so dumbfounded that they can seize the opportunity and disarm him. When they confront Bill, main Biden actually does baffle Bill with a story about saving a police officer from a wasp that was mutated in a nuclear factory, and Sovereign!Trump blasts at Bill.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Joe frequently tells many nonsensical stories he claims are from his past and is generally in his own little world.
• Conspiracy Theorist: Alex Jones is a prime example of this. Various times, he shows he still believes the real-world conspiracy that Obama was actually born in Kenya (which has been disproven), and he also believes the Clintons are using Starbucks as part of a scheme regarding their multiversal soul apparatus (which George and Obama have to concede isn't that far-fetched after their encounter with Sovereign). In the Dangerous Robbery video, his plan to break into the compound he and the gang were trying to rob hinged on the idea that the Presidents secretly having tornado guns that they've used since the Sixties (which is debunked by the Presidents). In the Shark Tank video, he also believes the narrator is a Chinese spy, to which he responds by pulling out an assault rifle and almost shooting up the building.
• Cool Crown: Donald wears one in "The Presidents Go To Sea World Again", while the others opt for funny animal hats; Donald acts even more egotistical than usual as a result, acting like he is an actual king and treating his friends as if they are his servants, much to their annoyance.
• Cool Sword: Kim Jong-un commonly brings a Katana along when adventuring with the Presidents; his generals told him that that katana is the most durable one in existence, forged using an incredibly resistant alloy, mined from an asteroid that crash landed in North Korea in times past. Sanctus reveals that the sword was actually embedded in the asteroid and contains her essence. When her physical being was lost, fragments were scattered across the cosmos, including in the katana, and the katana was deliberately sent to Earth with a purpose: To end the conflict with Sovereign once and for all when the time is right.
• Creepy Doll: The gang encounters a spooky old clown doll when going to the Crying Alley with Schwarzenegger, and one of the early signs that there really is paranormal activity in the house is that the doll moves around without explanation.
• Dead Alternate Counterpart:
  • By the end of "The Presidents Save The Universe" the Sovereign Hierarchy versions of Mark Cuban, Joe Rogan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Donald Trump, and Barack Obama have all been killed in action, while their main universe counterparts are alive and well.
  • It's implied that Kim Jong-un's real Sovereign Hierarchy counterpart is long-dead, seeing as how North Korea was destroyed by the regime and he's constantly mistaken for Mr. Chang.
• Did Not Think This Through:
  • Joe is particularly guilty of this when the gang returns to Sea World. When they think the captive killer whale is being abused, Joe tries to break the glass with a pick-axe he got from a potential shooter that he mistook for a LAR Per. Obama has to point out that even if that worked, the orca can't just walk to the ocean. Not to mention, the resulting flooding water probably would've drowned everyone there.
  • When Steve Harvey sends Joe Rogan to accompany the Presidents on the Queen Mary, he says that his expertise in mixed martial arts, particularly his explosive side kick, will ward off any spirits. When Obama points out that spirits are noncorporeal and wouldn't be phased, Joe has an Oh, Crap! moment, but still says they'll have a good time.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Sovereign!Trump acts this way when he meets the core group, telling them that they don't have any time to mess around and make jokes, and things need to be completely serious. Sovereign!Biden reveals that this is because when he looks at the core group, he sees in them a reflection of a world he failed to attain, blaming himself for losing the 2016 election to Hillary Clinton, which is what led to this nightmarish world.
• Druid: Kim claims that North Korea has a two-year mandatory druidic service for its citizens, and he had to take druid classes, and that he can translate for Fluffers the killer whale as a result. When they get Fluffers released into the wild, only for the orca to immediately be devoured by a killer whale, Kim admits that he flunked his druid classes and was winging the whole thing.
• Early-Bird Cameo: When the Presidents return to the Sovereign Hierarchy universe to fight Sovereign, the alternate version of Dr. Phil cameos as a resistance fighter, before his main universe counterpart appears in the next episode and accompanies the Presidents on their camping trip.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The series has evolved quite a bit in just a few months. To wit:
  • The series began with the Presidents playing Star Wars video games, and steadily evolved into the Myth Arc listed below.
  • The earlier videos also included John F. Kennedy, who was a popular fixture of the AI Presidents memes. Once the series found its identity with "The Presidents Go to an Anime Convention" and Kim Jong-un’s appearance in that video was well-received, JFK only appeared one more time in "The US Presidents Play Heroes of the Storm", the last gaming-style Presidents video made by Krucial, before quickly vanishing in favor of Kim Jong-un.
  • Speaking of Kim Jong-un, he first appeared in the Anime Convention video as a rival to the main four Presidents, and they have to face off against him in an Attack on Titan trivia game. When he returns in the Haunted House video, he joins the gang in their exploration of the Johnson Mansion, but still has "guest star" vibes to his character. From the Dangerous Hiking Trip video onwards, he is the fifth member of the group, accompanying the Presidents on all of their adventures.
  • In Season One, the show made little use of major guest characters, aside from Kim Jong-un before he quickly became a staple. Bill Clinton appeared in the Anime Convention video, but in a supporting capacity, with the same going for Elon Musk in the first Alternate Universe video. From Season Two onwards, the show makes regular use of guest characters who accompany the core five, including Steve Harvey, Alex Jones, and Joe Rogan.
• Eldritch Abomination: Sovereign, the main villain of this show, is this to a T, and has corrupted and brought ruin to countless universes. His backstory is revealed in "The Presidents Save the Universe": At the dawn of life, he was an angelic being named Tyrion, who helped Sanctus in bringing order to the cosmos by stabilizing the raging universes without the knowledge of their inhabitants. A race known as the Forebearers became loyal to Tyrion, but they set themselves on a path of self-destruction. This drove Tyrion mad, and he came to their aid by harvesting their souls and flesh and unifying everyone's conscious with his own. He wished to save everyone from themselves by trapping their consciousness within himself. He began harvesting Sanctus' people, and they waged a massive war that ravaged many planets. Sanctus sacrificed their physical form to seal Sovereign in their home plane of existence. And now Sovereign exerts his influence across the multiverse until he can become powerful enough to leave his plane of existence.
• Epic Fail: Of all the antics the Presidents and Kim have done, their lowest moment is in the Family Feud episode, where the second round has them needing to guess common boys' names that begin with the letter "H". And none of them can come up with a decent answer: Obama is the only one to guess a name that starts with the letter H, and his answer is "Hercules". Bush Jr guesses "H.W. Bush" based off his father's name, not thinking to guess what the "H" stood for, Biden guesses "Haagen Daas" based off the Ice Cream, Kim suggests "Hail Hydra" and claims it's a popular name in North Korea, and Trump answers "Jose", and doesn't change his answer even after spelling it. Drake seems like he'll save the day by guessing "Hector"...only to add on and make it "Hector with a J". Steve Harvey nearly has an aneurysm from the absolute boneheadedness on display, and he and the producers decide to skip to the Speed Round because none of them can handle the madness anymore.
• Everyone Has Standards: When the gang goes on Wheel of Fortune, one of the questions is to name an honest company with integrity. When everyone realizes that the answer is Blizzard Entertainment, they have a rare moment of complete unity where 'no one'' wants to answer the question. Kim notes how even he, the dictator of one of the most totalitarian and oppressive nations in the 21st Century, won't defend them.
• Expendable Alternate Universe: Played with in regards to the Sovereign Hierarchy universe. When the gang first travels to the universe by accident and learn what led to this hellish world, they try to wait out the time until their multiversal device is ready for another jump. When they are discovered by the Sovereign forces, however, they do what they can to fight off the Terminators and help the suffering citizens to the best of their ability. They decide that even though this is an alternate reality, they cannot stand by while these people suffer, and decide to fight Sovereign and liberate this world. It helps that Sovereign is a multiversal threat, so it's better to defeat him before he reaches the main universe.
• Face Death with Dignity: When Sovereign! Trump realizes that his end is near, he accepts his fate, using his last moments to tell his world's Biden to look after George and Bush (although their Obama dies around the same time), and tells the main universe version of himself to look after his friends as well, before blowing himself and Sovereign's monsters up.
• The Fashionista: One of George's main personality angles in this show is that he is this, being a trendsetter and a major fashion icon on social media sites like Instagram (a tad ironic, since the real-life George W. Bush has no real presence on social media).
• Fat Slob: Overlapping with Big Eater, Trump is this. Highlights include him eating a corn dog out a dumpster because he was so hungry in the Haunted House video, and in the Dangerously Haunted House video, he just sits around eating a half-dozen protein cookies while everyone else lifted (even Kim's single jumping jack and 2-mile-per-hour-treadmill walk were more than what Trump did).
• Foreshadowing: When Joe Biden gets high off Joe Rogan's edibles, he says that the (nonexistent) dandruff on Kim's hair reminds him of the stardust that once enveloped the multiverse, and when Trump says Joe needs to be quiet, his response is "I'm sorry, I failed". This ends up foreshadowing his tragic backstory, detailed in Cerebus Retcon above.
• Giant Spider: The gang and Dr. Phil encounter one in the Caving Trip video, with George particularly being horrified when he realizes 1) it's not his father, like he initially thought, and 2) the edibles he had aren't making him hallucinate the giant spider.
• The Ghost:
  • Despite her victory over Donald Trump in the 2016 election being the catalyst for the Sovereign Hierarchy's rise to power in the alternate reality the gang travels to, the Sovereign Hierarchy’s Hillary Clinton has not made an appearance; it is instead Bill Clinton who faces the Presidents and their allies when they try to fight Sovereign.
  • Kamala Harris has been mentioned a few times, with the indication being that she is the de facto President while Joe is having misadventures with his buddies, but she has not made a physical appearance.
• Hallucinations:
  • In the Caving Trip episode, Joe gives George some edibles that he brought along for the trip, and he gets so high that he initially mistakes the giant spider he encounters for his father.
  • When Joe accidentally has some of Joe Rogan's marijuana-and-PCP-brownies, he hallucinates George as being a heavenly angel, showing how strong the edibles have affected him.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: There are numerous indications that the United States and North Korea are still bitter enemies in this world, but the Presidents have no problem inviting their Supreme Leader on all of their adventures (aside from Trump getting annoyed with him).
• Guest-Star Party Member: As mentioned in Early-Installment Weirdness, later seasons frequently have at least one other character accompany the main five throughout their adventures; Alex Jones is the most recurring, having accompanied the gang in the Dangerous Robbery, Shark Tank, and Star Wars Convention episodes.^note Steve Harvey has appeared in more episodes, but wasn't a tagalong member of the group until the Wheel of Fortune episode.
• Haunted House: One of the most recurring plotlines is the group traveling to various haunted houses; they've gone to the Johnson Mansion, went to the Crying Alley house with Schwarzenegger, and even went aboard the Queen Mary with Joe Rogan.
• Heel–Face Turn: Sovereign!Bill Clinton does this in "The Presidents Save The Universe", where it is revealed that unlike Hillary, he was unaware of Sovereign's true intentions for his world. Once he learns the truth, he does what he can to assist the Presidents and the Resistance.
• Heroic Suicide: When Sovereign! Obama realizes that he is falling under the influence of the abomination, he uses the drones he and the main Obama brought with him to kill himself before he can fully succumb to Sovereign's will.
• Higher Understanding Through Drugs: When the gang goes on Wheel of Fortune, Joe takes some edibles while the others bicker. It unscrambles his brain and he almost figures out the entire four-line final question singlehandedly, with almost no clues outside of a conversation Pat Sajak had with Obama. He and Kim are disqualified once the others realize he's under the influence, with George having to explain to Pat how it gives Joe an unfair advantage.
• Hopeless Suitor: In the Shark Tank episode, Kim Jong-un has a huge crush on Lori Greiner, squeeing with joy when he says hi and she returns a confused "hello" back. Unfortunately for the Supreme Leader, Lori does not acknowledge him after that, and instead fawns over Alex Jones.
• Hypocritical Humor: One of the Running Gags of the series is that Kim and Donald will often rag on each other for being overweight slobs, with the joke being that they're both like that and have little room to give each other crap over it.
  Donald Trump': We're literally right next to the ocean. I could just give into the waters and scoop [a lobster] up with my own hands.
  Kim Jong-un: You diving into the waters. The last thing this overpriced state needs is a disaster in the form of a tsunami, Donald.
  Donald Trump: Kim, if you were to cannonball into the ocean, it would cause greater tidal waves than if Godzilla himself were to emerge from the abyssal depths.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Even though the Presidents in this series lead wildly different lives than their real-world counterparts, it's been mentioned a few time that like in real life, this Trump is currently dealing with his criminal indictments.
  • When the main Presidents meet their Sovereign counterparts, the others are mostly pretty different from each other...except for George, whose Sovereign counterpart is pretty similar to him aside from not being a fashion icon. Kim hangs a lampshade on this; this is represented by how Sovereign!George is the only one to share the same stock photo face as his main counterpart, while the others have their heads taken from different photos.
  • On the note of George, when he and his counterpart are brought before Sanctus, she mentions that throughout the multiverse, whenever Sovereign becomes a threat to a new world, George W. Bush always stands as a leader of the resistance movements opposing Sovereign, and she states that the main George's interest in Sovereign is proof of this.
• Innocent Bigot: Joe is always making casually racist and insensitive remarks, normally at poor Obama's expense, but sometimes at Kim's expense, too. Particular highlights include mistaking the Yeti in the Mount Everest video for an Indian, and almost pulling a Randy Marsh and guessing the N-word in the Wheel of Fortune episode.
• Intergenerational Friendship: There are large age gaps within the core group, with Biden, Trump, and George being in their late-seventies-to-early-eighties, Obama being in his early sixties, and Kim pushing 40.
• Interquel: All of the episodes from the Dangerous Robbery video through the Star Wars convention take place within the monthlong timeskip that happens in "The Presidents Return To An Alternate Universe" between the main events of the episode and when the Presidents return to the alternate universe.
• Interspecies Friendship: In the return to Sea World, Joe Biden thinks he has a connection with Fluffers the Killer Whale, due to having just been obsessed with a toy killer whale at the gift shop. Unfortunately, this is one-sided, and Fluffers considers Joe to be a crazy and senile man (which isn't an unfair assessment in this series).
• Interspecies Romance: In the Mount Everest episode, Papa John decides to hook up with the Yeti that they encounter, much to the bafflement of the main five.
• Intoxication Ensues:
  • When the gang goes to the Queen Mary, Biden accidentally has some of Joe Rogan's edibles, which were also laced with PCP. Long story short, he's completely out-of-commission for most of the night, due to having vidid hallucinations, though he helps the gang find footage of the phantom Trump at the end.
  • When the resistance tries to fight Sovereign, Sovereign!Mark Cuban accidentally has some of Joe Rogan's edibles, and cannot fly the X-Wing jet straight as a result, flying upside down during the Resistance's assault. This, however, does lead to his death at the hands of Sovereign's forces.
• Is This Thing Still On?: When the gang enters a trivia contest at the Star Wars convention they attend, the trivia is livid that only eight "hicks" showed up, talking about how this game is a complete waste of his time. He lets out an "Oh Shit" when he's told his mic is on. He does it again when Trump and Steve Downes advance to the final round, saying they are the biggest losers at the convention. He is aggravated when told his mic is stilthen.
  • In the Family Feud episode, Steve Harvey, annoyed by Drake's singing, tells him to knock it off. When Drake explains that he can't help himself whenever he's near a mic as he likes to serenade "the beautiful ladies in the crowd", Steve makes a comment about him being a "light-skinned motherfucker", to which the producer of the show reminds him that they're on the air.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Both Donald and Kim are egotistical, unruly, loud-mouthed braggerts who have much more loose morals than the rest of the gang. But it's clear when the chips are down, they very much care about their friends and are always there for them when they need it.
• Lost in Character: Downplayed example with Steve Downes, who is still coasting off his fame as the voice actor of Master Chief by cosplaying as him at various non-Halo conventions, including the Star Wars convention the gang attends, but does still have a grasp on reality.
• Medium Awareness: Every now and then, Joe will make a comment that shows he's aware that they're in a YouTube series, much to the confusion of everyone else.
• Kraken and Leviathan: The gang encounters a kraken at the very end of Sea World episode, as it turns Fluffers the killer whale into fish food in less than a minute. It's revealed to have been brought over to this universe by the Sovereign Hierarchy to try to kill the group.
• Mistaken Nationality: On occasion, Kim will mistake Obama as being Wakandan, much to Obama's irritation, seeing as how Wakanda isn't even a real country and he was the 44th President of the United States of America.
• The Multiverse: A core part of the Myth Arc; in addition to the Sovereign Hierarchy reality, other known realities include one where Russia is a member of NATO and an ally of the United States, a world where fish never went on land and merpeople evolved in the place of humans, and a universe where the dinosaurs never went extinct.
• Myth Arc: The series started as a bunch of videos about the gang playing video games and going into wacky sitcom-esque hijinks like other President AI videos. Then when "The Presidents Go to an Alternate Universe..." was released, it developed a series wide plot of saving an alternate universe from a dystopian dictatorship, with even some of the wacky adventures being plots to fund Elon Musk's research in aiding said alternate universe.
• Nice Guy: His insensitive comments and scatterbrain nature aside, Joe is the most polite, cordial and kind-hearted member of the group.
  • Likewise, Obama and George are both laid-back, well-meaning guys who are generally friendly to those around them.
• Noodle Incident: In the Anime Convention video, it's indicated that Bill Clinton used to hang out with the other Presidents, but they had a bad falling out with him after a fishing trip, to the point where they try to avoid him when they see him at the convention.
• Not So Above It All: As listed below, Obama is normally the Only Sane Man, but in the Dangerous Caving Trip video, he admits that he's never felt more alive than when doing antics like robbing a supposed drug lord/actually Steve Harvey's compound, and that he gets a rush when Alex Jones incites him towards criminal activity (he insists that no one tell Alex).
  • Steve is always exasperated by the gang's antics and typically shows that he has a good head on his shoulders, but he reveals he has thing for hookers and is a frequent patron of a very sleazy strip club; Later on, the gang catch him having an affair with Michelle in the Bermuda Triangle video.
• Oneshot Character: To date, the main universe's Bill Clinton has only appeared in the Anime Convention episode, and has not made any reappearances; his Sovereign Hierarchy counterpart has appeared multiple times, but the main Bill has not returned.
• One-Hour Work Week: Joe is the current President of the United States and Kim is the Supreme Leader of North Korea, but rarely seem to fulfill their duties as the heads of their respective states, instead spending their time adventuring with the other Presidents.
• The Only One Allowed To Kill You: In "The Presidents Return To An Alternate Universe", Kim assists the Presidents with fighting Sovereign's infiltration, because no one is allowed to destroy America but him.
• Only Sane Man:
  • Obama, and Bush Jr to an extent, usually have to play the role of Straight Man to Kim, Joe, and Donald's shennanigans.
  • However, they grab the Idiot Ball in the Family Feud episode, where like the rest of the gang (plus tagalong guest star Drake), they cannot give a good answer for a common boy's name that starts with the letter "H" (Obama's answer of "Hercules" is the only one that could've worked, but it's not exactly common due to its mythological associations, while Bush Jr goes with "H.W. Bush" in honor of his father). It is instead Steve Harvey who plays the straight man in this episode, and he nearly goes mad at the incompetence that the core group and Drake are showcasing. In future appearances, Steve Harvey tends to remain one of the most level-headed and sane characters, lacking most of the quirks of the other characters.
• Oppressive States of America: In "The Presidents Go To An Alternate Universe", the Presidents and Kim wind up in a nightmarish alternate world where Donald Trump lost the 2016 election to Hillary Clinton, and the United States ceases to exist. In its place is the Sovereign Hierarchy, a brutal dictatorship where anything resembling a free society has been crushed, the Clinton family rules with an iron fist, Terminator-like robots police the starving populace, and the Sizzler's restaurant chain was dismantled. Aside from North Korea having been destroyed the Sovereign Hierarchy, the state of the rest of the world is initially made unclear, but later videos show that the Sovereign Hierarchy did spread throughout the globe, and has many satellite nations.
• Otaku: Kim is a big anime weeb who always wears his Itachi Uchiha cosplay and carries around a samurai sword; the only time he's taken off the Itachi outfit is in the Dangerous Caving Trip video, where he puts on a big chicken outfit to cheer everyone up after the horrors they endured in the previous episode.
• Our Presidents Are Different: The Presidents are a combination of President Buffoon (mainly Trump and Joe, although George can be quite guilty of this as well), and President Geek. They go on crazy adventures where their lack of common sense often makes things worse, and they are big into topics such as anime, Star Wars, and Heroes of the Storm.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: When the group goes to rob a drug compound with Alex Jones, Obama says they all need to wear disguises to conceal their identity (except for Alex, as he isn't a core member of the group). While Obama has the most effective mask, that being a balacava, the others do a poor job of disguising themselves. Trump wears a Batman mask and Biden wears a Reverse-Flash mask, while Kim has a cartoonish fake-glasses-and-nose disguise and George wears a bandana that doesn't even cover the top of his head.
• Rambling Old Man Monologue: Joe often has a nonsensical story to tell in every episode. A particularly egregious story about almost getting in trouble with a Yakuza Hammerhead Shark crime syndicate costs the group a huge offer that the crew of Shark Tank were going to make to him and George regarding their ice cream business.
• Real Event, Fictional Cause: In the Caving Trip episode, the real-life news of Obama having regularly fantasized about making love to men is alluded to, with the implication being that it was the other members of the group who somehow leaked that information.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Steve Harvey gives a blistering one to the gang after they failed to give him a boy's name that starts with the letter "H".
  Steve Harvey: Alright, listen up, freaks. I just got word from the man upstairs.
  Joe Biden: The Lord is speaking to you, Steve?
  Steve Harvey: ...The showrunners. In an unprecedented split decision, due to unfathomable cartoonish levels of idiocy bordering on racist ignorance displayed by both teams, the showrunners are deciding to skip this round's question, and even the next round. Quite frankly, it is unbelievable that the one time we see astronomical levels of naïvety and incomprehensible denseness, it comes from none other than the people that run our nation. We've had wrestlers on here, high school dropouts, controversial celebrities, crackheads, you name it! But congratulations because you guys are the only people in this show's entire history to have been able to muster the combined disastrous ingredients of stupidity, toxicity, and most likely, mental illness, and fashion it in a way to where this episode was able to reach its full apex of nonsensical calamity.
  Drake: ...Is that a good thing, Steve?
• Scaling the Summit: The main plot of the Mount Everest episode is the main group seeking to climb the titular mountain, with John Schnatter inviting himself upon stumbling into the group.
• Shoddy Knockoff Product: In the Dangerous Hiking Trip video, Joe rummaged through Trump's bag and traded all his food in for what he thought was a genuine priceless Native American arrowhead. It was not.
  Donald Trump: You what?!
  Joe Biden: I'm sorry. But it seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It's supposedly thousands of years old.
  Donald Trump: Joe! It literally says "Made In China" on the back of it.
  Joe Biden: Oh, fuck.
• Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Despite being the fifth main cast member besides the titular Presidents, Kim Jong-un is never featured in the titles or thumbnails of the videos (probably because it's just easier to advertise the presidents, especially since the real Kim Jong-un is the leader of a dictatorship).
• Skewed Priorities: At the end of "The Presidents Return To An Alternate Universe", Biden is on board for bringing down Hillary and the Sovereign Hierarchy...primarily because they closed down the Sizzler restaurant chain. Obama is just happy that Joe is on board.
• Skin Walker: The gang encounters one at the end of the first Haunted House video. It actually wanted to hang out with them, but couldn't express that due to being rendered mute by Kim's masturbation ritual.
• Spiders Are Scary: Particularly when they're absolutely gigantic, as the gang and Dr. Phil learn the hard way when their caving trip goes wrong and a drugged George gets lost and runs into some spiders.
• Stock Money Bag: When robbing the compound, Alex Jones brings cartoon money bags for the gang to use to carry all their loot, much to Obama's bafflement.
• Synthetic Voice Actor: Like with most other AI President videos, there are no actual voice actors; AI voice programs are used for everyone's dialogue.
• There Are No Therapists: Averted. After their disastrous battle against Sovereign, the gang realizes that they need some form of therapy to get back into the world and recover from the events of the previous episode. However, they make the mistake of going to Dr. Phil instead of to a proper therapist, which just leads to shennanigans.
• Totem Pole Trench: When the gang is barred from entering the all-you-can-eat buffet because the restaurant freaked out upon seeing Trump and Kim, Biden tells an inane story that basically suggests that either Trump or Kim climb onto the other's shoulders and wear a trench-coat to disguise themselves. Obama and George have to point out that they couldn't get in because Trump and Kim were overweight, not because they need to look like an adult. However, at the end of the episode, Biden's idea actually works and they're able to get into the buffet and leave the paranormal entity there.
• Undesirable Prize: Played for Laughs in the Family Feud episode, where the prize is a 2015 model car. Trump scoffs at the prize, but Kim genuinely wants it, as that would be a top-quality car in North Korea, where he says they are still manufacturing 2007 model cars. When they lose out the chance to win the car, Kim tries to steal it and drives it out the CBS studio.
• Underwater Fart Gag: In Kim's Bigger on the Inside tent, Obama compliments Kim on his hot tub...only for Kim to say that it's just a hot tub. When Obama points out the bubbles, Kim just says "Indeed, Barack. Indeed".
• Vitriolic Best Friends: The core five as a whole all have this dynamic with each other, with the exception of Obama and Bush Jr, who have the most straightforward friendship out of everyone in the group. Special mention goes to Trump and Joe, as Trump always rags on Joe for his senile antics, but considers him his best friend.
• Walking Spoiler: It is virtually impossible to bring up Sanctus in any form without discussing all the important exposition they give, from the backstories of Sovereign and Joe Biden to the true nature of Kim's katana.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Bill Clinton is one in the Sovereign Hierarchy universe, genuinely believing that the summoning of Sovereign will usher in order and stability, and make the world a better place. As mentioned in Heel–Face Turn, he really was unaware of how evil Sovereign was, and when he learns the truth, he realizes how far he's fallen.
• Wham Episode: "The Presidents Save The Universe." Important backstory is revealed for the lore of this universe, including for Joe Biden, which as mentioned in Cerebrus Retcon, paints all of his scenes in earlier episodes in a darker light. The Resistance suffers devastating losses, including Sovereign!Obama and Sovereign!Trump, the former of whom was forced to kill himself so he wouldn't turn evil. The main gang barely escapes with their lives, having only stalled Sovereign instead of defeating him.
  Elon Musk: You're back. What happened?
  George W. Bush: ...We lost.