Martin Alvito
Player Valuation: £50m
Grant ran a corrupt administration and was once arrested (by an African-American police officer!) for serial coach speeding in D.C. while president.
Harding was insanely popular until he died, after which the public found out about his mistress and the fact that his equivalent of your Home Secretary was on the take from Big Oil. (No, not that one. That would make him older than Biden.)
The press colluded to conceal the fact that FDR could not stand unaided from the public, as well as the open secret of JFK's serial infidelity.
One bizarre aspect of America is that, given enough wealth and power, you can get away with anything until suddenly you can't. It's a neverending cycle of building up false idols, then tearing them all down. Lincoln gets a pass in our revisionist history, probably because he no-lifed it in the White House to a legendary degree. That's it.
DeVito nails us to the wall in L.A. Confidential. If you want to make some sense out of our culture and politics, that's a good starting point. George Carlin's standup bit before he sat down with Jon Stewart for an interview also is informative.
America is a country of unrealistic expectations built on a foundation of lies. We gave you P.T. Barnum, the prosperity gospel and Sam Bankman-Fried. You're welcome.
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