Okay, that’s a great deal more interesting than your standard “it’s 1989 and LaRouche is President” scenario. Also makes more sense for him to be a gray eminence than any sort of actual campaigning frontline politician.
Apropos of nothing, but when did people start over-translating éminence grise? I've seen it a couple of times before, but only from French speakers who don't realise the term was imported into English without translation.Okay, that’s a great deal more interesting than your standard “it’s 1989 and LaRouche is President” scenario. Also makes more sense for him to be a gray eminence than any sort of actual campaigning frontline politician.
i dont know if this is even constitutionally allowed
but it was fun
2009-2017: Barack Obama (Democratic)
2008 (with Joe Biden) def. John McCain (Republican)
2012 (with Joe Biden) def. Mitt Romney (Republican)
2017-2019: Donald Trump (Republican)
2016 (with Mike Pence) def. Hillary Clinton (Democratic)
2019-2021: Mike Pence (Republican)
2021-2025: Beto O'Rourke (Democratic)
2020 (with Joe Biden) def. Mike Pence (Republican)
2025-2029: Mitt Romney (National Unity)
2024 (with Joe Biden) def. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Democratic Socialist), Steve King (Republican)
2029-2033: Lee Carter (Democratic Socialist)
2028 (with Joe Biden) def. Mitt Romney (National Unity), Alex Jones (Alternative For America)
2033-2037: Lee Carter (United Front)
2032 (with Joe Biden) def. Richard Spencer (National Alternative)
Trump is impeached in the spring of 2019, and Pence is the last gasp of a united Republican party before it goes off the rails entirely. With Democratic victory tied on before 2020 has even begun, a contentious primary campaign ensues which ultimately aligns around the 'Unity Ticket' of Beto O'Rourke and Joe Biden. O'Rourke proves to be a disappointment to the increasingly radical progressive generation who saw in him their hopes and dreams and he is primaried in 2024, in a result that ultimately splits the Democratic Party. Steve King's nomination sees the Republicans slide into white nationalism, and the moderates of both big parties coalesce behind the Romney/Biden National Unity ticket.
Exhaustion and frustration at the same way of doing things leads to a hung electoral college in 2028, as the Republicans vanish off the map entirely, displaced by the nakedly alt-right and conspiracist Alternative for America. Lee Carter wins in the DSA majority House but Biden is able to triumph in the Senate, leading to an uncomfortable 'cohabitation in the White House.
America further polarises into the 2030s, with National Unity fragmenting and AFA absorbing other hard-right elementsy. Carter and Biden set aside their differences in the face of the fascist threat and the world breathes a sigh of relief as their United Front wins with ease against the National Alternative.
I’ve literally seen “grey eminence” more often than “éminence grise” for my entire life, though I do see the latter fairly often, too, so I assume this is one of those American English versus British English things.Apropos of nothing, but when did people start over-translating éminence grise? I've seen it a couple of times before, but only from French speakers who don't realise the term was imported into English without translation.
Really? Huh.I’ve literally seen “grey eminence” more often than “éminence grise” for my entire life, though I do see the latter fairly often, too, so I assume this is one of those American English versus British English things.
You people call it a “bureau de change”, you’re not allowed to handle French loans in any official capacity.Apropos of nothing, but when did people start over-translating éminence grise? I've seen it a couple of times before, but only from French speakers who don't realise the term was imported into English without translation.
This is the best part of this.1857-1861: Private Buchanan (Democratic) / Major Breckinridge (Democratic)
I know, when I got to that point when I was looking them up I thought "YES".This is the best part of this.
Okay, that’s a great deal more interesting than your standard “it’s 1989 and LaRouche is President” scenario. Also makes more sense for him to be a gray eminence than any sort of actual campaigning frontline politician.
I really like this TL. I looked it up, Biden would be 90 by the time he's VP in Carter's second term.
hell yeah
i dont think theres any plausible way to make the eternal vice presidency of joe biden go on any longer than that
Leaders of the Liberal Party of the United Kingdom:
1931-1937: Philip Snowden
1937-1946: Winston Churchill
1946-1952: Bertrand Russell
1952-1964: Harold Macmillan
1964-1972: Michael Foot
1972-1976: Harold Wilson
1976-1986: Margaret Thatcher
1986-1992: Tony Benn
1992-1999: ???
1999-2007: ???
2007-2015: ???
2015-present: Liz Truss
The only idea for a classic British politics-TLIAW I have ever had that I felt sort of could fly was an idea I had about doing one about the alternate leaders of the Liberal Party of the United Kingdom, but every name on the list is someone who either at one point were a member of the Liberal Party (like Winston Churchill), or strongly flirted with the idea of joining the party (like Harold Macmillan), or came from a family that was strongly Liberal (like both Margaret Thatcher and Michael Foot), but who fundamentally became remembered as being associated with one of the Big Two.
The idea was going to be that the Liberals still fall into their historical decline to only holding a handful of seats, and the parliamentary party can fit into a single car, but it's now these characters who are leading them. It felt cool, this idea of Marget Thatcher and Harold Wilson being engaged in a vicious, bitter factional fight over who would get to have the honour of the two of them to lead the other 9 Liberal MPs in Parliament, and Winston Churchill being this very junior minister in the War Cabinet.
Problem is, there were some gaps where I couldn't come up with sufficiently high-profile names, and then I sort of felt that, you know, this was more a thing I wanted someone else to write so I could read it than I wanted to write it myself.
Heseltine after Benn?
Heseltine after Benn?
And Clegg pre-Truss?
Thought he said he wanted to join the Liberals but didn't feel he could because they had no chance of winning?I don't really feel that the National Liberals that later merged with the Tories really count (which admittedly was where he started his career), but if it's on record that he flirted with joining the Liberals proper, then he's an obvious successor to Thatcher.