Basic Trope: Since a character enforces the rules, they believe they don't have to follow them.
- Straight: President Justice frequently breaks the rules he's supposed to enforce.
- Exaggerated: President Justice is a paragon of lawlessness, even worse than the criminals he strives to put away.
- Downplayed:
- Justice cuts in line when not carrying out official state duties.
- Justice states that the laws sometimes have exceptions, which seem to conveniently apply to him and no one else.
- Justified:
- He is literally Judge, Jury, and Executioner — he's not going to punish himself.
- He believes the ends justify the means.
- The rules for the game aren't finalized, he's still making them. (may or may not lead to Obvious Rule Patch)
- Inverted:
- Screw Myself, Rules Make Me!
- Since he enforces the rules, Justice believes that he should follow the rules more strictly than those under him.
- Bob is a civilian who breaks minor laws regularly because he believes that since he doesn't enforce the rules, they don't apply to him.
- Subverted: The President realizes he committed a crime. He debates what to do for a while, then decides the moral thing to do is to serve his sentence.
- Double Subverted: ...So he has his body double/clone go to prison in his place and he continues to rule unchecked.
- Parodied:
- A character on the lower tiers of law enforcement (think meter maid or bike cop) throws around their weight like they're an emperor because they're charged with law enforcement.
- “There are no rules, and those are the rules!”
- Every time the President wants to break a law he takes it off the books, commits the act, and then reinstates it. Any private citizen can do the same, but they must time it perfectly.
- Zig-Zagged: The President realizes he committed a crime and must go to prison to serve his sentence, but sends his clone to prison in his place. Then he steps down, but he becomes The Man Behind the Man for his successor … until he decides to stage a coup.
- Averted: He doesn't seem to think he's above the law.
- Enforced: The writer is trying for an anti-authority feel for their work.
- Lampshaded:
- Invoked:
- President Justice's predecessor, President Law, was practically The Fettered when it came to obeying the rules. Justice, seeing an opportunity, decides to take over and use his status to his advantage.
- Justice arranges to give himself Ultimate Job Security or, better yet, Vetinari Job Security.
- Exploited: The President has a Magnificent Bastard advisor who's secretly gunning for his position.
- Defied:
- "I am not above the law. I must obey it like any other citizen."
- "Should the Emperor ever disregard his own law, the Captain of the Praetorian Guard must execute him."
- Discussed: "Am I imagining things, or does the President not seem to practice what he preaches?"
- Conversed: "What an interesting story. Seems like the author has a distaste for authority, though."
- Implied: Justice says he learned much from President National Interest, who was or is known to have followed this trope.
- Deconstructed: The disconnect between his stated ideals and his actual ideals leads President Justice's citizens to revolt — they've decided they don't much care about the rules either.
- Reconstructed: The revolt fails because President Justice slaughters disloyal citizens, even though that defies his rules.
- Played for Laughs: President Justice happens to be an amateur comedian, so he outlaws the profession only to break his prohibition regularly and tell jokes — whether the people find them genuinely funny is irrelevant.
What's that? You want a link back to Screw the Rules, I Make Them!? Well, I'll never give you one — I am the law!
