The President (Rick and Morty)

President Curtis, often simply referred to as The President, is a recurring fictional character in the American animated television series ''Rick and Morty''. Voiced by Keith David and created by Wes Archer and Tom Kauffman, based on then-sitting Presidents of the United States Barack Obama and Donald Trump in his first two appearances, the President shares a love–hate relationship with Rick Sanchez, often alternating between calling upon him and his grandson Morty Smith to protect America from various threats, to attempting to have him arrested or killed. In " Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat", an alternate reality version of the President's name is stated to be M. Romney (in reference to Mitt Romney) while in all of his later appearances, is addressed as Curtis. Known for his brash and abrasive personality, the character has received a positive critical reception.

Biography

In the first season episode "M. Night Shaym-Aliens!", while Rick Sanchez is trapped inside of a holographic projection, an ambulance pulls up with some paramedics yelling out that the President of the United States is inside having a stroke, and that they need "10 CCs of concentrated dark matter" to save his life, as part of a plan by Zigerion scammers to steal its recipe from Rick. Under a sheet, only the President's (simulated) hand is seen.

Season 2 and comic series

In the second season episode " Get Schwifty", the President meets Rick and his grandson Morty Smith in the Pentagon after the pair teleport in to inform the U.S. government as to the identity of the massive alien head which has appeared over the Earth, interfering with its gravity and spawning several global disasters: a Cromulon, seeking a live performance of a catchy new song lest the planet be destroyed. The President orders Rick and Morty to compose a song to save them. After they save Earth, the President declares the pair heroes. In "Lawnmower Dog" and " A Rickconvenient Mort", Summer Smith references both Barack and Michelle Obama as existing, indicating them as having been the President's predecessors in office, and the President having been elected in place of Donald Trump, the Obamas having served one term in-office.

In the comic series issue " Close Rick-counters of the Drippy Kind", set on May 31, 2017, the President arrives at the Smith household to get Rick's advice on how to deal with the "space racists" Spatio 5 Culus, whose armada have been cleared to invade Earth by the Galactic Federation. The President instead takes the advice of Rick's son-in-law Jerry Smith, who ends up in an argument with the aliens' leader within ten minutes. After being told that Congress was unable to prevent him from making the bad decision of having Jerry help because they were at Capitol Hill, the President sends Jerry home; Rick subsequently destroys the alien race. With the situation resolved, the President returns to the Smith household to thank Rick, telling him that "We owe you one, baby!" before leaving once again.

Seasons 3–5

In the third season finale "The Rickchurian Mortydate", having since called on Rick and Morty countless times, the President calls upon the duo once again to exterminate "some kind of alien googa" from the Kennedy Sex Tunnels under the White House. After Rick and Morty refuse and separate themselves from the President, he has the pair arrested as they attempt to make first contact with a miniature civilization discovered in the Amazon rainforest. Upon shrinking himself to meet with them, he finds the aliens have been dealt with; the President declares war on Rick and Morty. Rick promises to leave their reality for good in exchange for another one on the condition that Morty gets a selfie with the President. Rick indirectly kills most of the Secret Service agents surrounding him, culminating in a lengthy brawl with the President. The conflict ends with a truce.

In the fourth season premiere " Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat", upon finding himself in a cloned body in a fascist dimension, Rick briefly sees a signed photograph of his counterpart shaking hands with the President's own counterpart, signed "M. Romney". In the fifth season episode "Mortyplicity", the President is alerted by his staff as to the decoys of the Smith family killing each other across America.

In "Rickdependence Spray", the Smith family is airlifted to the Pentagon's war room by the President, where Morty agrees to lie for Rick and tells the President that they know nothing about the outbreak of Sperm Monsters, claiming them to be from space. At Morty's suggestion, the President sends Rick, Morty, and a helicopter full of marines and nuclear weapons to the Grand Canyon to destroy the sperm. Summer volunteers an egg as a solution, and soldiers plan to shoot it into space after all the sperm enter the egg. After the sperm and their queen are killed, one sperm manages to fertilizes the egg himself out of instinct. Summer attempts to destroy her egg, but the President intervenes because he cannot be publicly seen condoning abortion. Sometime later, before the events of "Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion", the President has Summer brought to her "Giant Incest Baby" on Mars by the military.

In " Rick & Morty's Thanksploitation Spectacular", the President attempts to have Rick and Morty arrested after Morty accidentally unleashes a giant robotic assassin from inside the Statue of Liberty. The President has sent out multiple armored trucks, only one of which contains the presidential turkeys and will be guarded by turkey marines. Rick plans to sneak aboard by turning himself into a turkey. The President has himself also turned into a turkey to identify Rick. The marines pull out the wrong turkey and inject it with the President's DNA. While Rick and Morty return home and restore the President to human form, the Turkey President begins turning turkeys into large, muscular turkey-human soldiers. Observing on the news that the Turkey President plans to turn every turkey in America into soldiers, the President frees a group of previously warring alien species united by their hatred of turkeys. The President fights his turkey counterpart in hand-to-hand combat, ultimately defeating him. The President gives Rick a true pardon afterwards.

Seasons 6–present

In ''Rick and Morty: Wormageddon'', a "living episode" aired ahead of and set simultaneously with the sixth season premiere "Solaricks", an alternate version of the President tag-team defeats one of the invading worms alongside his Rick. Following the Smith family switching realities at the end of "Solaricks" to a near-identical one where "parmesan" is pronounced differently, after everyone on their previous reality's Earth (including the President) is absorbed by Mr. Frundles, Rick tricks the new reality's President into pardoning him as a turkey again offscreen in "Bethic Twinstinct" by turning himself into a "Turkey Dracula". The new reality's President is formally introduced in "Juricksic Mort", where the President's full name is confirmed to be "Curtis Curtis", as he seeks Rick's help in ridding the world of the technologically advanced dinosaurs who have peacefully (re)taken over the planet (a takeover the President had initially allowed out of fear of "the poor" killing him and the other world leaders should they tell the dinosaurs to leave), an offer Rick accepts in exchange for the President arranging for him to host the Oscars; while insulted that Rick wouldn't consider taking him as his plus one, the President is calmed once Rick provides him with his specialised "molly".

Development

The character was created by Wes Archer and Tom Kauffman for the 2015 ''Rick and Morty'' second season episode " Get Schwifty", initially written as a generic unnamed stand-in for then-sitting President of the United States Barack Obama. In September 2017, Dan Harmon confirmed that the writing for the tail-end of the series' third season had occurred during Donald Trump's then-ongoing presidential campaign was inspired by "the idea of a cartoonishly bad president" for the character's appearance in "The Rickchurian Mortydate" in contrast to their original depiction, following "how out of control presidential power has gotten"; by the time the episode aired in October 2017, Trump had been elected and serving in the office for almost a year. Keith David, who voices the character, previously voiced a fictionalised version of himself as Vice President of the United States in the 2013 video game ''Saints Row IV'', and Reverse Giraffe in "Total Rickall".

Reception

The character has received positive reception. ''Inverse'' praised the President's depiction in "The Rickchurian Mortydate" as "a petulant manbaby who can’t take criticism or disobedience" and Donald Trump stand-in compared to his " Get Schwifty" depiction, describing the character's final fight with Rick Sanchez as "the single greatest action sequence in ''Rick and Morty'' history". ''Vulture'' described the character as "feel ng€¦ anachronistic", with IndieWire complimenting "it mak ngsense that the main issue powering this President/Rick feud is that each of them think they’re too good at their job" and describing "interactions with The President sfeel nglike a subtle jab at the rest of the TV world" before praising how Keith David's vocal performance "handling the presidential shame list with the shame joyful enthusiasm as digging into shouting "You suck!" makes him a legend in the show's annals, even if The President has only popped up twice." ''Reason'' lauded the political commentary of the character and the concepts of "imperial presidency" and "how out of control presidential power has gotten", commenting on how the series' decision "not to model its president on any specific real-life equivalent voidsbeing a commentary on any nespecific officeholder and instead becomes a stinging commentary on the office itself", while ''Screen Rant'' described the President as "a welcome addition as a great antagonist for Rick and sometimes ally", expressing hope that "their rivalry and back and forth will continue" to be expanded upon throughout the series. Contrastingly, ''Variety'' criticized the President's increased role in the series' fifth season, stating the "Rick and the President messarounds ohave never actually been the most interesting or exciting plots of the series", although expressing interest in a future appearance by the character exploring a romantic connection between the pair.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:President, The
Fictional African-American people
Fictional candidates for President of the United States
Fictional characters based on real people
Fictional Democrats (United States)
Fictional members of the United States House of Representatives
Fictional presidents of the United States
Fictional United States Marine Corps personnel
Fictional Republicans (United States)
Fictional state governors of the United States
Male characters in animated series
Rick and Morty characters
Television characters introduced in 2015
Animated characters introduced in 2015