This Is the President Reviews

WOW! A President Donald Trump simulator! Guess I'll just play it one day at a time over the next four years, I'll crush this game.

The premise of This is the President is simple: you’re a corrupt criminal who, somehow, inexplicably, becomes the President of the United States. How? Who knows. The game never really explains it, and it’s best not to think too hard about it. Your entire motivation? Passing a constitutional amendment that gives you lifetime immunity so you don’t get arrested the second you leave office. Totally normal stuff. To pull off this ridiculous plan, you have to become wildly popular—winning over the public and Congress to push your insane amendment through. But then, in an absurd twist, you must become deeply unpopular and deliberately lose re-election… because… reasons? The logic behind this is as shaky as the game’s grasp on actual politics. And that’s where things get weird. The game leans into a subtle liberal bias that quickly becomes frustrating. If you want to be popular? Do the “good” liberal thing. If you want to be unpopular? Either do something completely insane… or just enact conservative policies. Because apparently, in this world, conservatism is inherently unpopular, which anyone who works in actual politics knows is ridiculous. Then there’s the forced backstory. The game gives your character random personal traits, like being bisexual, which feels oddly shoehorned in with no impact on the actual story. It’s as if the game wants to throw in edgy or “progressive” elements just for the sake of it. As someone who works in professional politics, I found it really hard to suspend my disbelief. The political maneuvering, the absurd motivations, and the bizarre portrayal of public opinion make House of Cards look like a documentary. But despite all that, it’s still kind of fun in a wacky, B-movie sort of way. If you’re willing to embrace the nonsense, you might get a laugh out of it—but don’t expect any real political insight.