# Politicians you best not f--- with 'cause you know you'll lose
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [June 1, 2019, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857 "2019-06-01T01:23:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2019, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/1 "2019-06-01T01:23:54Z")
I’ll name two right of the top of my head:
Mitch McConnell
Nancy Pelosi
Who else? Doesn’t have to be today, and doesn’t have to be nationally recognized or even American - international contributions welcome.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/2 "2019-06-01T02:06:30Z")
You didn’t screw around with Lyndon Johnson. He wouldn’t necessarily go after you directly, but you’d find your district’s pet project disappeared from the appropriations bill, or that important committee you thought you’d be appointed to turned out to be Post Office and Civil Service Oversight. An even then, you still couldn’t get funding to build a new post office in your district.
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### Author:  [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2019, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/3 "2019-06-01T02:11:48Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#):
>
> You didn’t screw around with Lyndon Johnson. He wouldn’t necessarily go after you directly, but you’d find your district’s pet project disappeared from the appropriations bill, or that important committee you thought you’d be appointed to turned out to be Post Office and Civil Service Oversight. An even then, you still couldn’t get funding to build a new post office in your district.
Great first post, and I totally agree. LBJ’s mastery of power has been chronicled by famed author Robert Caro. The guy just knew how to win and how to make his enemies pay.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2019, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/4 "2019-06-01T14:10:34Z")
Teddy Roosevelt.
Full Stop.
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### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2019, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/5 "2019-06-01T14:41:35Z")
Greg Gianforte
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### Author:  [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2019, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/6 "2019-06-01T14:47:50Z")
Vladimir Putin
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### Author:  [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2019, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/7 "2019-06-01T14:55:45Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> Greg Gianforte
I probably wouldn’t want to face that guy in the octagon, but I’m not sure he’s as menacing in the political arena.
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### Author:  [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2019, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/8 "2019-06-01T14:57:26Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#):
>
> Vladimir Putin
His path to power is quite a story indeed. He survived criminal investigations related to his time in St Petersburg, and then he started going after his investigators once he became president.
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### Author:  [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/9 "2019-06-01T16:01:10Z")
Huey Long
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### Author:  [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2019, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/10 "2019-06-01T17:24:08Z")
Erdogan in Turkey and Duterte in the Philippines are two deplorable thugs that I wouldn’t mess with
Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Turkey’s pugnacious president [Turkey's Erdogan fighting to stay in power after 20 years - BBC News](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13746679)
> **['Duterte Harry': What you need to know about the controversial Philippine...](https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna753901)**
>
> What you need to know about the controversial Philippine leader and his rise to power.
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/11 "2019-06-03T20:15:20Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> Greg Gianforte
Sharice Davids would make mincemeat of gianforte.
The Clinton’s supposedly had a behind the scenes political machine that they used to intimidate people who thought to support their opposition in the democratic primaries of 2008 and 2016. Of course she lost both times and never became president, so there is that.
When I think of a competent democratic (as opposed to authoritarian) politician I think of LBJ.
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### Author:  [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2019, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/12 "2019-06-03T20:40:32Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#):
>
> Huey Long
For sure - his political machine took several decades to untangle.
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### Author:  [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2019, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/13 "2019-06-03T20:51:07Z")
> [@dalej42](#):
>
> Erdogan in Turkey and Duterte in the Philippines are two deplorable thugs that I wouldn’t mess with
> Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Turkey’s pugnacious president [Erdogan: Turkey's all-powerful leader of 20 years - BBC News](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13746679)
>
> [Rodrigo Duterte: What You Need to Know About the Controversial Philippine President](https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna753901)
I would be terrified to cross Duterte. He just seems like he’s got a lifetime of rage built up in that small frame and now he’s unleashing his fury on anyone who even looks at him the wrong way. He’s like a Sheriff Joe Arpaio but with deep anger issues.
Erdogan, by contrast, is a semi-democratic system who rose as a politician and is now using his insider knowledge of Turkey’s politics to rig the system in his favor. He has survived a jail term. He has had political allies turn into bitter enemies, and he has ultimately either jailed them or chased them out of the country. He uses polarization to his advantage, somehow getting away with nullifying elections in which his party loses.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/14 "2019-06-03T21:00:17Z")
Andrew Jackson. You do not, under any circumstances, fuck with Andrew Jackson.
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### Author:  [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2019, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/15 "2019-06-04T11:40:38Z")
The avuncular, approachable, well liked Liberal-Democrat politician [Paddy Ashdown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddy_Ashdown) seemed like a decent chap to share a pint with, and I’m sure he was. He was also a Royal Marine and special forces veteran and a secret-service operative, diplomat and politician. I rather suspect that, if that friendly pint turned sour, he could seriously fuck you up.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2019, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/16 "2019-06-04T13:00:45Z")
Kim Jong-un. 'Nuff said.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2019, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/17 "2019-06-04T13:01:57Z")
> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> Andrew Jackson. You do not, under any circumstances, fuck with Andrew Jackson.
That one strikes me as someone that you wouldn’t even need to fuck up with.
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### Author:  [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2019, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/18 "2019-06-04T14:44:40Z")
Honest Abe
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### Author:  [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2019, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/19 "2019-06-06T00:30:48Z")
If you are looking for democratically elected despots then Malaysia’s Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad is a pretty good candidate. Being 93 and the worlds oldest national leader, he’s been at the top of his game for quite a while.
Having your deputy and anointed successor convicted on trumped up charges of sodomy over a difference in monetary policy shows his focus to his own cause.
Indonesia’s first President Sukarno was another who wasn’t one to mess with though the notion of democratic is loosely applied.
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### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2019, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politicians-you-best-not-f-with-cause-you-know-youll-lose/834857/20 "2019-06-06T00:58:03Z")
Anybody who ruled Russia or the Soviet Union, from the Tsars to the communist dictators to the ‘presidents’.