History Series / ThePolitician

Starring alongside Platt is an [[AllStarCast all-star cast]] including the likes of Creator/GwynethPaltrow as Payton's mother Georgina, Creator/ZoeyDeutch as his former running mate-turned-rival Infinity Jackson, and Creator/JessicaLange as Infinity's grandmother Dusty, with Creator/BobBalaban, Dylan [=McDermott=], Creator/JanuaryJones, Creator/JudithLight, and Creator/BetteMidler appearing in other roles.

* NerdsAreInnocent: Averted. Alice and Infinity are arguably the most clean-cut, preppy characters on the show, but both of them have active sex lives with their respective boyfriends.

* IllGirl: Infinity is a [[TheTopicOfCancer cancer patient]] going through chemo. [[spoiler:She doesn't actually have cancer, though.]]

''The Politician'' is a political comedy series created by Creator/RyanMurphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan. It is the first project of Murphy's development deal with Creator/{{Netflix}}, following the end of his long-running collaboration with Creator/{{FOX}} / Creator/{{FX|Networks}}. The series debuted in September 2019.

Payton Hobart (Creator/BenPlatt) is an ambitious high schooler who has convinced himself that he ''will'' become [[UsefulNotes/ThePresidents President of the United States]] someday, and to start putting that plan in motion, has decided to start small — specifically, becoming student body president of his wealthy Santa Barbara high school. HilarityEnsues.

* BaldWoman: Infinity, [[spoiler:due to her grandmother, who has Munchansen by Proxy, shaving it to make her look sick. After the time skip in the Season One finale she has a chin length bob]]

* DefiniteArticleTitle: '''''The''''' ''Politician''.

Starring alongside Platt is an [[AllStarCast all-star cast]] including the likes of Creator/GwynethPaltrow as Payton's mother Georgina, Creator/ZoeyDeutch as his former running mate-turned-rival Infinity Jackson, and Creator/JessicaLange as Infinity's grandmother Dusty, with Creator/BobBalaban, Dylan [=McDermott=], Creator/JanuaryJones, Judith Light, and Creator/BetteMidler appearing in other roles.

* TheTheTitle: '''''The''''' ''Politician''.

* TakeThat: The hilarious nonchalance with which Georgina and the admission officers talk about bribery to get into Harvard is a huge one to the frequent practice of rich families [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney buying their children into college]] and ''especially'' those implicated in [[RippedFromTheHeadlines the recent]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_college_admissions_bribery_scandal college admission scandal.]]

* OfficialCoupleOrdealSyndrome: [[spoiler:Payton and Alice go through a cheating incident, multiple breakups, a fling with Astrid, and an unplanned pregnancy (not to mention all of the election drama) before finally ending up married.]]

''The Politician'' is a political comedy series created by Creator/RyanMurphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan. It is the first project of Murphy's development deal with Creator/{{Netflix}}, following the end of his long-running collaboration with Creator/{{FOX}} / Creator/{{FX|Networks}}.

A second season was confirmed before the first one premiered, with Murphy stating that each planned season of the series will follow Payton through a different election, ultimately leading to his self-prophesied POTUS campaign.

* AllElectionsAreSeriousBusiness: Payton's high school election is ultimately insignificant, but he takes it ''very'' seriously.
* AmicableExes: [[spoiler: Payton and Astrid]] go through a phase of being this.

* BlackComedy: This show's humor.

* CelebrityParadox: In the second episode, Payton plays a piano version of a song called "Run Away". Which was written by Ben Platt, meaning that Platt himself exists in this universe.
* ClassRepresentative: Payton and Astrid both want to be student council presidents and will go to disturbing lengths to achieve this.
* TheChessmaster: Payton. Enough said.

* ElectionDayEpisode: A series-length version of this trope.

* FamilyPortraitOfCharacterization: James mentions that famous photographer Annie Leibovitz took Peyton's wealthy family's Christmas photo, and notes it as one reason he's not considered an "accessible" presidential candidate.

* FriendsWithBenefits: Astrid and [[spoiler: Ricardo]] are this, albeit briefly so.

* IllGirl: Infinity is a cancer patient going through chemo.
* ImpliedLoveInterest: Some people see River and Payton as this.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: [[ItMakesSenseInContext Butt-muncher.]] The whole butt-muncher thing.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Ricardo's unpleasant and not particularly smart, but you can't deny he loves his girlfriend.
* LargeHam: Infinity has shades of this.
* LowerDeckEpisode: [=S1E05=] focuses on an undecided voter who simply doesn't give a shit about the election and is more concerned with trying to [[ADateWithRosiePalms masturbate in peace]].
* MaleGaze: Well demonstrated from the point of view of a very horny teenage guy in the episode ''The Voter''.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The junior Democratic Senator-elect from Texas who appears in the finale is pretty clearly based off of 2018 Senate candidate and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, having both a similar name (Tino) and O'Rourke's presidential aspirations. His prospective running mate, New York Senate Majority Leader Dede Standish, whose district is based in New York City, also bears a striking resemblance to Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress as of the first season's premiere. Maloney's district also happens to be based in NYC (funnily enough, prior to his moving to Florida, one of her constituents was [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump Donald Trump]] himself) just like Standish.
** Infinity seems to be somewhat inspired by [[spoiler: Gypsy Rose Blanchard]].

* PreppyName: ''Payton Hobart''.
* RichBitch: Pretty much every character seems to be this to some extent, but Dusty fits the description to a tee (albeit less rich than the bulk of the cast [[spoiler: since she's able to feed off of people's sympathy for her fake-ill grand-daughter]]).
* RichesToRags: After [[spoiler: being found out trying to kill their own father, Martin and Luther are instantly cut off and left with nothing but a very expensive piece of furniture they're instantly in debt for which means they have less than nothing.]]
* SecretTestOfCharacter: After [[spoiler: awakening from his coma, Keaton is told how his sons are going to kill him for his money. He plays at being in a coma as they show up, discussing how to do it and cover for each other then reveals he's been awake the whole time.]]
* SeriousBusiness: The main characters in the first season take the Saint Sebastian High School presidential election incredibly, ''insanely'' seriously. [[spoiler: To the point where there are honest-to-god ''assassination attempts''.]] Subverted in episode 5, where we see events from the point of view of one of the "voters" (i.e. another student) who isn't involved, doesn't particularly care, and [[spoiler: ends up not even voting]], with the implication being that this is far from uncommon.

** A couple of potshots are taken at libertarians during the series. Astrid's rather unpleasant father met her mother because he hired her as an escort at a Ron Paul fundraiser and Payton describes the titular StrawLoser character of '''The Voter''' as a libertarian.
* TimeSkip: [[spoiler: The season 1 finale "Vienna" moves three years into the future.]]

* TheTopicOfCancer: Infinity is a recovering cancer patient. [[spoiler: Or so it seems, since Dusty has been deliberately keeping her ill so she won't leave.]]
* TwoferTokenMinority: Skye is a black lesbian who's gender non-conforming to boot.

* EverybodyIsBi: It's not made out to be that big of a deal, but numerous main characters are shown to be non-straight to some degree.

* BaldWoman: Infinity, though she's a couple of years too young to fit into the "woman" part. Doubles as IllGirl.

* {{Polyamory}}: State senate leader Dede Standish and her husband are in a threesome relationship with a man named William.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The junior Democratic Senator-elect from Texas who appears in the finale is pretty clearly based off of 2018 Senate candidate and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, having both a similar name (Tino) and O'Rourke's presidential aspirations. His prospective running mate, New York Senate Majority Leader Dede Standish, whose district is based in New York City, also bears a striking resemblance to Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress as of the first season's premiere. Maloney's district also happens to be based in NYC (funnily enough, prior to his moving to Florida, she was actually [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump Donald Trump's]] own Representative) just like Standish.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The junior Democratic Senator-elect from Texas who appears in the finale is pretty clearly based off of 2018 Senate candidate and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, having both a similar name (Tino) and O'Rourke's presidential aspirations.

[[caption-width-right:350:''We promise to promise you everything.'']]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_politician.png]]

Starring alongside Platt is an [[AllStarCast all-star cast]] including the likes of Creator/GwynethPaltrow as Payton's mother Georgina, Creator/ZoeyDeutch as his former running mate-turned-rival Infinity Jackson, and Creator/JessicaLange as Infinity's grandmother Dusty, with Creator/BobBalaban, Dylan [=McDermott=], January Jones, Judith Light, and Creator/BetteMidler appearing in other roles.

* BaldWoman: Infinity.

* CastFullOfRichPeople: The first season is about uber-wealthy California prep school students, of which Peyton is one of the wealthiest.