It's rare for Rick to meet anyone he considers worth his time, much less anywhere near an equal. The President of the United States--Rick and Morty's fictional one played by Keith David, at least--is clearly one of those exceptionally rare specimens.
Even more surprisingly, Rick and Morty's Season 3 finale, "The Rickchurian Mortydate," suggested Rick's true love is none other than America. Rick's a patriot, folks--not that he would ever admit it.
More than that, Rick sees himself in the President, who he calls "a spoiled control freak that thinks he runs the world." Sound familiar? He admires the President--despite his old-timey shrinking technology--and he craves to be acknowledged by the leader of the free world.
The source of Rick and Morty's initial conflict with the President this episode was dissatisfaction with the task he set them down in the Kennedy Sex Tunnels. The President underestimated them, treating the universe-conquering duo like glorified exterminators. He didn't appreciate them; he took advantage; he took them for granted. So they bailed, knowing full well what the consequences would be. They acted out, defying the President, in order to get his attention.
In the ensuing confrontation, Rick insists that he and his grandson regularly save the planet "not because it contains America--because moving to a new version of Earth is a bitch and a half." That's obviously true, as they've only used that particular out a couple of times in the series so far (once when Rick drunkenly Cronenberg'd the whole world, and again when Morty eavesdropped on clandestine squirrel conspiracies).
But later in the episode, Rick lets slip his true feelings. Contemplating whether he'll remain in the timeline where his may-or-may-not-be-a-clone Beth has reunited with her Jerry, he wonders, "There's infinite timelines, Morty--why would I stay in the one where I trashed the White House, became an enemy of America, and am the lowest status character in my idiot family?"
That last point certainly matters to the egomaniacal Rick, but it's the first two I'm more intrigued by. Rick has trashed entire civilizations, destroyed governments, and laid waste to whole realities; why would he give a single googa if he's an enemy of the USA? On the surface he has nothing but contempt for the President and the government in general, yet in his moment of defeat, Rick reveals that his standing with America and its leader is a deciding factor in one of the biggest decisions of his personal life.
Rick repeatedly laments in "The Rickchurian Mortydate" that nobody "gets" him. Clearly, there's one person that does--one of the few people we've ever seen Rick actually go toe-to-toe with. Sure, the President has the entire weight of all the scientists and resources of the US behind him, but that doesn't diminish the fact that he's more or less an even match for Rick. To Rick, that's special.
Why else force this confrontation like Rick did? Grandpa's motivations for keeping Morty at his side are complex, and we could argue about them all week. But surely he can't actually care that much whether Morty gets a selfie with the President--especially after Morty begins insisting that it doesn't even matter anymore. Rick is bored, unchallenged and underestimated, and he has to prove himself to the President--and earn the President's approval.
When it's all over, Rick has rarely seemed sadder than when he tells the President, "You'll never see me again."
Clearly the President feels the same way about Rick, judging by the fake love song that plays as he gazes longingly out the Oval Office's window--not to mention the eagerness with which the President agrees to a new truce with "Fly-fishin' Rick," a ruse he must at least suspect.
But it's important to Rick that he make up with the President and get back in America's good graces. At the episode's conclusion, he has two choices: Stay and be a fugitive, or hop to a new timeline and abandon this one as too far gone. In true Rick fashion, he creates a third option: He swallows his pride, dons a goofy Jerry hat, and makes nice with his foil in the White House.
Why does any of this matter? Maybe it doesn't. But anything that helps us understand Rick even a little bit better might benefit us when the mad scientist hops over to our reality and starts crop-dusting praying mantis pheromones or meddling in world politics with laser hookahs and dinosaur strippers. Or, you know, when the show returns for Rick and Morty Season 4--no matter how far away that might be.
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