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Humor & Life Quote by Mel Brooks

"If presidents can't do it to their wives, they do it to their country"

About this Quote

Power, in Brooks's universe, is never dignified; it's just libido with better stationery. "If presidents can't do it to their wives, they do it to their country" lands like a dirty joke, then sticks like a political diagnosis. The line is built on a punchy substitution: domestic intimacy becomes a stand-in for private restraint, and the nation becomes the next available body. Brooks isn't offering psychology so much as a grotesque metaphor for how leaders treat institutions when their egos get frustrated. If they can't dominate where they're supposed to be human, they'll perform dominance where they're allowed to be symbolic.

The intent is classic Brooks: puncture authority by dragging it into the bedroom. He's not arguing policy; he's exposing the childish engine underneath power, the way masculinity and control get coded as entitlement. The subtext is darker than the setup suggests. "Do it" is deliberately vague, letting the listener supply the worst verbs: betray, exploit, embarrass, violate. That ambiguity is what makes it work; it's a single euphemism that can cover corruption, militarism, surveillance, or any impulsive display meant to prove potency.

Context matters, too. Brooks comes out of a postwar American culture that sold presidents as fathers and husbands, upright and reassuring. His comedy takes that sanitized image and flips it: the patriarch isn't protecting the household; he's acting out on a national scale. It's cynicism disguised as smut, a reminder that when public life becomes a stage for private insecurity, citizens end up cast as collateral.

Quote Details

TopicWitty One-Liners
Source
Later attribution: Mel Brooks (Mel Brooks) modern compilation
Text match: 98.57%   Provider: Wikiquote
Evidence:
if they presidents cant do it to their wives they do it to their country to me tra
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Brooks, Mel. (2026, February 8). If presidents can't do it to their wives, they do it to their country. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-presidents-cant-do-it-to-their-wives-they-do-813/

Chicago Style
Brooks, Mel. "If presidents can't do it to their wives, they do it to their country." FixQuotes. February 8, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-presidents-cant-do-it-to-their-wives-they-do-813/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"If presidents can't do it to their wives, they do it to their country." FixQuotes, 8 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-presidents-cant-do-it-to-their-wives-they-do-813/. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.

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If Presidents Can't Do It to Their Wives, They Do It to Their Country
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Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks (born June 28, 1926) is a Comedian from USA.

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