Shadow President/YMMV


 * Awesome but Impractical: Nuclear strikes are probably not the best way to end wars or solve problems, and there is a good chance that you will get nuked too. Note that due to this game being open-ended beyond the goal of "stay popular", this trope depends upon what objective the player has in mind for the game.
 * The Dev Team Thinks of Everything: There are possibly many examples...
 * Invading The Falkland Islands (British Territory) and succeeding in conquering it may cause England to execute a Nuclear Strike on the island in desperation.
 * Invading and taking over Cuba has a chance of provoking a similar response from Soviet Russia.
 * Gameplay Derailment: Maybe; it is possible to "farm" popularity by intentionally invading other countries that you know you can conquer or by repeatedly performing surgical attacks on "rogue" nations. No matter how dubious the take-over of the nation seems, there is a good chance that you'll gain a boost to your popularity. It's like Alexander the Great becoming president of the USA.
 * Good Bad Bugs: It is possible to hide out in your "War Room" like a bunker if your popularity is not high enough, only coming out briefly enough to give orders to correct the situation. It does not work every time, but does seem to improve your chances of evading assassination if you've become hated.
 * If the USA is ever about to be invaded by an opposing army, the game amusingly gives you the option to "be on their side of the conflict". This means that you have a bizarre "option" to invade your-self.
 * The game's logic does not seem sane at times. Besides the USSR occasionally picking bizarre target to nuke, sometimes a country decides to figuratively say "what the hell" and nuke a target just because another country did it first. Hilarity Ensues as the nuclear powers freak out and start retaliating against one another with nukes and overthrow attempts against each other.
 * Moral Event Horizon: Playing the game as a war criminal will make your allies feel like this towards you. That is, unless there are certain circumstances, such as USSR performing something worse in comparison such as launching a nuclear strike, in which case they are the ones crossing the Moral Event Horizon.
 * If the USSR crosses the "Horizon", expect to see reports of a variety of countries sending assassins into Russia, as they lower their own ethical standards to go after the leaders who are more unethical than they are. You know you've really crossed the Moral Event Horizon when a wide variety of countries try to shut you down by spamming assassination attempts on your country.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: Some examples...
 * You can block trade with anybody at any time; this has the potential of turning an already impoverished country even more so.
 * You can act unethically, by backing rebellions in countries and pulling people's strings to make them commit acts of violence For the Evulz.
 * You can nuke and/or invade anybody (except yourself).
 * You can Carpet-nuke a country into oblivion.
 * You can conquer a country, install a new government, and conquer them again, for as long as your popularity and infamy will allow.