List of Presidents of the United States
2017-2020: Donald Trump / Mike Pence (Republican)
2020: Mike Pence / vacant (Republican) [1]
2020-2021: Mike Pence / Elizabeth Cheney (Republican)
2021: Mike Pence / vacant (Republican)
2021: Mark A. Milley / vacant (Army) [2]
2021-2025: Mark A. Milley / John E. Hyten (Army/Air Force) [3]
2025: Mark A. Milley / vacant (Army)
2025-2029: Mark A. Milley / Lori Robinson (Army/Air Force)
2029-2033: Lori Robinson / Brian Smith (Air Force/Army) [4]
2033-2035: Don Haberman / Paula Tuner (New Libertarian) [5]
2035: Don Haberman / vacant (New Libertarian)
2035: Brian Smith / vacant (Army) [6]
2035-2037: Brian Smith / Jill Seiter (Army/Air Force)
2037: Jill Seiter / vacant (Air Force)
2037: James Park / vacant (Independent) [7]
2037-2041: James Park / Joanna Stark (Refoundation)
2041-: Eric Vrabel / Kendra Daniels (People's) [8]
[1] In late April, President Trump became the most prominent victim of COVID-19 after nearly a week of hospitalization. A traumatized nation emerged from quarantine a month later to a society in ruins. Rationing had only just begun to be relaxed when the second wave hit in the Fall.
[2] The November general election saw record low turnout as attempts to initiate remote voting largely failed. With claims of voter fraud and foreign interference, both Pence and Biden declared victory. As Winter began, the bodies mounted, and with no clear resolution to the constitutional crisis in sight, the Joints Chiefs of Staff decided to intervene.
[3] Military rule was surprisingly popular, with a veneer of unity to paper over the decline of the United States. While the newest draconian measures helped keep death at bay, it did little to revive the economy as various inflationary schemes to encourage investment continued to fail. Still, capital was satisfied as long as labor was kept under whip. In late 2025, Vice President Hyten became one of the last high profile Americans to succumb to the virus that had already taken so many away.
[4] As had been agreed, the Army allowed an Air Force figurehead to assume office after eight years. General Lori Robinson was the first woman President, and committed to maintaining US power at all costs. It was to this point that the US military's historic defeat in the short 2030 Battle of Taiwan discredited her rule. Still, many were shocked when Xoomer radio host Don Haberman recorded an upset victory two years later.
[5] With no real popular movement behind him, Haberman was a symbol of dissatisfaction, the growing number of grievances the American people had with the military regime. He had been successful because he had been seen as a lightweight, and even as his administration began, many assumed he could be easily coopted by the Deep State. But Haberman was his own man, quoting Bookchin all the way to his prison cell. Most modern historians agree that the accusations of him being an Indian agent were unfounded, but they continued to tar him even after his release and the return to civilian rule.
[6] President Smith did his best to bring back the glorious Milley years. But the 2030s were not the 2020s and few were willing to give the General a chance. His blatant rigging of the 2036 election led to an outbreak of organized protest not seen since the permanent ban on public gatherings of more than 250 people had been implemented. Eventually, Smith would resign, forever remaining one of the great villains of American history.
[7] Congress had long since become a rubber stamp committee by the year 2037, and with the subsequent bankruptcy of most state parties had long since atrophied into an assortment of retired prominent community members and young sycophants eager to work their way up the state bureaucracy. Park, age 36, had worked his way up to the position of Speaker mostly as a pawn of his wealthy father, one of the most prominent COVID-19 profiteer/entrepreneurs in the state of California. As the military regime had never bothered to change the line of succession, Park found himself swept into office as America's first Asian President. His three plus years in office were dedicated almost entirely to restoring public confidence in government. He greatly reduced the military budget, firmly placing the armed forces back under civilian control. And while America would never return to the lawless debauchery of previous eras, some degree of civil liberties and democracy were allowed to flourish. That he dared think he could win a second term given the economic circumstances was amusing, though.
[8] The People's Party which would come to dominate the next era of American politics, was an odd ideological beast. Revolutionary, but committed to the new constitutional order. Nationalistic, but anti-war. Green, but dedicated to building a future built on atomic energy. They found their support among the masses of dispossessed, the generationally unemployed, and those who yearned to carve out a place for America in the new Sino-Indian global order. Long after Cuban medical innovations could've fixed President Vrabel's lungs, he continued to speak with the rasp the virus had inflicted upon him at such a young age, a reminder of the time the American government had let its people down. A reminder of the scars of the collective scars of the last two decades. And a promise that America would emerge from its Dark Ages stronger than ever.
