The Worst American Presidents Ever Elected In TV And Movies, Ranked

In times like these, fictional politics are just about all any of us can handle. While dramatized depictions of Washington may not be comforting, they can at least show exactly how bad things could get if the U.S. elected an unqualified, vengeful demagogue who prioritized his own personal vendettas and financial interests above the safety and security of the American public.

Indeed, such examples of corrupt and immoral presidents have become more common in film and television over the past few years. Gone are the days of the naively idealistic Bartlet Administration (as seen on Aaron Sorkin's "The West Wing") — in their place, find the administrations of Meyer, Mencken, and Underwood. Take a much needed break with us from the unending chaos and anxiety of electoral politics, and instead enjoy this list of characters who left their respective fictional White Houses in tatters.

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Term Served: 2004-2007

Worst Presidential Act: Accidentally giving away Alaska to the Russians

We'll start things off light with an entry hailing from a forgotten Disney Channel sitcom. A spin-off of the hit series "That's So Raven," "Cory in the House" follows Raven's (Raven-Symoné) brother and their father as they move into the White House as part of the newly-elected President Richard Martinez's culinary staff.

Played by John D'Aguino, President Martinez is basically the answer to the question "what if a dumb sitcom dad became the U.S. President?" His administration is a mess from top to bottom, and is regularly thrown in jeopardy by the actions of the middle schoolers who treat the White House like a playground. In one such instance, Cory Baxter (Kyle Massey) puts the deed to Alaska in a jacket, which Martinez then gives to the Russian president — thereby giving Russia the state of Alaska. In addition to lacking awareness, he also consistently exercised poor judgment, even using his position to ask for favors from none other than Hannah Montana.

As fans have pointed out over the years, Martinez stopped being the president of the shared Disney Channel universe in 2010 — which could imply that he was either impeached or forced to resign. He was thereafter replaced by Barack Obama, which would probably mean Obama served as vice president throughout the Martinez administration.

Party Affiliation: Republican

Term Served: Unknown

Worst Presidential Act: Colluding with the Roy family to steal an election.

Despite not showing us a single day of his presidency, "Succession" still managed to give us one of the most terrifying presidents-elect in Jeryd Mencken. Played with a chilling, all-too plausibly sinister effect by Justin Kirk, the U.S. House Representative first appeared during a shady backroom meet-and-greet orchestrated by the remaining loyal members of the Roy family to help them select which Republican candidate they would champion in the coming election (the year is not stated, but it likely takes place either in an alternate 2020 or a then-future facing 2024). Patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) already managed to successfully oust the sitting president — referred to only as "The Raisin" — through the relentless pressure of the family news network ATN. Though he initially favors the Raisin's Vice President, a retail plug-and-play GOP politician, Congressman Mencken wins the day by ingratiating himself to rising fail-son Roman (Kieran Culkin).

Their political marriage is as disturbing as it is kismet, as both Roman and Mencken share many of the same blatantly antisocial personality traits. For the latter, these manifest in a near-sociopathic desire for power, which he gains by propagating nationalist and crypto-fascist rhetoric that appeals to the increasingly reactionary American electorate, whom the Roys have been gradually becoming more comfortable courting through ATN. After Logan's death, Mencken remains a close ally of Roman's leading up to the infamous election episode, even promising to prevent the unfavorable yet inevitable sale of the family business should they lend him their support. Roman does even more than that, going as far as to order ATN anchors to preemptively call a contested state in Mencken's favor, allowing him to claim a dubious victory on election night. Whether or not the election is certified, Mencken solidifies himself as a powerful and dangerous demagogue.

Party Affiliation: Republican

Term Served: 2008–2016

Worst Presidential Act: Killed a Supreme Court Justice to cover up stealing an election.

The fact that President Fitzgerald Grant III is this low should really tell you something about how bad this is going to get by the time we're done. Tony Goldwyn portrayed the salt-and-pepper presidential seductor for seven seasons on the hit ABC series "Scandal," which follows his political peaks and valleys from the perspective of elite gray hat crisis manager Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) — who also happens to be the woman with whom President Grant is cheating on his wife (Bellamy Young's Mellie Grant).

But a mere affair and the general air of toxicity that surround his administration wouldn't be enough to land him on this list in and of itself. That honor he earned by ascending to the presidency through a rigged election. In fairness, President Grant didn't exactly know the election was rigged in his favor, because — like much of the action in the show — it simply happens around him.

To make a long story short, a group of people involved with his first presidential campaign — including Pope and his wife — saw the writing on the wall that he was not going to win, and thus arranged for voting machines in Defiance County, Ohio to feed four-fifths of the votes for the Democratic candidate to the then-California governor. When he finds this out years later, he not only appears to fall more deeply in love with Pope (still married, by the way), he smothers a dying Supreme Court Justice to prevent her from coming clean. But he's apparently the hero of this story, so he gets two terms and is immediately succeeded by his wife.

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Term Served: 2016–2017

Worst Presidential Act: Drone striked a wedding.

It brings us no pleasure to include a first woman President on this list. But, in the words of her closest ally Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky), Selina Meyer "achieved nothing apart from one thing — the fact that [she is] a woman means we will have no more woman presidents, because we tried one and she f***ing sucked." It's a harsh indictment of Julia Louis-Dreyfus' hilarious "VEEP" antihero, certainly harsher than we'd ever dish out ourselves. That said, the Meyer Administration is arguably one of the most effectual and least successful presidencies ever depicted on television, not to mention one marred by scandal, corruption, and horrific military missteps.

Meyer technically ascended to the presidency without being elected for the top job, having instead served as vice president to the unseen President Hughes. However, due to personal emergencies involving his wife, Hughes not only decides to abandon his reelection campaign, but ultimately resigns — allowing a giddy Meyer to take over. Almost immediately, her own incompetence compounded by the squabbling of her equally incompetent and dysfunctional staff leads to multiple major policy failures and billions of wasted dollars. To make things worse, she also makes questionable decisions to further her own ill fated reelection campaign, including pardoning a criminal private prison magnate and hacking private personal data to target bereaved families with campaign ads.

Worst of all, she violates international law by drone striking a wedding to kill a single man — she succeeds in killing him, as well as several pets and a tent full of innocent wedding guests. She managed to dodge the International Criminal Court long enough to make it back home and avoid a trial at The Hague, but refused to so much as apologize for the bloodshed. Her truncated term lasted only a year, after which she was voted out in an election she nearly lost to her own VP.

Party Affiliation: Unknown, likely Republican

Term Served: 2012-2020

Worst Presidential Act: Failed to keep Tony Stark in check.

President Matthew Ellis (William Sadler) was elected sometime before the year 2013 (likely 2012, assuming they follow real-world election years), at which point he was involved in his first major Marvel Universe scandal when he was kidnapped by Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) and strung up in an Iron Man suit above a Roxxon Energy oil tanker. While he may not have been in office for the events of "The Avengers" or the second Iron Man movie, this should have been a wake-up call for the president, specifically with regard to how he treats Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and other superheroes during his administration. After all, the excuse that he's not technically manufacturing weapons anymore within Stark Industries shouldn't extend past the point where he calls an army of robot suits, capable of taking out a decently sized superpowered militia.

Rather than use any of his political powers to keep Stark in check, Ellis allows him to run wild, ultimately resulting in the invention of Ultron (James Spader), a sentient robot that kills countless civilians during his attempt to manufacture an extinction event. By the same logic, he also bears some responsibility for the Lagos, Nigeria incident and the Hulk's (Mark Ruffalo) rampage through South Africa, not to mention the Nazi death cult that was operating in the bowels of the already shady intelligence organization has seems to have no qualms about. Thankfully, he's been voted out of office, succeeded by President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford). Surely he won't do anything — like, say, turn himself into a giant red rage monster — to earn his own spot on this list, right?

Party Affiliation: Unknown, likely Republican

Term Served: Unknown

Worst Presidential Act: Collaborated with the Crime Syndicate.

Similar to President Ellis, President Slade Wilson of Earth-3 also allows superheroes to do whatever they want. In his case, however, his lack of action is made much worse by the fact that all of the superheroes on Earth-3 are part of an organized crime ring.

As seen in the animated movie "Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths," Earth-3 is a universe in which every DC Comics superhero is actually a supervillain and vice versa. So, while Slade Wilson is a shrewd politician rather than the mercenary Deathstroke, the Justice League are a group of super-powered criminals clearly inspired by the Italian mafia (this world's Superman — known as Ultraman — speaks with a perplexing New York accent).

President Wilson cuts a deal with the Crime Syndicate in a misguided attempt to prevent Ultraman from razing the United States. Their relationship resembles a mafia protection racket, and ultimately enables Owlman (the Batman of Earth-3) to nearly destroy the entire multiverse. The real Justice League has to be brought to their world by Alexander Luthor in order for the people of Earth-3 to regain control of their lives.

Party Affiliation: Republican

Term Served: 2024–present

Worst Presidential Act: Deputized Vought superheroes.

In defense of President Wilson, one could argue that — because he was unaware of Owlman's murderous aims (the Crime Syndicate were mostly interest in amassing wealth and influence) — he isn't necessarily directly responsible for the attempted genocide. This is precisely why "The Boys'" President Steven Calhoun (David Andrews) has earned a spot as the worst superhero president depicted in TV and film so far.

Formerly a U.S. Congressman and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, President Calhoun has always had an uncomfortably close relationship with Vought International — in some cases through coercion on the company's part, in other cases due to his own admiration for figures like Homelander (Antony Starr). In a massive change from the comics, Calhoun and Homelander work together to make the latter the most powerful man in the world.

In the Season 4 finale — retitled from "Assassination Run" due to its release's proximity to the real assassination attempt on President Donald Trump, whose real-life politics inspired the season — Calhoun takes office via the 25th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, his President-elect Robert Singer (Jim Beaver) having been framed for the murder of his own VP Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit). His first act is to declare martial law and essentially give Homelander and his loyalists control of the country, which they plan to use to subjugate the human race.

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Term Served: 2014–2017

Worst Presidential Act: Staged a terror attack to steal an election.

Given that this list includes presidents from multiple comedies and comic book shows, it's worth noting that President Frank Underwood might just come from the most ridiculous fictional world of them all. Played by Kevin Spacey in the landmark Netflix drama "House of Cards," Underwood begins his career on the show as Congressional Whip (essentially the disciplinarian of the Democratic Party, trusted to ensure his peers vote in favor of their policies) before working his way up to the presidency through a series of brutal Machiavellian maneuvers which included framing his predecessor of colluding with the Chinese government.

During his reelection campaign, Underwood is harshly criticized for his handling of the ISIS-inspired terrorist group, ICO. This inspires him to use the conflict to his advantage, declaring his own war on terror and going so far as to use the threat to covertly intimidate two states into not certifying the 2016 election results. It's also worth mentioning that, on the road to this act, he personally murdered at least two people, and is responsible for the deaths of several more. He ultimately resigned in disgrace, handing the Oval Office over to his vice president, who also happens to be his wife Claire (Robin Wright) before getting killed off-screen between seasons. Sadly, the show met a rush ending after this point, as it was canceled due to Spacey's controversies.

Party Affiliation: Unknown, deliberately vague

Term Served: Unknown

Worst Presidential Act: Starting a civil war, somehow

For all the excitement 2024's "Civil War" understandably stirred among critics and audiences, it is frustratingly vague and convoluted when it comes to its own politics. The country is split into three implausibly and unnecessarily bipartisan factions (one has to wonder what had to happen for Texas and California of all places to want to run a joint independent union with zero shared borders), seemingly in an attempt to avoid placing blame on either side of the political spectrum.

As a result, we have little information about what actually incited the titular "Civil War." We do know that the President (again, robbed even of the specificity of a name) played by Nick Offerman is widely held responsible, and that he pretty much wields his power like a violently callous dictator. Given the amount of death and apocalyptic chaos we see throughout the country in the film, this feels like a fair criticism of ... whatever he did, exactly.

Party Affiliation: Unknown

Term Served: Unknown (during the Cold War)

Worst Presidential Act: Indirectly ending the world.

The Stanley Kubrick dark satire "Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" depicts a U.S. President (Peter Sellers) who, largely through his own incompetence and participation in a dysfunctional system of governments, leads the world to armageddon. This deadly line of dominoes starts with one of his own generals (Sterling Hayden) trying to end the Cold War on his own by bombing the Soviet Union.

Horrified at the possibility of escalating the Cold War into a hotter one, President Merkin Muffley tries to smooth things over with the Soviets — only to learn that so much as one strike from the general's battalion would cause their own explosive contingency to react, turning the planet into a nuclear wasteland. Muffley quickly makes peace with this reality, and even begins entertaining hiding in a bunker where he can repopulate the Earth after the detonation. Unfortunately for him, the explosives detonate before he can so much as leave the War Room.

Party Affiliation: Unknown

Term Served: Unknown

Worst Presidential Act: Prevented the deterrence of a deadly asteroid.

There are few characters of any political position more vile than "Don't Look Up's" Janie Orlean. The politically ambiguous villain (played by Meryl Streep) is defined only be her capacity for greed, ignorance, and selfishness, exhibited to disastrous effect during an existential asteroid crisis.

She initially ignores the warnings of scientists who try to give her months to prepare some kind of deterrence system — and when she does finally come around, she prioritizes the interests of the tech company BASH (who want to harvest the asteroid's valuable minerals) over the safety of the world. As a result, she not only fails to launch her own deterrence system, but accidentally destroys the one that was developed by other countries. With the asteroid imminently approaching, she flees the planet on a spacecraft for the wealthy, only meeting her deserved end on a distant planet where she is eaten by an alien beast.