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Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State

2021-2025: Joe Biden (Democratic)
2020 (with Kamala Harris) def. Donald Trump (Republican)
2025-2033: John Fetterman (Democratic)
2024 (with Jaime Harrison) def. Ron DeSantis (Republican)
2028 (with Jaime Harrison) def. Daniel Cameron (Republican), Joel Salatin (Libertarian)

2033-2037: Ricky Harrington (Libertarian)
2032 (with Marshall Burt) def. Jaime Harrison (Democratic), Ken Paxton (Republican)
2037-0000: Marquita Bradshaw (Democratic)
2036 (with Bob Ferguson) def. Peter Meijer (Republican), Ricky Harrington (Libertarian)

The great disappointment of the Biden administration takes its toll on the Dems. Biden compares his favorability ratings and his medical charts and decides not to run again, but with very little to show for the last four years there's not much for Harris to campaign on, and the expected primary coronation becomes anything but. When Senator Fetterman wins, the #KHive tries to gin up a write-in campaign, but America is not Twitter and the Dems fall in line. ("Bitter Harris supporters voting for DeSantis because he has a woman on the ticket" is a far overblown phenomenon, although there's definite movement back to the GOP in the suburbs, slightly reversing some of the electoral trends of the Obama and Trump years.)

The country is now led by people who want to Actually Do Something, and voting rights legislation, climate change mitigation, and paid family leave cross the President's desk - either via legislation or executive orders, depending on whether or not the Dems control Congress. Blue Dog intransigence leaves full M4A off the table but Medicaid expansion continues to get more and more Americans covered by government health insurance. Meanwhile, the Republicans careen between the culture-war faux-populism of Cruz and Hawley and the traditional conservatism of the governors who just want to get ahead with the business of crushing working people. It's a remarkably segregated political landscape, with both parties focused more on internal conflict than campaigning against each other.

After Cameron's loss in 2028, which is attributed to the cranks and racists going third party, the faux-populists seize control of the GOP and nominate the biggest troll and lib-triggerer on their bench. Paxton's criminal convictions are a plus for those in the base who see him as a martyr; they're less convincing to the general electorate, and the Republican ticket is soon polling poorer than any in decades. Vice-presidential nominee Cawthorn's claims that the GOP has finally become "the party of the multiracial working class" is less than convincing now that Fetterman and Harrison have revived the Democrats somewhat among their traditional voting blocs, and becomes a bad joke when Paxton visibly struggles to avoid hard-r racism against his opponent. Or, rather, opponents.

The Libertarians made some very small electoral gains during the 2020s with both real parties focused on their internal issues; most prominently, Extremely Online pastor Ricky Dale Harrington, Jr., actually won statewide office in Arkansas on his third try and became a bit of a national figure of fun, appealing to both Republicans and Democrats with his isolationist stances and his videos explaining (and mocking) Senate procedure. His long-expected Presidential run began gathering steam among both conservatives embarrassed by Paxton (who was now repeatedly confusing the other two candidates) and some on the vaguely-left who were worried that Harrison's past as a corporate lobbyist represented a regression to the Do Nothing Democrat era.

It was an ironic twist of fate that members of Congress - who hated Harrington's gadfly antics with a passion - were the ones who put him in office after a deadlock in the Electoral College. After the past four years of idealistic but amateurish governance, most of them have vocally regretted their decision. Not least among these are the Republicans, who accidentally completed Fetterman's goal of breaking their monolithic rural base and are making a bid to be the party of the suburbs once again...

(Not the most realistic story, I just felt like trying a "kinda fun, kinda positive" future)
 
The Electoral History of Oswald Mosley (1918-1983)

1918-1922: Conservative MP for Harrow

1918 def: Arthur Robert Chamberlayne (Independent)
1922-1924: Independent MP for Harrow
1922 def: Charles Ward Jackson (Conservative)
1923 def: Edward Hugh Frederick Morris (Conservative)

1924: Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Birmingham Ladywood
1924 (Neville Chamberlain, Conservative) def: Oswald Mosley (Labour), Alfred William Bowkett (Liberal)
1924-1926: Private Citizen, Labour
1926-1931: Labour MP for Smethwick

1926 def: Marshall James Pike (Conservative), Edwin Bayliss (Liberal)
1929 def: Roy Wise (Conservative), Maude Egerton Marshall (Liberal)
1931 (Roy Wise, Conservative) def: Oswald Mosley (Labour), Harold Nicholson (National Labour)

1929-1930: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
1931-1935: Private Citizen, Labour
1935-1940: Labour MP for Smethwick

1935 def: Roy Wise (Conservative)
1935: Candidate for Labour Leader
1935 (Clement Attlee) def: Herbert Morrison, Arthur Greenwood, Oswald Mosley
1935-1937: Executive of the Socialist League
1936-1940: Head of Labour Friends of the Soviet Union

1940-1942: Independent MP for Smethwick
1942-1945: CommonWealth MP for Smethwick

1945 (Alfred Dobbs, Labour) def: Gilbert Harold Samuel Edgar (Conservative), Oswald Mosley (CommonWealth)
1945-1946: Private Citizen, Independent Labour Party
1946-1947: Independent Labour Party MP for Glasgow Bridgeton

1946 def: John Wheatley (Labour), Victor Dunn Warren (Unionist), Wendy Wood (Independent), Guy Aldred (United Socialist Movement)
1947-1950: Communist Party of Great Britain MP for Glasgow Bridgeton
1950 (Mary McAlister, Labour) def: Francis Charles Irwin (Unionist), Oswald Mosley (CPGB)
1950-1951: Private Citizen, CPGB
1951: CPGB Parliamentary Candidate for Glasgow Bridgeton

1951 (Mary McAlister, Labour) def: Francis Charles Irwin (Unionist), Oswald Mosley (CPGB)
1951-1955: Private Citizen, CPGB
1955: CPGB Parliamentary Candidate for Fife West

1955 (Willie Hamilton, Labour) def: Norman Wylie (Unionist), Oswald Mosley (CPGB)
1956-1975: Assistant General Secretary of the CPGB
1975-1980: General Secretary of the CPGB
1980-1981: Private Citizen, CPGB
1981-1983: Private Citizen, CPB
Died May 1st 1983


‘Britain’s Favourite Stalinist’ is the phrase often used to describe Oswald Ernald Mosley. A fixture of Mid 20th Century British politics you would often find him on chat shows arguing about Western Imperialism and the benefits of the Soviet Union. Mosley’s slide into the Far Left came about after his Mosley Memorandum failed, after considering starting a new party he would taken to the side by Harold Laski who convinced him to stay and fight for Socialism inside the party. Mosley lost Smethwick in 1931 but would stay in the party, supporting the creation of the Socialist League and Stafford Cripps in fighting for Socialism. Following the death of his wife Cynthia Mosley Andy a trip to the Soviet Union in 1934 would enrapture him to the ideals of Stalinism.

He would return to Parliament in 1935 and try running for leader, Mosley would get on the first ballot but he would quickly be sidelined by Attlee who managed to gain the remains of Mosley’s support. Mosley would briefly be considered for the Shadow Cabinet but his temperament and love for the Soviet Union quashed any possibility of a return to the front bench.

Supporting the Popular Front and the Soviet Union would lead to him losing more allies until he finally lost them all after declaring his support for the Soviet invasion of Finland leading to him joining Dennis Pritt as an Independent. Initially considering joining the Communist Party, Mosley would instead join the 1941 Committee and after that the CommonWealth Party. He would become the Party’s biggest star, appearing on Radio and NewsReels proclaiming it’s vision of a Socialist future. Whilst this would help the CommonWealth party and Jennie Lee gain seats (she would win by a narrow margin thanks to Mosley’s campaigning for her) in the War years, it did help the party survive the 1945 election as even Mosley would lose his Smethwick seat to a Labour candidate.

Left out in the cold, Mosley would join the ILP as part of his tour of Far Left parties of Britain, desperate for a famous face to keep the party going in troublesome times. He would become the candidate for the 1946 Glasgow Bridgeton By-Election following James Maxton’s death and would win handily. But as the other ILP MPs considered joining the Labour Party once more, Mosley decided to bite the bullet and join the Communist Party of Great Britain, a move described by most people as ‘one of the stupidest political moves of British Political History’ but Mosley’s affection for the Communist line had now consumed him.

Mosley would lose in 1950 to a Labour candidate in a landslide and he would never be in parliament again, standing two more times as a parliamentary candidate but gaining very little. In the meantime he would worm his way into the machinations of the party and after John Gollan became General Secretary, Mosley would become his Assistant General Secretary. This would be right in the midst of the Hungarian Uprising and Mosley’s staunch support for it’s crushing would make him the poster boy for Tankies to come.

His twilight years would consist of him supporting various Easter European dictators, travelling to Bucharest, briefly marrying Doris Lessing (a marriage that lasted about two years), proclaiming his admiration for Stalin, being good friends with Media Giant Robert Maxwell and convincing Labour MP Stanley Newens to become the CPGB’s final MP in 1975 (a move that would eventually lead to the collapse of the Callaghan Government in 1978).

Becoming the party’s second to last General Secretary, Mosley would try and stem the tide of EuroCommunism, the New Times movement and Gramscian thought. This would have little success on the party and after a bad bout of health in 1980 and a bad news interview he which he would tout his support for the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan he would resign from the position. Mosley would live long enough to see his successor Dave Cook dissolve the party and lead to it splitting between the New Times movement who would join Labour and help mastermind the ascent of Neil Kinnock in the late 80s, the Green Left who would create the Green Left party in 1982 and the Communist Party of Britain, home of the Straight Left group.

Mosley would spend his final days trying to keep the Communist Party of Britain afloat with his remaining money and writing his autobiography. Mosley would be found dead on May 1st, after suffering stomach cancer for a couple of months, it would be found later he had overdosed on sleeping pills to ensure his death fell on the symbolic day.

Mosley would be warmly remembered by his three fondest comrades, Arthur Scargill, Andrew Murray and Seamus Milne all of whom would continue to spread the ideals of Mosley beyond the grave through the Straight Left group and the Socialist Alliance in the 90s. Mosley has become an example of how anyone can fall prey to the ideals of Stalinist thought and is often seen plastered on the T-Shirt of many a Socialist Alliance newspaper vendor or edgy Marxist.
 
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Mosley would be found dead on May 1st, after suffering stomach cancer for a couple of months, it would be found later he had overdosed on sleeping pills to ensure his death fell on the symbolic day.

This is extremely in-character.

TTL's histography around the British fascist movement would be interesting--in OTL Mosley sucks most of the oxygen out of the conversation, but here he's off fellating Uncle Joe, so I imagine more attention would be on the Q Brigades and the Right Club, which in turn changes the popular perception of fascism in the UK from "angry chav in funny shirt" to "angry lord with funny name", which has further knock-on effects for the later rise of the far right.

I'm not normally a fan of minor-party lists where everything else stays basically the same, but I think it works very well here since a major theme is "everything Mosely touches turns to ash while the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme plays".
 
TTL's histography around the British fascist movement would be interesting--in OTL Mosley sucks most of the oxygen out of the conversation, but here he's off fellating Uncle Joe, so I imagine more attention would be on the Q Brigades and the Right Club, which in turn changes the popular perception of fascism in the UK from "angry chav in funny shirt" to "angry lord with funny name", which has further knock-on effects for the later rise of the far right.
Oh yes indeed, British Fascism in this timeline is far less organised and more drinking clubs of toffs admiring Mussolini.

I would say this is the type of world where the Social Credit party is probably the most successful Right Wing party outside of the Mainstream Right.

Of course this is contrasted with the most OTL Fascists joining imported Neo-Nazi movements/the Conservatives instead and Stalinism gains a more mainstream acceptance in this world so swings and roundabouts.
I'm not normally a fan of minor-party lists where everything else stays basically the same, but I think it works very well here since a major theme is "everything Mosely touches turns to ash while the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme plays"
There are changes, but I think due to Mosley only getting some form of influence later his career as that ‘amusing Stalinist with an upper class accent’ that he actually gets to effect things and even then it’s probably more in line with Mosley stumbling around and slowly destroying everything he joins over time. If Mosley does anything major it’s his ‘let’s bring back Stalinism folks’ causing Kinnock to become more beholden to the New Times movement in the Mid to late 80s and all that entails.
 
1920-1932: Karl I (Habsburg-Lorraine)
1932-: Vasyl I "the Embroidered" (Habsburg-Lorraine)

1920-1925: Vyacheslav Lypynsky (National Hromada)
1920 (majority): Andriy Nikovsky (Federalist Socialist), Filip Pilipchuk (National Republican), Isaak Mazepa (Labor)
1924 (majority): Andriy Nikovsky (Democratic Union), Filip Pilipchuk (National Republican), Fyodor Krizhanivsky (Labor), Samiylo Pidhirsky (Zagrava)
1925: Dmytro Doroshenko (National Hromada, backed by Democratic Union)
1925: Ivan Poltavets-Ostryanitsa (National Hromada, backed by Free Cossacks)
1925-1933: Serhiy Shelukhyn (National Hromada)
1926 (majority): Pavlo Zaitsev (Democratic Union), Pavlo Khrystiuk (Labor)
1930 (coalition): Serhiy Yefremov (Democratic Union ~ Left), Mykola Galagan (Labor), Pavlo Zaitsev (Democratic Union ~ Right), collective leadership (Independent Labor), Boris Butenko (Union of Free Cossacks)
1932-: Mykhaylo Bilynsky (Labor)
1932 (majority): Adam Montrezor (National Hromada), Kostiantyn Matsievich (Democratic), Pavlo Zaitsev (Union of April 7), collective leadership (Left Labor), Boris Butenko (Union of Free Cossacks)
*only major parliamentary groups named

On August 30, 1918, at the Hammer and Sickle arms factory, a Socialist-Revolutionary named Fanny Kaplan shot Vladimir Lenin with a Browning pistol. From there, the Red movement unraveled, wedged between Trotsky and Tukhachevsky's Red Army and constantly rotating triumvirates in charge of the Soviets, and the Russian Civil War continued well into the twenties, even as the Great War had ended - with German soldiers in Paris - and the Kansas Epidemic had abated. As Whites and Reds fought over Petrograd and Tula, nations along the periphery chose to secede, settle things their own way. It just so happened that many of them had German arms backing them.

In this environment Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria, a Grand Admiral of the Imperial and Royal War Navy, took an opportunity few could afford. Having previously staked a claim to the Polish throne (and deterred by the Germans), Karl Stefan took to Ukraine with his youngest son Wilhelm, engaging in humanitarian work and defense against Bolshevik forces. This made him an enemy of Hetman Skoropadskyi, who felt threatened by his status as well as his growing popularity with the Ukrainian populace at large. Historians continue to argue whether the Hetman would move against the Archduke or not, as Skoropadskyi's assassination by a Makhnovite anarchist interrupted his rule. The vast majority of his supporters, including various Polish and Russian landholders and officers, ultimately coalesced around the figure of Karl Stefan, who by 1920 was effectively slated to become King of Ukraine.

Vyacheslav Lypynsky, the chief ideologue of Ukrainian conservatism, was the obvious first choice for Prime Minister, presiding over limited democratic elections and a Rada dominated by the National Hromada, steered the country through the early Twenties, establishing Ukraine as Mitteleuropa's main breadbasket and suppressing anarchist and socialist unrest, the likes of which were observed in Mexico, Italy and Argentina among others; more than that, Russia, now consolidated under the Pepelyayev brothers and a tenuous "Government of All the Talents", was wary of Ukraine and its relationship with Black Sea Cossacks at best. Militarization was in order.
With news of Red Army soldiers and Bolshevik operatives roaming the world, Ukraine experienced a vast Red Scare, culminating in the political crisis of July 1925; when Lypynsky was found dead in his bedroom, allegedly poisoned by a socialist assassin, the Hromada government instituted a wide-ranging curfew and rollback of democratic institutions. Further exacerbating the crisis were the competing claims of foreign affairs minister Doroshenko and military affairs minister Poltavets-Ostryanitsa, who saw themselves each as the legitimate acting head of government; the issue was only resolved with the appointment of Serhiy Shelukhyn, who rolled back the curfew and presided over the arrest of multiple left-wing "agitators".

The late 1920s-early 1930s were a difficult time for the Weltsystem: the Börse Berlin Crash sent reverberations through the global economy, while the violent Turkish Civil War humiliated Berlin: with Enver Pasha massacring his way to the Caspian, even the most loyal members of Mitteleuropa were lukewarm on helping the Sickest Monarchy of Europe, and volunteers were flooding from every corner to help liberate their nation of choice. This was particularly true of Ukraine, as Crimean Tatar emigrants returned to the homeland of their ancestors while Cossacks helped establish the Second Republic of Armenia from Goris to Erzurum - no matter how much Shelukhyn and the National Hromada, conscious of German support, tried to discourage them. The Hromada paid for it, losing their majority in the Rada for the first time in Ukrainian history as Cossack organizations no longer lent them their full support (though their political views were too disparate to allow them to become more than a coalition appendage). Left-wing parties expanded their share of the vote substantially.

1932 was a year of great change. Karl I passed away peacefully in the Mariyinsky Palace; he was, as expected, succeeded by his son Wilhelm (better known as Vasyl Vyshyvani), a broadly popular figure among all classes and a hero of the nation. The Shelukhyn government was mildly fearful of him, as Vasyl, coronated at only 37 years old, was distinctly more left-leaning than his father (he wasn't called "the Red Prince" for nothing) and rather pushy about Galicia, particularly as the Austrian Empire was destabilized by the Great Depression and continued ethnic strife. Fears of unrest and military coup surrounded the 1932 elections, and - as former rear admiral Mikhaylo Bilynsky gave the Ukrainian Labor Party a landslide majority - rumors of a "business plot" became commonplace. However, Vasyl I gave his consent to the Bilynsky government, and Ukrainian democracy stood in place.

Two years into Prime Minister Bilynsky's tenure, Ukraine is on the upswing, being one of the more stable states in Europe while also rapidly unionizing and industrializing. However, relations with its neighbors - Poland and Russia primarily - are not so rosy, and the two issues posed by the Russian Civil War - the Galician Question and the Cossack Question - are yet to be solved.
 
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A Brief Parliamentary History of the Communist Party of Great Britain

1922: 3/615
1923: 3/615
1924: 4/615
1929: 1/615 (3/615 following by-elections in 1929 & 1931)
1931: 2/615 (3/615 following by-election in 1934)
1935: 2/615
1945: 3/640
1950: 1/625
1951: No representation
1955: 1/630
1959: 1/630
1964: 1/630
1966: 1/630
1970-1991: No representation
 
Oh yes indeed, British Fascism in this timeline is far less organised and more drinking clubs of toffs admiring Mussolini.

I would say this is the type of world where the Social Credit party is probably the most successful Right Wing party outside of the Mainstream Right.

Of course this is contrasted with the most OTL Fascists joining imported Neo-Nazi movements/the Conservatives instead and Stalinism gains a more mainstream acceptance in this world so swings and roundabouts.

There are changes, but I think due to Mosley only getting some form of influence later his career as that ‘amusing Stalinist with an upper class accent’ that he actually gets to effect things and even then it’s probably more in line with Mosley stumbling around and slowly destroying everything he joins over time. If Mosley does anything major it’s his ‘let’s bring back Stalinism folks’ causing Kinnock to become more beholden to the New Times movement in the Mid to late 80s and all that entails.
tbh I still don't really understand Mosley. He started off as a fabian leftist and suddenly went hard-right all the way to fascism out of nowhere.
 
tbh I still don't really understand Mosley. He started off as a fabian leftist and suddenly went hard-right all the way to fascism out of nowhere.

It gets worse when you realise that he started in the Conservatives.

My impression is that he was the sort of person who was prone to Blinding Revelations about The Way The World Works that, surprisingly, often ended with O. Mosely esq. on top of the heap.
 
My impression is that he was the sort of person who was prone to Blinding Revelations about The Way The World Works that, surprisingly, often ended with O. Mosely esq. on top of the heap.
This plus Mosley seemed to have the Nicholson & Strachey problem of being swayed easily by stronger personalities than him. Diana Mitford and Mussolini had strong senses of (horrifying) vision, Mosley less so.

I do always get the sense that even in the final days of the New Party as it was becoming the BUF lite, there was always half a chance that Mosley met John Hargreaves and decided that Kibbo Krift and Social Credit was what Britian needed actually or he went to the Soviet Union with the Webb’s and became a Tankie.
 
A President Debs List

1885-1893: Grover Cleveland (Democratic)
1884 (with Thomas A. Hendricks) def. James G. Blaine / John A. Logan (Republican)
1888 (with Isaac P. Gray) def. James G. Blaine / Levi P. Morton (Republican), Benjamin Butler / various (Greenback / United Labor)

1893-1897: William McKinley (Republican)
1892 (with Robert Todd Lincoln) def. Leonidas K. Polk / various (Populist / United Labor / 'Popular' Democratic), Grover Cleveland / John M. Palmer ('National' Democratic)
1897-1897: Benjamin Tillman (Democratic / National Labor / Silverite)
1896 (with Samuel I. Hopkins) def. William McKinley / Robert Todd Lincoln (Republican), Henry George / Jacob S. Coxey (United Labor / Populist)
1897-1899: DISPUTED; The American Emergency
1897-1897: Thomas Brackett Reed (Republican, backed by United Labor) / Benjamin Tillman (Democratic / National Labor)
1897-1899: William P. Frye (Republican) / Benjamin Tillman (Democratic / National Labor) / Eugene V. Debs (Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth)

1899-1901: William P. Frye (Republican)
1901-1905: Eugene V. Debs (United Labor)
1900 (with William F. Cody) def. William McKinley / George B. McClellan Jt. (Republican / Nationalist)

bit of a formatting experiment this one

i might do a bigger write up later
 
DYNAMICS OF A POLITICAL ASTEROID

Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom

1886-1890: Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury (Conservative and Unionist)

1890: George Goschen (Conservative and Unionist)


'Blackwood's Coup' remains one of the most mythologised and misunderstood crises of British history. The relevant files in Scotland Yard were supposedly either destroyed by the Kaiser's bombs, or in the Painter's Uprising; no such pretence is made about those in the Palace, the National Archives or various private collections, which remain out of reach of historians, journalists and legal investigators.

There are certain questions that can never be answered:

How many of the Whitechapel Horrors can be laid at the foot of Henry Blackwood? His 'sacrifices' do not bear any resemblance to Jack's work, but the 'Gull Hypothesis' notes a supposed similarity in how the murder sites can be plotted on a map of London.

When did Blackwood shift from serial murder to his delusions of political change? There has never been any real connection drawn between Blackwood and the strange and unpleasant death of Home Secretary Lord Llandaff in 1886, which saw the hanging of the disgraced Sir Charles Dilke. But Blackwood- then Minister Without Portfolio and advisor to Salisbury- was instrumental in persuading the Prime Minister to appoint the young and untested Lord Coward. Given Coward's instrumental role in the botched coup, this has aroused suspicions ever since.

The facts which can be agreed upon are even stranger. In 1890, following the sensational arrest, trial and execution of Blackwood for kidnapping and murder, Lord Salisbury resigned the Prime Ministership in an attempt to preserve Conservative government. His replacement, George Goschen, struggled to hold his majority together- and that was before Blackwood returned from the dead. The Lord Chief Justice was murdered under strange circumstances, followed by the immolation of Ambassador Standish of the United States.

Public hysteria began to set in. At this point, Blackwood attempted to murder Parliament.

The bizarre coup attempt- and its apparent thwarting by an alliance between a consulting detective and an infamous socialite who may or may not have been working for 'The Academy'- saw Blackwood and Coward announce the impending murder of almost the entire House of Commons. A new government would return Britain to greatness under the guiding hands of the aristocracy, rein in the Empire, and annex the United States. Only their supporters- concentrated almost exclusively in the House of Lords- would be spared.

By the end of the day Blackwood was dead, and the power of the British aristocracy would be forever shattered.

1890-1891: William Gladstone (Liberal Minority)


The 'Grand Old Man' was returned to power- over the objections of the Queen- within days. In the chaos following the coup, Goschen had been forced to resign. With the Conservatives immediately dissolving into recrimination, suspicion and blame, continued Tory government was untenable. However, it was felt that an immediate election would be too destabilising given the ongoing crisis. In the end, Gladstone was asked to form what amounted to a caretaker ministry- no major bills would be presented to Parliament in the short term, but he would be given the support needed to stabilise the country.

A lot of stabilisation was necessary. Standish's death and Blackwood's inflammatory rhetoric caused anti-British marches in New York, Baltimore and Boston. In Britain itself, riots broke out that targetted Blackwood's 'fellow occultists;' the Metropolitan Police broke up a crowd that was massing outside Freemason's Hall in Holborn, but lodges were burned in Liverpool and Birmingham. The Theosophical Society was another target; the Blavatsky Lodge was burned, with Madame Blavatsky inside it. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn opted for quiet and immediate dissolution; several of its members would remain active for decades to come. The association of occultism with Nietzsche's 'Master Morality' was a leap mainly made by intellectuals, but it filtered into the popular consciousness nevertherless. To the present day, anti-democratic, anti-modern, authoritarian, cult-of-personality politics (manifested in a literal or metaphorical 'Figure of the King' such as Blackwood or Boulanger) is usually referred to as 'Paganism.'

Six months after the coup, in the spring of 1891, Gladstone felt confident enough to prepare for an election. However, at this point the Rhine Crisis broke. Following the assasination of the Strasbourg industrialist Alfred Meinhard in Paris- ostenibly by anarchists- France and Germany began to spiral towards war. A peace summit near Switzerland's Reichenbach Falls was also attacked, and though the terrorists were foiled, the confusion about the perpetrators was matched only by speculation about the role of Britain in the crisis.

What exactly was 'The Diogenes Club,' and what role was it playing in British policy making? Britain had no formalised intelligence service, and yet this mysterious 'M' figure apparently oversaw a transcontinental spy network. Moreover, was it true that there was some sort of family connection between 'M' and the 'consulting detective' who had foiled the Blackwood Coup? And did that imply that, rather than the preservation of democracy, the defeat of Blackwood simply revealed the existence of another unelected establishment oligarchy pulling the strings of British politics?

1891- Parliamentary Interregnum

The Liberals won a crushing majority in the 1891 election, but Gladstone was unprepared for the popular backlash agains the aristocracy. Gladstone considered himself a man for the people, but he was fundamentally a patrician, a paternalist. Britain's middle classes were now deeply suspicous of their supposed betters; some of them seemed to want to return to feudalism, but others seemed to be quietly, contemptuously running the island from behind a pretend parliament.

One unexpected beneficiary was Charles Parnell. At the beginning of 1890 he seemed to be sliding towards political catastrophe amidst the collapse of his marriage. However, next to the collapse of the Tory government amidst kidnapping, murder and a coup attempt, Mrs O'Shea seemed rather unimportant. Though Parnell's moral leadership would never have the same strength, he was trusted to keep the party together following the coup attempt- and in 1891 it actually increased its seats after unionists in Ulster were as affected by infighting as conservatives in the rest of the nation.

Gladstone was uncomfortable with the rise of the radicals in his own party. He appointed a cabinet of respectable figures- some conservative, some radical, but all established men. Crucially, it included several Liberal peers: Rosebery, Ripon, Kimberley and Herschell.

To the shock of Gladstone and perhaps more importantly, to the shock of the Liberal whips, the Radical backbenchers made clear that this was not a government they wished to support. At this time, it was expected that the leaders of the Commons and the Lords would work with the Prime Minister to form a government- but following the coup attempt relations between the two Houses were the worst they had been since Charles I.

Gladstone was caught- if he formed a government without the radicals, he would have to win back the Liberal Unionists. But if he did that, he would lose the Irish- and all chance of carrying out his last great political project.

In the midst of Gladstone's deliberations, Stephen Verloc-Baudin bombed the Greenwich Observatory.

Reluctantly, he advised the Palace of the necessity of calling another election.

The Conservatives campaigned on bringing an end to Anarchism; the Radicals on saving the country from Paganism; Gladstone vainly called for peace all round.

Two weeks after the election was announced, The Times scooped its rival papers. Parisian police, investigating the disappearance of the Viscomte de Chagny, had raided the Palais Garnier Opera House. In its bowels they found the Vicomte's corpse, and the lair of a master criminal- Eric LaRoux, 'the Phantom' (Le Fantôme, often improperly written in Engish as Fantômas)- that had been hastily abandoned. Most of the documents had been destroyed, but enough remained to blow the lid on a vast and wide-ranging criminal conspiracy- a network that had divided Europe's underworld into private fiefdoms. Its leaders were not the reactionaries of the pagan aristocracy, nor had they arisen from the slums. They were of the middle classes, intellectuals who had turned the rationalism of the day towards the destruction of Law and Order. Almost all of them had completed some form of graduate study.

The respectable classes of Europe now learned of the Academy of Crime.

1891-1897- Joseph Chamberlain (Order and Union)

The second election of 1891 produced what was, nominally, still a great Liberal majority. But the divisions in the party were now too great to overcome, and it split again. At this point, Joseph Chamberlain 're-ratted.' Working discreetly with the Palace, Chamberlain formed a government that married the rump of Gladstone's moderates to his own Liberal Unionist faction. His Tory allies were enraged, as were the Radicals, but it was a workable minority government- his opponents could never combine on any one issue to bring down his government.

Better still, it seemed as if- in Britain at least- the Academy was no longer a dominant player in the underworld. One of Moriarty's henchman- another Irishman, Macavity 'The Cat'- was still feared in the slums of London, but the days that the Academy could play a part in national politics seemed over. Given its rumored role in stopping Blackwood, not everyone was comforted by this. Chamberlain himself had no wish to risk more unrest; in Germany the street battles between the police and Doctor Mabuse had taken on a nightmarish quality. In Austria, Mabuse's ally Cagliari had become so powerful it was said that he appointed the government's ministers.

The Academy did its gravest harm to Britain in the East. In India, the celebrated agent Kimball O'Hara prevented the detachment of Tibet from China by the Russians. The Tsarist forces had been 'advised' by Moriarty's colleague, the infamous Dr Nikola. However, while the Raj remained secure for now- the failures of Bullshot Drummond and Richard Hannay were far in the future- another power was awakening.

Following the disaster of the Sino-Japanese War, and to the general surprise of the Great Powers, the Qing dynasty was overthrown by one of its most trusted officials. Li Hongzhang's new Zìqiáng Dynasty embarked on its new reform program with astonishing ruthlessness. The purges and murders of the first half-decade of the dynasty were widely expected to shatter China; instead, the great nation entered the twentieth century with a certain wary strength.

What Chamberlain's goverment learned from the 1897 Boothby Report was that Li's advisor was no one less than the infamous Lord of Strange Deaths. The Academy of Crime had drastically underestimated their partners in the Si-Fan; Moriarty, Mabuse and the Phantom had been as guilty of orientalism as any of the governments they undermined. They had thought that they had worked with just another of the Triads; their igorance of Chinese internal politics meant they had even mistaken the Lord for a Manchu.

In 1897, after six years, Chamberlain sought another election. His cherished project of Imperial Federation had been killed by Blackwood; any talk of consolidation smacked of the deranged Lord's rantings. Only Cecil Rhodes still made an open case for Anglo-Saxon unity, and he was as mad as Blackwood in his way. Chamberlain had to rely upon subtler means, principally Tariff Reform and talk of 'Home Rule All Around.' The first was desparately unpopular with the self-govenring colonies- especially in the Dominion of Canada and the increasingly republican Australian colonies.

The second was also unpopular, especially with the IPP who thought- correctly - that Chamberlain was trying to destroy their cherished work. To try and break the Irish MPs, Chamberlain relied upon slander. Kitty O'Shea did not bring down Charles Parnell, so Joseph Chamberlain tried to use James Moriarty. The British branch of 'The Academy' had been run by the so-called 'Napoleon of Crime,' and Parnell had attended several of Morarity's public lectures. Unfortunately, so had a great deal of other people- Moriarty's work on the Binomial Theorem was one of the most important intellectual developments in the British sciences, and it had been the done thing to attend one of his talks and be lulled gently into sleep.

There was another reason that Ireland became convinced Charles Parnell was no friend of the Academy. It was that, when walking across Parliament Square in conversation with the new commander of the Irish Guards, he was shot in the head. The gunman was a respected (though not respectable) figure of London society- the war hero, big game hunter, and, it came out, chief lieutenant of James Moriarty.

Sebastian Moran.

1897- HH Asquith

Asquith came to power amidst the gravest crisis since Blackwood's Coup. The assassination of Parnell had seen an explosion of support for the IPP, and Westminster now faced paralysis- there was no majority in Parliament for any form of Home Rule, but the country was on the brink of civil war if it was not granted. Wild theories were flying about- Moran had shot Parnell to make him a martyr. Moran had been working for the Diogenes Club. Moran had been hired by William O'Shea. Moran had actually been aiming for General Flashman.

In the feverish atmosphere, it was understandable that a shipwreck near Whitby would not attract the attention of the government. But when it became clear who had been travelling on the Demeter, things really got bad....
 
A President Debs List

1885-1893: Grover Cleveland (Democratic)
1884 (with Thomas A. Hendricks) def. James G. Blaine / John A. Logan (Republican)
1888 (with Isaac P. Gray) def. James G. Blaine / Levi P. Morton (Republican), Benjamin Butler / various (Greenback / United Labor)

1893-1897: William McKinley (Republican)
1892 (with Robert Todd Lincoln) def. Leonidas K. Polk / various (Populist / United Labor / 'Popular' Democratic), Grover Cleveland / John M. Palmer ('National' Democratic)
1897-1897: Benjamin Tillman (Democratic / National Labor / Silverite)
1896 (with Samuel I. Hopkins) def. William McKinley / Robert Todd Lincoln (Republican), Henry George / Jacob S. Coxey (United Labor / Populist)
1897-1899: DISPUTED; The American Emergency
1897-1897: Thomas Brackett Reed (Republican, backed by United Labor) / Benjamin Tillman (Democratic / National Labor)
1897-1899: William P. Frye (Republican) / Benjamin Tillman (Democratic / National Labor) / Eugene V. Debs (Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth)

1899-1901: William P. Frye (Republican)
1901-1905: Eugene V. Debs (United Labor)
1900 (with William F. Cody) def. William McKinley / George B. McClellan Jt. (Republican / Nationalist)

bit of a formatting experiment this one

i might do a bigger write up later

ooooooooo

wonder how many cities burn during The American Emergency

or if America is ripe for another Emergency
 
The Bush"s defeated by hipsters.


1980:Leonard Nimoy Democratic Albert Gore


2004: Dave Mustane Democratic John Kerry


After Star Trek ended Nimoy had a hard time finding work. instead of returning to the role of mr spock when the series was revived for film. he successfully ran for u.s. senate unseating John V .Tunney and winning the general.
Leonard Nimoy served 3 terms as senator of California.

In 1992 senator Leonard Nimoy defeated Governor Bill Clinton and a hoist of other challengers to win the Democratic nomination for president of the united States. on shows like Saturday night live and David Lettermen they joked the California Senator was not eligible to run since he came rom Vulcan .

All joking aside Nimoy became the 42 president of the United States in 1992 beating out president Bush and Perrot.
During president Nimoys term in office America entered a time of great financial stability unlike the nation had ever witnessed.

After performing for the thrash metal band Megadeath ,Dave Mustane was known for writing about political subjects like peace sell but who is Mustane defeated Pete Wilson in his bid or 2nd term as governor of California. After two terms as governor of California Mustane wanted to retire from politics but did not agree with the invasion of iraq.

Mustane sought the democratic nomination for president in 2004 and Bush 43 lost reelection just like his farther had many years ago.
 
A President Debs List

1885-1893: Grover Cleveland (Democratic)
1884 (with Thomas A. Hendricks) def. James G. Blaine / John A. Logan (Republican)
1888 (with Isaac P. Gray) def. James G. Blaine / Levi P. Morton (Republican), Benjamin Butler / various (Greenback / United Labor)

1893-1897: William McKinley (Republican)
1892 (with Robert Todd Lincoln) def. Leonidas K. Polk / various (Populist / United Labor / 'Popular' Democratic), Grover Cleveland / John M. Palmer ('National' Democratic)
1897-1897: Benjamin Tillman (Democratic / National Labor / Silverite)
1896 (with Samuel I. Hopkins) def. William McKinley / Robert Todd Lincoln (Republican), Henry George / Jacob S. Coxey (United Labor / Populist)
1897-1899: DISPUTED; The American Emergency
1897-1897: Thomas Brackett Reed (Republican, backed by United Labor) / Benjamin Tillman (Democratic / National Labor)
1897-1899: William P. Frye (Republican) / Benjamin Tillman (Democratic / National Labor) / Eugene V. Debs (Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth)

1899-1901: William P. Frye (Republican)
1901-1905: Eugene V. Debs (United Labor)
1900 (with William F. Cody) def. William McKinley / George B. McClellan Jt. (Republican / Nationalist)

bit of a formatting experiment this one

i might do a bigger write up later

Continued dominance of the Democrats and Republicans by gold-supporters in the 1880s spurs on the growth of the Populist movement (and allied movements such as New York's Labor Party, fronted by Henry George). The Panic of the 1890s happens roughly on schedule, and finally fractures the ailing party system - as the Democratic Convention narrowly votes to align with the Populists, President Cleveland leads a splinter movement in disgust, granting the Republicans a solid victory and four more years of Gold.

The Populist movement gains momentum during McKinley's term as the obvious gulf between the GOP and swathes of the country becomes ever more stark. However, as the momentum grows, the obvious divides in the febrile coalition of Populists becomes increasingly difficult to sustain. Even as Congress saw an increasingly militant contingent of Populists take their place in office, the crisis point of the 1896 convention approached. The Populist movement finally shattered as those most committed to white supremacy, to agrarianism and outright hostility to city and mercantilism, found their Messiah in Pitchfork Ben. Tillman forged his own coalition, stealing the clothes of the incipient Labor movement in the name of Bimetallism. The rump Populists were captured by the Georgist Laborites, who made a principled stand against both Capitalism Run Amock and the threat of a Red Shirt in the White House.

Almost immediately on taking office, Tillman was mired in controversy. The Speaker of the House, Thomas Brackett Reed had managed to bolt together a progressive coalition of Republicans and Populists, who threatened to undermine the work of black disenfranchisement that Tillman considered his legacy. In fact, it wasn't long before the Coalition began threatening impeachment. As articles passed in the House and began to be considered in the Senate, Tillman carried out what seemed to him the only reasonable course of action. Self-coup.

As the nightriders of the South rode unmasked through the streets of Washington, an only just quorate Senate voted to impeach Tillman. Hours later, Senate would be empty - depending on who you asked, different men were President. Reed was murdered as he attempted to flee Washington - his replacement would be the more conservative Frye, who soon repulsed the radicalising Labor movement. Some called the conflict of the next two years the Second American Civil War, but it was far less organised than that war and became known as the American Emergency. There were no firm borders, no attempt at secession. The was was for America's soul - if Tillman had triumphed the United States which would have emerged would have been implicitly anti-democratic even as its dominant party espoused the principal of government by the people.

At the end of it all, the South had its back broken once more - and vast swathes of the country had been liberated by the Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth which if not quite hostile to the Republicans had managed an uneasy peace with them. The Democratic Party collapsed as the most fervent white supremacists were convicted of treason, and their more pragmatic cousins chose to form a united front with the Republicans against the emergent force of socialism.

But the mood for change was in the heir - the Emergency had been brought about by many sources, and people were eager for a solution. The so-called Sound Money coalition of former President McKinley and ex-Democratic Mayor of New York McClellan was not what people were looking for. The alliance of the progressive agrarians and the industrial working class finally had their day as Debs and Cody entered the White House.
 
Running Your Standard Gauntlet

Three quick TLs depicting a set of futures that range in scale from "hey that's pretty ok with me" to "this is not going to be a fun time for anyone for a long time" while i finish up the larger list I'm working on


2021-2025: Joe Biden (Democratic)
(With Kamala Harris)
2020 Def.
Donald J. Trump Sr./Mike Pence (Republican) [306-232]

2025-2029:
Nikki Haley (Republican)
(With John Thune)
2024 Def. Kamala Harris/Stephen Lynch (Democratic), Kanye West/Mike Maturen (Independent) [326-212]

2029-2037: Nina Turner (Democratic)
(With Gregorio Cesar)
2028 Def.
Nikki Haley/John Thune (Republican) [322-220]
2032 Def. Josh Hawley/Adrienne Bennett (Republican) [101,650,873-90,125,022]

2037-20xx: Kaniela S. Ing (Democratic)
(With Summer Lee)
2036 Def. Joy Hofmeister/Mike Lee (Republican), Daniel Zolnikov/Kim Klacik (New Libertarians) [98,459,645-81,767,530-19,055,710]


2021-2023: Joe Biden (Democratic)
(With Kamala Harris)
2020 Def. Donald J. Trump Sr./Mike Pence (Republican) [306-232]

2023-2029:
Kamala Harris (Democratic)
(With Joaquin Castro)
2024 Def.
Mike Lindell/Ron DeSantis (Republican), Charlie Baker/Jamie Herrera-Butler (Independent Conservative Movement) [343-195]

2029-2037:
Chris Sununu (Republican)
(With Catalina Lauf)
2028 Def. Joaquin Castro/Kurt Daudt (Democratic), Brace Belden/Princess Blanding (Freedom), Johnathon Falwell/Michelle Bachman (Independent/endorsed by "Right" Independent Conservative Movement) [280-258]
2032 Def. Garlin Gilchrist III/Carmen Yulin Cruz (Democratic) [278-260]

2037-20xx:
Alessandra Biaggi (Democratic)
(With Richie Ojeda)
2036 Def. Julia Letlow/Brad Pascale (Republican) [302-236]

2021-2022: Joe Biden (Democratic)*
(With Kamala Harris)
2020 Def. Donald J. Trump Sr./Mike Pence (Republican) [306-232]

2022-2025: Kamala Harris (Democratic)
(With Tom Wolf, later Chris Coons)

2025-2026: Donald J. Trump Sr. (Republican)
(With Kristi Noem)
2024 Def. Kamala Harris/Chris Coons (Democratic), Matt Christman/Chelsea Manning (Three Arrows) [351-157]

2026-2029: Kristi Noem (Republican)
(With Paul Gosar)

2029-2030: DISPUTED, OFFICIALLY Michelle De Isla (Democratic)
(Disputed Between Libby Schaff and Amanda Chase)
2028: DISPUTED BETWEEN
Michelle De Isla/Libby Schaff (Democratic), Tom Cotton/Amanda Chase (Republican), and Carlos Ramirez-Rosa/Kim Kelly (Three Arrows)

2030-20xx: Gen. Paul M. Nakasone (Leading Provisional Authority)

*Dies when a mentally ill man named Jason Keen, a follower of the resurgent QAnon conspiracy, performs a botched "Citizen's Arrest" on the President while Biden is visiting a diner while campaigning in Missouri

 
Running Your Standard Gauntlet

Three quick TLs depicting a set of futures that range in scale from "hey that's pretty ok with me" to "this is not going to be a fun time for anyone for a long time" while i finish up the larger list I'm working on

I don’t want to be mean, but maybe you should make a test thread for these sorts of small, quick lists.
 
i don't mean to sound rude but frankly if i thought it warranted creating a new thread for lists like that, i probably would have done it instead of posting it here. it's a series of lists of alternate presidents & PMs so.
 
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