History Main / CorruptPolitician

When you walk into a ChezRestaurant, you can expect to find the Corrupt Politician eating dinner with the CorruptCorporateExecutive, the [[DirtyCop Police Commissioner]] and TheDon. He's probably on good terms with some [[AristocratsAreEvil evil aristocrats]], [[EvilPrince princes]], and [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen queens]], as well. Unlike the rest of them, the Corrupt Politician had to go through an election. [[VoteEarlyVoteOften Or at least the appearance of an election]]. The Corrupt Politician will assure them all that the CorruptBureaucrat, whom he appointed, will do what they want.

* VideoGame/TerraInvicta: In the GrandStrategy game's simulation of earth, where several groups compete for influence over it's governments for their own ends, this is represented with the "spoils" system. Spoils represents corruption overall, and put money into your organization's coffers at the expence of the nation's economy in the long run. Of note, local elites in a given region ''expect'' a certain amount of spoils to be collected (as they recieve a cut), and will be unhappy if their demands aren't met, making the region more vulnerable to coups and such launched by competing organizations.

* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', [[spoiler:Malcolm Hargrove, Chairman of the UNSC Oversight Sub-Committee, is both this and a CorruptCorporateExecutive after the reveal that he's the one who called the hit on the planet Chorus]].

* Kai and [[IllGirl Min-Min's]] father in ''Webcomic/{{Knite}}'' is one. In fact their father taking kickbacks and allowing pollution is the reason why the latter is [[LittlestCancerPatient ill]]. Unfortunately, going by what her brother says, [[YourDaysAreNumbered she might not last too long.]]

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'': The Seven Stars of Gjallarhorn are effectively both politicians and military leaders, and several of them are unapologetically corrupt. Most notable is Rustal Elion, commander of Gjallarhorn's largest fleet, who firmly opposes any reforms to the corruption in the organization and has gone so far as attempting to assassinate world leaders and starting proxy wars in order to undermine his political rivals. Before him is Iznario Fareed, who went so far as misappropriating Gjallarhorn forces and having them barricade a city in order to ensure a Prime Minister election went in favor of his preferred candidate.

** Mayor Quimby in is a massively over-the-top example. In fact, the mayoral motto is ''Corruptus in Extremis''.

** The ''worst'' example on the show would no-doubt be Russ Cargill, the BigBad of the ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', an EPA official who becomes convinced Springfield is such a hellhole that he first has it sealed under a giant glass dome (that his company just happened to manufacture), then tries to ''blow the entire city to smithereens''.

* Corrupt Politicians are ''everywhere'' in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''. The Separatists have a point: the Republic Senate ''is'' corrupt and incompetent. Of course, so are many separatist governments... That the two sides of the conflict are being managed by Sith Lords probably plays a role in that.

->'''Nick:''' You know, there's lots worse things than movies. There's politicians and wars and forest fires, and famine and plague...uh, sickness, pain, warts, politicians...\\

** Theo Galavan kidnaps Mayor James and has him tortured for fun, while having a group of criminals broken out of Arkham and sent on a terror spree, just so he can be a hero by publicly stopping them, all so he can then win an emergency election to replace the missing James (and having his opposing candidates assassinated to ensure he wins). And all of this is to put him in position to take over Wayne Enterprises and use its resources to reshape Gotham in his image. Plus, wanting to kill Bruce to carry out a centuries old blood feud.

* ''Series/YesMinister:'' The main characters generally avoid slipping into this trope. Jim is generally aware of his moral compass even when he is doing his best to ignore it, Sir Humphrey is a devoted servant of the status quo, and Bernard is young and naïve. That said, the series to a large extent circles around the backroom-deals and favor trading that keep the wheels of government turning.
** "Jobs For The Boys" circles around how retiring politicians and senior civil servants are given cushy, well-paid not-actually-jobs in various quangos (QUAsi-Non-Government-OrganisationS; groups that are funded but not controlled by the Government) and how said jobs are distributed.

A: The letter L.
* A politician visited a village and asked what their needs were. "We have 2 basic needs, sir," replied the villager. "Firstly, we have a hospital, but there’s not the doctor." On hearing this, the politician whipped out his cellphone, and after speaking for a while he reassured the village leader that the doctor would be there the next day. He then asked about the second problem. "Secondly sir, there is no cellphone coverage anywhere in this village."

* Senator Chor from ''Film/CityWarriors'', who is a minister who secretly runs a human trafficking and prostitution ring, and keeping their shady activities secret with his authority. He's eager to send his [[TheDragon dragon]], Sai-kit, to silence anyone who knew his true identity to prevent anybody from testifying him, and later [[BlatantLies claims to the press that he is an honest political figure whose rivals are spreading false lies about him to tarnish his reputation]].

A Corrupt Politician can be as minor as the mayor of a small town, a CorruptHick who runs everything for his own benefit. Or perhaps the EvilChancellor, who would like nothing better than to usurp his boss. Or he could be PresidentEvil, a full blown super villain in charge of an entire nation. Taken to the extreme, he's an EvilOverlord.

When you walk into a ChezRestaurant, you can expect to find the Corrupt Politician eating dinner with the CorruptHick, the CorruptCorporateExecutive, the [[DirtyCop Police Commissioner]] and TheDon. He's probably on good terms with some [[AristocratsAreEvil evil aristocrats]], [[EvilPrince princes]], and [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen queens]], as well. Unlike the rest of them, the Corrupt Politician had to go through an election. [[VoteEarlyVoteOften Or at least the appearance of an election]]. The Corrupt Politician will assure them all that the CorruptBureaucrat, whom he appointed, will do what they want.

* ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'': Gentoku Himuro, the son and chief aid of Touto's Prime Minister, doubles as Night Rogue, leader of Faust, the resident NebulousEvilOrganisation of the setting.

* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' gives us President Nixon on his fourth term, and reporters dead. We can trust [[SociopathicHero the Comedian]] when he tells us that's a coincidence.

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformers'' (the original Marvel series, specifically the ''Headmasters'' miniseries) featured Lord Zarak of the Nebulan Council of Peers. Whereas his political rival, Galen, sought to open talks with the newly-arrived Autobot colonists looking to escape their ForeverWar, Zarak sought to undermine Galen's position on the Council by manipulating events to paint the Autobots as the invaders he perceived them to be. When he couldn't turn public opinion fast enough - even after [[AstroTurf hiring anti-Autobot protestors]] - he turned to [[GodzillaThreshold inviting the Decepticons to Nebulos]] just to get rid of the Autobots. Zarak even went so far as to become Scorponok's Headmaster partner just to counter Galen's bonding with Fortress Maximus. To say it didn't go well is an {{Understatement}}. When [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone he finally realized what he'd done]], Zarak convinced Galen to take the Autobots to Earth, while Zarak would take the Decepticons to pursue. This effectively exiled them from their homeworld for the rest of their lives, but ensured Nebulos would have the chance to recover.

* One episode of ''Series/KolchakTheNightStalker'' had a politician who had made a DealWithTheDevil so he could have both political and satanic power, as well as being able to kill anyone who opposed him. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking He also took bribes]], and performed the occasional HumanSacrifice for good measure.

Some corrupt politicians just abuse and twist the system for their own ends. {{Nepotism}} may or may not be illegal, and steering contracts to your friends ''may'' just be the result of a small pool of available contractors, and of course a member of the committee for Big Oil is going to be acquainted with Big Oil. On the other hand, some are fully criminal and allied with TheMafia or some other criminal organization. They use their insider status to steer police investigations away from their crimes and exploit loopholes, engineer loopholes, or simply get rid of the law on their behalf. In the worst-case scenario, a particularly powerful, competent, and ruthless CorruptPolitician will be a fully-fledged DiabolicalMastermind.