To help America, I used Crusader Kings 3 to figure out how to remove a doddering, senile lunatic from power

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I heard it on the wireless: election fever is sweeping America. The world's loudest democracy is headed to the ballot box to vote in its next slate of soda jerks and Chevrolets and whatever else it is they have over there. It's all very exciting.

Can I help? Yes. I've already solved my own country's politics , now it's time to help the benighted and backward people of places like "Connecticut" and "the Oklahoma Panhandle"—fantasy names from a land beyond knowing. People love it when foreigners tell them how to do their own domestic politics, and especially when they have as robust a methodology as I have: a copy of Crusader Kings 3 and most of the DLC.

Using Paradox's premier 1066 simulator, I will ascertain the best way to remove a burrowed-in leader from power. Which real-life figure is this a videogame analogue for? Don't worry about it, don't email me about it, and don't launch a cruise missile at my house.

Don't email me about how the midterms don't choose the president either. I don't know what those words mean.

I first had to create an accurate, 11th-century simulacrum of an American president. None of CK3's historical rulers quite fit the bill, so I decided to create a ruler from scratch.

I created an 80-year-old lecher named Wenzel and put him in charge of the Holy Roman Empire. His defining trait was 'lunatic'.

So that was sorted. Next, I needed a position from which to actually act in the world. I needed to be someone who could effect change in the HRE and test my theories as to the best way to go about removing a leader. This was easier: I simply nosed through Wenzel's myriad direct vassals and picked one who seemed most like some guy , thus to represent the working masses of the American Empire. I've quite genuinely forgotten his name, but he had very few traits and was prone to tuberculosis.

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