12 Political Scandals That Proved "This Can't Be Real" Is Never True

Posted 38 minutes ago12 Political Scandals That Proved "This Can't Be Real" Is Never TrueThese are...something.by Arsheen Kaur SahniBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink Disclaimer: This article contains references to sexual content and adult themes. Viewer discretion is advised. There's something about scandals that always pulls me in, often because they reveal how power really works when no one's watching. It's unsettling to see lives, institutions, and public trust unravel, yet hard to look away once the details start coming together. Political scandals, in particular, according to me, show patterns that repeat across decades and borders. That feels especially relevant right now, as renewed attention around the Jeffrey Epstein case and the potential release of long-awaited documents has once again raised questions about accountability, secrecy, and who is protected when powerful people are involved. With that in mind, I looked up the 12 worst political scandals in history-moments that reshaped governments and changed how people view those in power. Here they are: 1. The "Bunga Bunga" Scandals (Italy, 2000s-2010s) Franco Origlia / Getty Images / Via gettyimages.in The "Bunga Bunga" scandals turned Italian politics into tabloid material. In the early 2010s, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was accused of hosting wild, sex-fueled parties at his private villa near Milan, gatherings that allegedly involved young women, strip-pole performances, costumes, and paid sexual encounters. Berlusconi insisted they were nothing more than elegant dinner parties, but the courts and the public were not so easily convinced.

At the center of it all was Karima El Mahroug, better known as "Ruby the Heart-Stealer," a nightclub dancer who prosecutors said was paid for sex when she was underage. Berlusconi was also accused of abusing his power by pressuring police to release her from custody, falsely claiming she was related to Egypt's then-president. While Berlusconi was ultimately acquitted in the main prostitution case, several of his associates were convicted of procuring women, and later trials alleged hush money and perjury. The result was a media frenzy, a credibility crisis, and one of Europe's MOST surreal political scandals. 2. The Watergate Scandal (USA, 1972-1974) Bettmann / Bettmann Archive / Via gettyimages.in This is the scandal every other scandal gets compared to. What started as a seemingly small break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters inside the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. turned into proof that President Richard Nixon's administration was spying on political opponents and then actively covering it up. Secret tapes, hush money, and obstruction of justice soon followed. Nixon resigned before he could be impeached, proving that even the most powerful office in the world isn't immune to consequences, at least sometimes.

The fallout didn't stop there: the scandal shattered public trust and hammered Republicans at the polls, costing them four Senate seats and 48 House seats in the 1974 midterms. Well I just have one thing to say: YIKES. Universal History Archive / Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Via gettyimages.in 3. The Panama Papers (Global, 2016) CHRISTOF STACHE / AFP via Getty Images / Via gettyimages.in The Panama Papers were basically the mother of all data leaks. Dropping in April 2016, the release exposed 11.5 million documents-a massive trove of emails, contracts, and financial records-linked to more than 214,000 offshore companies. The files, some going all the way back to the 1970s, came from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca and were later organized into a searchable database. While offshore companies aren't illegal on their own, journalists uncovered how many of these shell firms were allegedly used to hide wealth, dodge taxes, move dirty money, and sidestep international sanctions, setting off investigations, protests, and political fallout across the world. The documents named sitting leaders and heads of state, including Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, who resigned within days, Argentina's President Mauricio Macri, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and the UAE's President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, making it impossible to dismiss the leak as just a financial controversy rather than a full-blown political scandal. 4. The Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal (USA, 1998) Getty Images / Via gettyimages.in What started as whispers quickly turned into one of the most infamous scandals in American history. In the late 1990s, President Bill Clinton was accused of having a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a 22-year-old White House intern and then lying about it publicly and under oath. The scandal exploded after Clinton's now-iconic denial on national television, a statement that would come back to haunt him.

As investigations deepened, the issue shifted from personal misconduct to abuse of pow