1. There’s always a rogue Secret Service agent. This is the easy way to get around the “White House is an impenetrable fortress” stumbling block.

2. The bad guy always has nuclear destruction on his mind and must access the presidential football in order to launch nuclear weapons.

I don’t like these tropes. They’re kind of easy, and they’re also terrifically implausible.

To point one: There has NEVER been a traitorous Secret Service agent. Ever. Surely there are other ways to get through the security gauntlet. I am not about to speculate about them in open session, thank you very much, but writers are supposed to be imaginative.

Two: There is no “nuclear button” anywhere near the President. Not on him. Not in “the football.” Not in the President’s Emergency Operations Center (PEOC).

The nuclear football has nothing to do with the actual launching of nuclear weapons. Nothing.