Threats, violence, scandal, and public feuds? Politicians are supposed to represent the people,
but these political leaders have been accused of harboring contempt for their constituents,
and even their own families. Keep watching to learn more.
Ever since Ryan Murphy's revelatory series American Crime Story: Impeachment landed on
our screens, there has been renewed interest in the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky incident of 1998.
The then-president engaged in sexual acts with White House intern Lewinsky when she
was just 22 years old. In an infamous television interview, Clinton initially denied the affair.
"There is no improper relationship, and I intend to cooperate with this inquiry."
In an essay for Vanity Fair, Lewinsky questioned the extent to which a young
woman could consent to sex with a man 27 years older than she.
She went on to call her dalliance with Clinton an abuse of power.
"So I really just was, um, fresh meat."
Unfortunately, Clinton is reportedly still making Lewinsky suffer from the effects of
the affair all these decades later. People reports that she was disinvited to a 2018
Town & Country event after Clinton showed up on the guest list.
Following the rise of the #MeToo movement, Stephen Colbert confronted Clinton about his actions.
"Your behavior was the most famous example of a powerful man
sexually misbehaving in the workplace of my lifetime."
Lewinsky told Today that Clinton should want to apologize for his actions,
with the former president saying that he doesn't owe her an apology.
Additionally, Clinton has long faced accusations of treating women poorly, including allegations
of sexually harassing Kathleen Willey, and a sexual assault claim by Juanita Broaddrick.
When these numerous allegations resurfaced in 2017, The Atlantic argued:
"The women involved had far more credible evidence than many of the
most notorious accusations that have come to light in the past five weeks."
However, Clinton denies all claims against him.
From that infamous Borat 2 scene to his press conference outside a landscaping company,
Rudy Giuliani has become notorious for increasingly strange behavior in recent years.
In undoubtedly one of the most bizarre feuds ever to besiege a political leader,
Giuliani berated a pro-ferret caller on his radio show.
The caller, David Guthartz, was angry about a law that made it illegal to domesticize ferrets.
Before Guthartz could even get his point across, Giuliani interrupted him, stating,
"David, you're on my show. I have the right to talk over you."
He also later declared,
"There's something deranged about you. The excessive concern that you
have for ferrets is something you should examine with a therapist. Not with me."
When Guthartz told Giuliani not to insult him, Giuliani insulted him again, saying,
"There is something really, really, very sad about you."
As Mayor, it was Giuliani's job to listen to the people of New York.
But during a meet and greet, he repeatedly dismissed the concerns of the public.
When a woman said she was anxious about being evicted, Giuliani replied curtly,
"I don't think I can figure out whether we can help you."
The woman continued talking, eventually leading Giuliani to declare,
"And I'm glad we didn't help you."
It should come as little surprise that a man whose catchphrase was "You're fired" is apparently less
than palatable to people. Arguably, one of Trump's most offensive acts was a display of ableism.
In 2015, he appeared to mock Serge Kovaleski, a disabled reporter.
"Now, the poor guy, you ought to see this guy. Aaaah, I don't know what I said, aaaah,
I don't remember!"
Trump later claimed that he didn't know Kovaleski was disabled,
but The Washington Post contends that Trump was clearly mocking Kovaleski.
Kovaleski isn't the only reporter who has been subjected to Trump's verbal takedowns.
In 2018, Trump applauded the assault of journalist Ben Jacobs, who was body-slammed
by politician Greg Gianforte, encouraging his supporters to laugh and cheer at Jacobs' ordeal.
"Any guy that can do a body slam, he's my kinda guy."
The former president has shown insensitivity in many other contexts. In an interview with ABC,
Trump made a dig at Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son was killed in Iraq,
erroneously claiming that Mrs. Khan didn't speak during the Democratic National Convention
because perhaps she wasn't allowed. In actuality, Mrs. Khan explained to MSNBC
that she didn't speak because she was too upset after seeing a photo of her late son.
Despite his slick appearance, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has some pretty
disconcerting behavior to his name. In 2008, he berated a man who refused to shake his hand
at the Paris International Agricultural Show, according to Reuters. Sarkozy could
have utilized the decorum expected of a world leader; Instead, he replied,
"Get lost, dumbass."
As Reuters notes, this wasn't the first time Sarkozy was rude to a member of the public.
He previously threatened a fisherman who apparently insulted him, remarking,
"Come down and say that."
In 2010, Sarkozy once again showed how thick his skin is when he called out a
man who appeared to wipe his hand after shaking Sarkozy's, angrily retorting,
"Don't be a wise guy!"
He also took aim at a sound technician during prep for an interview with France3, saying,
"When you're a guest you have the right to expect a hello.
Someone like that should not work in a public service."
Dubbed "Two Jabs Prescott" by the British tabloids, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott
was heckled and egged by agricultural worker Craig Evans in 2001. Ideally,
he would have dealt with the situation with tact, but that's not the former amateur boxer's style.
Instead, he grabbed Evans and punched him. A fight ensued. Evans' girlfriend told the BBC,
"He's a placid lad who has never been in trouble. Craig threw an egg at Mr
Prescott. Then Mr Prescott grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and thumped him."
In 2006, Prescott was accused of sexually assaulting the wife of a fellow politician.
According to The Telegraph, Linda McDougall alleged that Prescott
pushed her against the wall and put his hand up her skirt.
Prescott denied the serious claim, telling the outlet,
"This is the man whose wife accused me of putting my hand
up her skirt bloody 30 years ago... Have you seen his wife? Built like a bloody barn door,
if I threw her against the wall, the f---ing house would fall down."
Prescott's response was widely condemned, with The Guardian writing,
"Had McDougall been considered attractive by Prescott,
perhaps he might have proudly owned up to such atrocious behavior? [...] Men
use all kinds of justifications for sexual assault on women."
With mass shootings having occurred all over the country,
gun violence is no laughing matter. But Richard Daley used it as a means of threatening people.
When he was the mayor of Chicago, Daley held a press conference, where reporter
Mick Dumke questioned his gun control policies. Shockingly, Daley pointed at a rifle and replied,
"If I put this up your butt, you'll find out how effective this is!"
According to reports, Daley's mistreatment of the public predates his reign as mayor.
Taking allegations of police misconduct seriously is paramount for any politician, but Daley
apparently mishandled abuses of power within the Chicago police force. In 1982, when Daley was Cook
County's State Attorney, a prison doctor wrote a letter alleging that police had tortured an inmate
with electroshock. Daley allegedly admitted that he never replied to the letter.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Daley was extremely critical of Jim McTigue,
a city worker, publicly blaming him for Chicago's flooding
despite it not being his fault. When Chicago Tribune journalist John Kass,
who once deemed Daley a friend, told him that he ought to apologize to McTigue, Kass said,
"The mayor told me he didn't owe McTigue a thing. I told him, respectfully, that he should make the
call anyway, to show compassion, and so that city workers who knew the real story wouldn't
think the mayor was a jerk. 'That's what your father would have done,' I said. Big mistake."
Daley got angry and permanently ended his friendship with Kass.
Rahm Emanuel, another Chicago mayor, has also been accused of treating people poorly, taking his
supposed misanthropy to extremes and earning the moniker "Rahmbo." Emanuel drew first blood when,
according to The Chicago Tribune, he sent a dead fish to a tardy pollster, with a note stating,
"It's been awful working with you."
For Emanuel, it seems that trolling is like shooting fish in a barrel — quite literally.
Don't expect the contentious antics of Rahmbo to end there. According to Chicago magazine,
Emanuel lambasted financial donors when he was working on Mayor Daley's campaign in the '90s,
yelling at one backer that a $5,000 donation was insulting
and indicating that a $25,000 or even $50,000 donation was more likely to be accepted.
In the book The Thumpin: How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and
Ended the Republican Revolution, author Naftali Bendavid claimed that Emanuel once called out the
names of various politicians he disliked while stabbing a table and shouting out "Dead Man!"
Eternally controversial Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is, as critics have argued,
akin to Trump on steroids. The populist leader has shown little concern for political correctness
when addressing minority groups and women. The Intercept chronicled his history of misogyny,
including one particularly eye-watering exchange with a female politician. When congresswoman
Maria do Rosário gave a speech condemning the military for murder, torture, sexual abuse, and
other violence against dissidents, Bolsonaro took to the podium and called her back, proclaiming,
"No, Maria do Rosário, don't leave! Stay here,
Maria do Rosário. Stay! I would not rape you. You don't merit that."
He mocked her when she left. When the outlet asked him about the incident,
Bolsonaro denied it but replied,
"Do you think she's good enough to be raped?”
According to The Guardian, Bolsonaro has bragged about his homophobia,
even stating that he would physically harm gay people if he encountered them in public:
"I won't fight it or discriminate,
but if I see two men kissing each other in the street, I'll whack them."
But Bolsonaro's behavior goes beyond offensive remarks: his tirade against the mainstream media
has even led to violence against journalists. Reporter Leonardo Monteiro of Brazilian network
TV Globo was allegedly pushed and punched in the stomach by Bolsonaro's security after asking the
president why he didn't attend any G20 events. Things were looking up for congressman Anthony
Weiner when he was running for mayor of New York. Once a highly favored candidate,
his popularity plummeted when his true self was revealed to the public.
Weiner's predatory behavior first came to light in 2011 when he reportedly sent women
photos of his genitals, and it was revealed that he was sexting a 15-year-old child.
According to attorney Joon H. Kim, Weiner asked to see the teenager's body, and he
encouraged her to engage in sexually explicit behavior for him online, according to the BBC.
"These things that I did were wrong and hurtful to my wife."
He was subsequently put in prison for 21 months and is now a registered sex offender.
Speaking with Inside Edition,
the underaged girl expressed that she was repulsed by the politician's treatment of her.
"I was disgusted. That's part of the reason I came forward."
Throughout it all, Weiner's long-suffering now ex-wife,
Huma Abedin, had to face ceaseless public humiliation. She told The Guardian,
"He was my first love, and my greatest soulmate. [...] Then everything exploded.
He didn't just break my heart, he ripped it out and stomped on it over and over again."
There is supposed to be camaraderie between politicians and the police.
It is therefore incredibly alarming to witness a minister
seemingly lambasting the officers who are there to protect him and his cohort. In a bizarre,
quintessentially British scandal that could only come from across the pond, Plebgate swept the U.K.
when politician Andrew Mitchell appeared to assume that the rules don't apply to him.
Plebgate began in 2012 when Mitchell, a Conservative politician, allegedly verbally abused
police officers outside 10 Downing Street when they told him to use a pedestrian crossing like
everybody else, according to the BBC. The officers claimed that Mitchell apparently deemed himself
too good to use the very crossing used by the people he represents, and a furious diatribe
ensued. In an expletive-ridden transcript obtained by The Telegraph, Mitchell allegedly yelled,
"Best you learn your f---ing place. [...] You don't run
this f---ing government. [...] You're f---ing plebs. [...] You haven't heard the last of this."
Mitchell denied ever having used the term "pleb," and the officers'
recollection of events was soon called into question.
"I, I never said these phrases, and if you, you know,
'you should know your effing place.' No one speaks like that these days."
However, a judge ultimately ruled that Mr Mitchell did say what was alleged,
or something so close to it that it basically meant the same thing, including the word 'pleb.'
Former Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has been embroiled in so many feuds that
even the controversy-prone Donald Trump said that nobody likes him.
In fact, Cruz appears to be so disliked among his peers that one colleague told Mother Jones,
"The quickest way for a meeting to end would be for Ted to come in.
People would want out of that meeting. It was his inability to be part of the team. That's
exactly what he was: a big a--hole. I don't know anyone who had a decent relationship with Cruz."
When he was studying at Harvard, Cruz was reportedly a jerk to his fellow students.
One such student told the Boston Globe that he asked her IQ and SAT score almost immediately
after meeting her. Damon Watson, a former college roommate, hinted at Cruz's elitism, telling GQ,
"He said he didn't want anybody from 'minor Ivies' like Penn or Brown."
And in one truly damning instance involving the military,
Cruz insulted U.S. troops, mocking a female Army corporal by tweeting,
"Holy crap. Perhaps a woke, emasculated military is not the best idea."
It would appear that Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan seeks to punish anyone who
speaks out against him. In 2016, former Miss Turkey Merve Büyüksaraç was put on trial
after she posted a satirical poem via Instagram, apparently insulting Erdoğan.
She was found guilty and given a 14-month suspended sentence. The BBC notes that
almost 2,000 people have been prosecuted in Turkey for insulting the president. Indeed,
a 16-year-old boy faced a potential four-year sentence for insulting the president in 2014.
Moreover, ABC News reported that 13 people, including a child, were detained after
taking part in a Women's March where they supposedly shouted slogans about Erdoğan.
Meanwhile, Erdoğan himself has routinely insulted women,
claiming that treating women as equal to men, quote, "goes against the laws of nature."
When Winston Churchill described Russia as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma,"
he didn't bank on Vladimir Putin's flagrant mistreatment of people right in the public eye.
Under his leadership, the Russian president has been responsible for implementing laws targeting
LGBTQ+ individuals. As Human Rights Watch details, Putin signed a law in 2013 that the organization
deems an example of political homophobia, putting the lives of LGBTQ+ youths at great risk.
Putin himself has made his feelings toward the gay community known,
telling gay people to, quote, "leave children alone please."
Putin has let misogyny fly high on more than one occasion. In 2013, he made crude comments toward a
group of topless feminist protestors, proclaiming that he liked it before reducing the women to
so-called pretty girls and joking that he, quote, "couldn't see if they were blond or brunettes."
Time reports that he also took a personal dig at Hillary Clinton, saying,
"It's better not to argue with women. When people push boundaries too far, it's not because they
are strong but because they are weak, but maybe weakness is not the worst quality for a woman."
In a crime that shocked the world, Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned
with polonium in 2006 while living in London. When Litvinenko died, Putin reportedly said,
"Mr Litvinenko is, unfortunately, not Lazarus."
Since then, a report concluded that Litvinenko's killing was probably approved by Putin.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has been accused of unpleasant treatment toward women,
including his own wives. According to The New York Times, when Gingrich's first wife,
Jackie, was in the hospital receiving treatment for cancer, he went to visit,
only to discuss divorce. She reportedly proceeded to kick him out of the hospital.
Apparently, he explained to his friend why he sought a divorce from Jackie, saying,
"She's not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of a President. And besides, she has cancer."
Gingrich, however, denies ever having behaved in such a manner.
Speaking with ABC News, Gingrich's second ex-wife, Marianne, claimed that, much like with Jackie,
Gingrich filed for divorce soon after she received a serious medical diagnosis.
When she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Marianne said that her then-husband was present
with her and was told by a doctor that she shouldn't be under stress.
Yet, Gingrich caused undue stress by seeking a divorce so he could be with his lover, Callista,
with whom Marianne alleged her husband was having an extramarital affair.
Of Gingrich's early political career, Democratic congressman
Beryl Anthony Jr. corroborated claims of the politician being widely disliked, telling Esquire,
"He was just full of hate and venom.
He was driven mainly by trying to tear down the leadership and gain political power."
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