# Real Presidents



## wainscottbl (Nov 13, 2015)

I am going to do some personal research on this, but it is a singular issue that might not be found directly through Google. My idea:

Bernie Sanders wins the election. Hillary Clinton (vice preisdent) and some other people (CIA, Illumnati, Freemasons, Taylor Swift, my dog, my mother) have him shot like JFK may have been by his VP. Allowed or do I need to make up fictional presidents? I would like it to be Hillary, not for personal political reasons per se, but for the theme of the story in relation to my personal feelings about her as a politician.


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## InstituteMan (Nov 13, 2015)

I would never, ever want to have something I wrote misconstrued as a threat directed at the Commander in Chief. That sort of thing is taken very seriously. Write about former presidents. Write about fictional presidents. Don't write about a potential actual president.


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## Red Sonja (Nov 13, 2015)

I used to be in a rock band. (LONG ago.) We had a show during a general election. On the poster there were depicted both of the presidential candidates at the time with arrows through their heads. It was supposed to be a punk rock, silly, dada-ist type of statement, right? 

Well, about a week before the show (and these posters were ALL over town) our band got visited by none other than the Secret Service. They wanted to know if we were planning on shooting arrows at the president (who was running for reelection) or the other candidate or if we were otherwise planning to kill either one of the candidates. Our manager was the one who opened the door at the time and she was like, "Er, uh, um, the poster really wasn't my idea." (That was the truth, by the way. This other chick thought of it and OF COURSE she wasn't there to take the heat.) They were very polite about everything but, you know: The Secret Service.


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## wainscottbl (Nov 14, 2015)

Well in House of Cards, the Russian president was more or less Put in but not Putin. This is a political thriller, which will include sideshadowing, a method where unrelated events are added to the story, though in the end the do connect the story. The belief by those who embrace the method is that life does not happen like a story line. I am only planning the book. I will change names, wtc. I will also talk to a lawyer I think. One that knows the area of expertise.5


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## Deleted member 56686 (Nov 14, 2015)

InstituteMan said:


> I would never, ever want to have something I wrote misconstrued as a threat directed at the Commander in Chief. That sort of thing is taken very seriously. Write about former presidents. Write about fictional presidents. Don't write about a potential actual president.




Yes, the secret service is very sensitive about potential threats and with good reason. There have been a number of attempts on Presidents in my own lifetime (JFK, the attempt on Reagan, two attempts against Ford, etc) so it would not be something taken lightly.


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## Minu (Nov 14, 2015)

_Aida Halton_ - there's your Hillary Clinton. The name pretty much has the exact same meaning as hers does. Give Aida some of Hillary's personality, I wouldn't make her blonde - make her brunette. Change Bernie Sanders to a Artie Bates and make him 30 years younger. That's the fun of writing, as I've said a few times, you get to mess around. 

As the others said it's not necessarily a good idea to actually write about REAL living, breathing presidents or presidential hopefuls. 

Forgetting secret service.

Things like House of Cards - they have money & with that money comes lawyers. If Putin decided that he wanted to "retaliate" against his portrayal in House of Cards then they have a means of "defending" themselves. Unless you have a couple of crack lawyers hiding in your back pocket, it's not a risk the average writer takes.


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## bookmasta (Nov 15, 2015)

Fictional presidents would be best.


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## Blade (Nov 15, 2015)

bookmasta said:


> Fictional presidents would be best.



Agreed. This approach does not offend any individuals in the political world and gives you more in the way of creative licence. Win - Win.nthego:


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