Line #11 PlayingWith/VicePresidentWho


1	'''Basic Trope''': The political second-in-command has a minor role and is considered a nonentity.
2	* '''Straight''': Vincent, Vice President of Tropestan, only has two duties: the purely ceremonial task of presiding over the Senate, and taking over if President Patricia dies, resigns, or gets impeached and removed from office. No one thinks about Vincent much because no previous vice president has subsequently become president, either immediately after the president they served or with anybody else serving in between them.
3	* '''Exaggerated''':
4	** Not only will Vincent serve no purpose whatsoever if Patricia completes her term -- even if she doesn't, he can only become president if everyone else in the line of succession is wiped out.
5	** After Vincent dies suddenly, Tropestan goes without a VP for years. Nobody even notices.
6	** Patricia has had several vice presidents during her administration, none of whom got even the scintilla of a shadow of an opportunity to make any moral or technical improvements to national policy.
7	* '''Downplayed''': Vincent has slightly less power than a typical senator -- unimpressive for the second-in-command, but not too bad.
8	* '''Justified''':
9	** In the early days of Tropestan, the runner-up to a presidential election became vice president. The founders of Tropestan figured out that giving the president's main rival too much power would be a bad idea, so they made the position as weak as possible. When the system got changed to "the winning presidential candidate runs with another person, who themselves becomes VP", the office wasn't given more power because no one wanted to take the trouble to change the constitution and, with it, the power structure.
10	** Vincent is a huge JerkAss who abuses his authority (and/or TheDitz) and accomplishes little of the work he ''is'' charged with anyway, so everyone in the party and general vicinity relishes in belittling his title and making him a NoRespectGuy, along with preventing him gaining any palpable role, which would only make him more insufferable.
11	** Patricia is a long-serving politician in the FictionalPoliticalParty, while Vincent is a relative newcomer. They both contested its nomination for the presidency, but she won it because of her long and distinguished record of service. He got the nod for the vice presidency as basically a ConsolationPrize.
12	** Patricia only chose Vincent as he is from a different region from her own, in order to provide geographic balance for the presidential ticket.
13	* '''Inverted''':
14	** [[TheManBehindTheMan Vice President Vincent holds the real power]], while [[PuppetKing President Patricia is a mere figurehead.]]
15	** Patricia is old and ill. Most of the people who vote for her do so because they expect her to die in office -- or at least to be declared unfit for office and removed from power -- and give them President Vincent, which is what they ''actually'' wanted.
16	** Patricia loses the election, and many voters cite "I don't want Vincent to become VP" as their main reason for not voting for her.
17	** Vice President Vincent is TheFace of the Tropestanian government's executive branch.
18	* '''Subverted''':
19	** Despite having few constitutional duties, Vincent still has considerable influence.
20	** Vincent has little constitutional power, and everyone thinks he'll be yet another unremarkable VP. Then it turns out that President Patricia is a [[TheSlacker slacker]] who lets Vincent do her job for her whenever possible.
21	** Vincent bungles many of his vice-presidential responsibilities until he's assigned a task that falls within [[GeniusDitz his sole area of real expertise]].
22	* '''Double Subverted''':
23	** It turns out that Vincent's influence is due to his secondary role as a governor, which he was allowed to keep because he wouldn't be doing much as VP anyway.
24	** Vincent can't or won't be a fill-in president, so Patricia starts doing her own work or delegates it to Vivian.
25	** Like many other politicians, Vincent passively accepted the credit for work his staff did. It turns out that [[TheAllegedExpert he doesn't know a thing about the field where "he" contributed]].
26	* '''Parodied''':
27	** Patricia chooses a monkey as her running mate. She still wins, and the monkey VP causes no problems save for a few BananaPeel shenanigans.
28	** Patricia and the members of her cabinet treat Vincent like their personal servant.
29	** The official website for the national Tropestanian government describes Vincent's role as "standing around and looking cool".
30	** Vincent attends a support group for vice presidents, past and present, in government, business, and non-profit groups, who are depressed by the meaninglessness of their offices.
31	** Presidential candidates choosing ludicrous running mates is a RunningGag in Tropestan. The most recent election featured overweight Bob picking Donald [=McRonald=], [[ItsAllAboutMe vain]] Mike refusing to pick anyone because he doesn't want to share the spotlight, and Alice the computer geek picking her computer.
32	** It's not considered necessary to pick anyone for VP in advance -- voters are asked to write in their choice. Because vice presidents need some sort of majority support but no majority will coalesce behind one person apropos of nothing, Tropestan never does get a vice president, even when a president wins a LandslideElection.
33	** Vincent has so little relevance as a politician that the security service for the Tropestan government headquarters [[MistakenForSpies thinks he is a spy]] and arrests him by accident.
34	** Every vice president of Tropestan gets the UnPerson treatment as soon as they assume the office, then gets it reversed as soon as they leave it.
35	* '''Zig-Zagged''':
36	** Vincent is unimportant to the government unless he has the skills needed to solve some issue or it's a duty expressly assigned to the Vice President. But all his official vice-presidential duties are trivial, humiliating, or both.
37	** Vincent is an undistinguished vice president, but the last VP, Violet, was very effective. So was Victor before her. Vanessa, on the other hand, goes on to be a ''terrible'' vice president.
38	* '''Averted''':
39	** Vice President Vincent is the second most powerful person in the government of Tropestan.
40	** There is no vice president. If Patricia vacates the presidency early, the next in line is Stephen, the speaker of the Tropestan National Legislature, who already has an important role.
41	** Vincent only has a minor role in the government, but a recent president died in office, reminding the people that they can't take for granted that Patricia will complete her term.
42	* '''Enforced''': The work satirizes the early decades of the UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem, when the vice presidency was indeed considered an unimportant position.
43	* '''Lampshaded''':
44	** "Vincent? Who's that again?"
45	** "Vincent just died of a heart attack! We need a new VP!" "Eh, why bother? It's not like he ever did anything."
46	** "We'd like to congratulate our new leaders ... [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Vice President Vincent]] ... on winning the election."
47	** Vice President Vincent is seen taking up side jobs like [[BurgerFool flipping burgers]] at [[BlandNameProduct WcDonald's]]. He talks about how he finds that [[HappinessInMinimumWage more fun and fulfilling]] than being VP.
48	** "Does Vincent have any political ambitions?" "No. He's running for VP."
49	* '''Invoked''': When writing a new constitution, the Tropestan decide not to give the vice president much power to forestall corruption.
50	* '''Exploited''':
51	** Patricia chooses Vincent, who appeals more to different demographics than she does, as her running mate to cash in on his popularity without having to change her own ideas or practices.
52	** Vincent is a high-profile governor/legislator/administrator (or some combination thereof) who is troublesome for his party, but he's too popular to get rid of, so the PowersThatBe in the party make him Patricia's running mate to have him KickedUpstairs as vice president, where he'll do less damage to them.
53	** Patricia knows no one takes Vincent seriously anyway, so she uses him as PluckyComicRelief to endear the Patricia–Vincent ticket to the people and boost their chances of being re-elected.
54	** Vincent wants to be president. Knowing he'll never get elected president on his own merits, he decides to become Patricia's vice-presidential candidate because she's very popular and no one really cares about the VP. They win, and now all Vincent has to do is hope Patricia fails to complete her term ...
55	* '''Defied''':
56	** Patricia's political ads emphasize that Vincent will make a good VP.
57	** Patricia's political rivals launch [[AttackOfThePoliticalAd attack ads]] that say, "Do you ''really'' want to vote for Patricia and risk getting President Vincent if she dies?"
58	** The near-pointless vice presidency is either abolished or empowered.
59	** Vice President Vincent draws attention to the fact that he and his office exist, and [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity he doesn't care that he may be doing bad things to that end]].
60	** Patricia shares all her minutes and decisions with Vincent so he can take over in the event of an emergency, which eventually happens with Patricia's assassination. Vincent then gets (re-)elected as President in his own right, with his effective continuation of Patricia's policies, etc., being cited as the key reason for his election.
61	* '''Discussed''':
62	-->'''Patricia''': Vincent, will you be my running mate in the presidential election?
63	-->'''Vincent''': Well ... as long as I get to do something -- more than hope you die and I get your presidency, that is -- I'm in.
64	* '''Conversed''': While watching ''Early Politics in Tropestan'', Carl asks why Vincent is so happy to be elected to the most pointless office in Tropestan.
65	* '''Implied''': Vincent is the only member of the government [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything who's never seen working for it]].
66	* '''Deconstructed''':
67	** People dismiss the office of the Vice President as a pointless dead-end position, to the point where most experienced politicians actively avoid it. Patricia must pick the incompetent Vincent as her running mate because all the more skilled alternative candidates would rather keep their current positions. She gets elected and dies in office, leaving Tropestan stuck with an unpopular and incompetent president for too long.
68	** Vincent's party dislikes him and tries to have him KickedUpstairs by making him vice president. Then Patricia dies, and [[ReassignmentBackfire Vincent ascends to become president]].
69	** Vincent is actually Patricia's HyperCompetentSidekick and the only reason her administration hasn't collapsed under its own weight, but nobody gives him his due credit for it.
70	* '''Reconstructed''':
71	** Patricia's death and Vincent's terrible presidency teach the people of Tropestan to take VP candidates seriously, even if they end up doing nothing most of the time.
72	** Once Vincent becomes president, he smartens up and does his new job well, earning the respect of the Tropestani people overall and his colleagues in the party.
73	** Vincent grins and bears it and [[EarnYourHappyEnding is rewarded with the presidential nomination, election, and changes Tropestan for the better]].
74	* '''Played for Laughs''':
75	** Having nothing to do, Vincent spends all day ranting on Website/TwitterX about how little power he has.
76	** Vincent is a hilariously incompetent buffoon.
77	** Vincent's party openly dislikes him and makes him a VP candidate to get him out of the way. He becomes the ButtMonkey of the Tropestan government ... until Patricia is impeached and removed from office for {{corrupt\|Politician}}ion. President Vincent makes sure to get plenty of last laughs.
78	* '''Played for Drama''':
79	** Vincent is a CorruptPolitician who slips under the radar and becomes VP because all eyes were on the presidential candidates. He can't do much damage while he remains in that office, but President Vincent would be a disaster. Then the intelligence agencies uncover plots to assassinate Patricia.
80	** Vincent has a title with authority behind it. He uses it to advance causes he likes, makes trouble for his party, and then gets KickedUpstairs to the vice-presidential office. Then President Patricia is impeached for [[CorruptPolitician massive corruption]] of which she's obviously guilty. Vice President Vincent is squeaky clean, but his own party hates him so much that their senators seriously consider acquitting Patricia just to avoid a Vincent presidency. This leads to a lot of conflict and heated debates. Some argue that it doesn't matter if Patricia is a crook because, unlike Vincent, she is useful to her party and can enact beneficial policies. Others contend that acquitting Patricia would set a disastrous precedent.
81	* '''Played for Horror''': Vincent is a SerialKiller who has [[KarmaHoudini evaded capture and somehow become vice president]].
82	* '''Literal Metaphor''': The Vice President of Tropestan has {{no name\|given}}.
83	* '''Untwisted''': Vincent is assumed to be powerless in the government until it's found that the vice president does have a raft of important duties. But when Vincent appears for the first time, it turns out he's been keeping himself uninformed, stupid, and lazy, which has given Patricia's administration every reason to keep him at arm's length.
84	----
85	"Let's go back to the vice president's page!" "VicePresidentWho"

Context PlayingWith / VicePresidentWho