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Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State


It's a really interesting one, I think - I went down a bit of a rabbit hole learning about prominent women who had been involved in Respect through the SWP but were kicked out/left around Comrade Delta. The thing is I kept hitting a brick wall where they didn't have enough notability to feel anything but weird using them. I would find people described as careerists or influential campaigners who disappeared entirely expect for a signle key issue that they retain a focus on. It's kind of sad to see a whole tranche of activists removed from the national conversation like this
 
I’m surprised Comrade Proudfoot didn’t appear as a compromise candidate who manages to alienate everyone before pro-claiming ‘Free the North’ and becoming a meme.

Excellent stuff.

I considered having Proudfoot appear in Respect - I imagine that's where he'd end up. I then realised that between Respect and a more XR focused Greens there may not be NIP style continuity movements so he would likely remain unimportant and maybe have a National Committee position under Bouattia
 
I considered having Proudfoot appear in Respect - I imagine that's where he'd end up. I then realised that between Respect and a more XR focused Greens there may not be NIP style continuity movements so he would likely remain unimportant and maybe have a National Committee position under Bouattia
Proudfoot is a real surname?
I thought Tolkien invented it as a literary conceit nodding towards Hobbits' hairy feet.
 
Still a WIP

de Facto Commissars of the United American Socialist Republics

1933 - 1940: collective (Workers’ Communist Party)
1940 - 1944: Leon Trotsky (Workers’ Communist Party)
1944 - 1962: James P. Cannon (Workers’ Communist Party)
1962 - 1973: Henry M. Jackson (Workers’ Communist Party)

——————————————————

2014 - 20XX: Mitch McConnell (Workers’ Communist Party)
2014 - 2021: Mitch McConnell (Workers’ Communist Party)
2021 - 20XX: Comrade Waluigi 🚩 (Workers’ Communist Party)


No longer a WIP
 
2021: Labour Party Election
Ed Miliband
Angela Rayner
Lisa Nandy
Zarah Sultana

Sarah Champion

Having lost Hartlepool and Batley and Spen, and failing to make any progress against the Tories, Starmer was forced out of power after the Party Conference. The full list of candidates has been announced. The new Labour Trans Equality group has put forward a pledge including a committment to finally include self-ID in Labour's manifesto. All candidates but Sarah Champion have signed up to t

Was Ed still leader 2010-15 then please? or was someone else?
 
"Right on."
Presidents of Amerika during the Prairie Fire Insurgency
1969-1972: Richard Nixon (Republican)
(with
Gen. Curtis LeMay)
defeated Hubert Humphrey/Ed Muskie (Democratic), George Wallace/Ezra Taft Benson (American Independent)

1972-1973: Gen. Curtis LeMay

[succeeding Richard Nixon]

1973-1974: Gen. Curtis LeMay (Republican)
(with John Schmitz) defeated Ed Muskie/Terry Sanford (Democratic), Eugene McCarthy/Pete McCloskey (Stop The War!)

1974-1976: Acting Directive Council of the National Cooperative Congress
(Fred Hampton, Angela Davis, Tom Hayden, William "Preacherman" Fesperman, Willie Mae Reid, David Dellinger, various others)


1976-1980: Shirley Chrisholm (Peace and Freedom)
[2nd Round] (with William Kunstler)
defeated Noam Chomsky/Joe Edwards (Independent)
[1st Round] (with William Kunstler)
defeated Noam Chomsky/Joe Edwards (Independent), Tom Forcade/David Hoeh (Freak Power), Chokwe Lumumba/Masai Hewitt (Black Panther Party), Rodolfo Gonzales/Ramsay Muñiz(Partido Nacional de La Raza Unida), Gus Hall/Jarvis Tyner (CPUSA), Dr. Benjamin Spock/Joseph Ricci (Common Interest), Ron Paul/Anthony Hilder (New Republican), Fred Hampton (write in), Dick Gregory (write in), Phil Ochs (write in), Mike Curb (write in), Norman Hill (write in), Linda Lovelace (write in), various others

1980-1984: Angela Davis (Peace and Freedom)
[2nd Round]
(with Billy Clinton) defeated Hunter S. Thompson/Peter Camejo (Freak Power)
[1st Round] (with Billy Clinton) defeated Hunter S. Thompson/Peter Camejo (Freak Power), Kwame Montsho Ajamu Somburu/Richard Walton (Independent), Sister Diane Drufenbrock/various (CPUSA), Alajo Abegbalola/various (Free the Land!), Shulamith Firestone/Sonia Johnson (New ERA), Barry Commoner/various (Association of State Green Parties), Paul Soglin/various (Independent), Richard "Kinky" Friedman (write in), Gene Burns (write in), Lester Bangs (write in), Joe Garagiola Sr. (write in), various others

1984-198?: Murray Bookchin (Independent, then Libertarian Municipalist Frontier League)
[2nd Round] (with Ted Kaczynski)
defeated Billy Clinton/Raúl Grijalva (Peace and Freedom)
[1st Round] (with Ted Kaczynski) defeated Billy Clinton/Raúl Grijalva (Peace and Freedom), Curtis Sliwa/David Horowitz (Freak Power), Howard Hawkins/Harvey Wasserman (Clamshell Alliance), Willa Kenoyer/Jack Clark (American Solidarity), Jello Biafra (write in), Bernie Sanders (write in), Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (write in), various others
 
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1969-1973: Richard Nixon (Republican)
1968 (With Spiro Agnew) def: Hubert Humphrey/Ed Muskie (Democratic), George Wallace/Curtis LeMay (American Independent Party)
1972 (With John Connolly) def: Hubert Humphrey/Russell B. Long (Democratic), George Wallace/John Schmitz (AIP), Mike Gravel/Various (Alternative)

1973-1975: John Connolly (Republican)
1975-1977: Gerald Ford (Republican)

1977-1981: Birch Bayh (Democratic)†

1976 (With Reubin Askew) def: Gerald Ford/Nelson Rockefeller (Republican)
1980 (With Daniel Patrick Moynihan) def: Ronald Reagan/Richard Schweiker (Republican), George Wallace/Jesse Helms (Conservative)

1981-1985: Daniel Patrick Moynihan (Democratic)
1985-1991: Bill Janklow (Republican)

1984 (With Alexander Haig) def: Daniel Patrick Moynihan/Joe Biden (Democratic)
1988 (With Dick Cheney) def: Mario Cumo/John Glenn (Democratic), Lee Iacocca/Dick Lamm (Independent)

1991-1993: Dick Cheney (Republican)
1993-1997: Harvey Milk (Reform)

1992 (With Pat O’Rourke) def: Dick Cheney/Dan Quayle (Republican), Larry MacDonald/Pat Buchanan (Conservative), Paul Tsognas (replacing Charlie Wilson)/Bob Kerrey (replacing Paul Tsognas) (Democratic)
1997-: Jay Rockefeller (Democratic)
1996 (With Pat Schroeder) def: Pat O’Rourke/John Norquist (Reform Alliance), Tommy Thompson/Kay Orr (Republican)

Milk’s Path to the White House can mainly be traced back to the Iacocca-Lamm schism in 1991. In the aftermath of there fairly successful run in the 88’ (gaining about 12% of the popular vote, one state* and several electoral votes) it was decided that there was potential here to expand into a political party. The Reform Party considered itself a possessor of the Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Bayh legacy, a combination of Social Liberalism, Pro-Labor Union, Fiscal Conservatism and believer in electoral reform.

The problem was that Iacocca and Lamm disagreed on a major thing; NAFTA. Whilst the party hummed along between the 88 and 92 election fairly successfully, gaining a couple of local governments spots, Mayors, a few congressmen and one senator (in the form of Bernie Sanders who was very much to the Left of the party) Iacocca and Lamm disagreed and argued over NAFTA. As the Reform Convention neared, a potential presidential candidate looked dead in the water as neither would endorse the other.

This was when Harvey Milk stepped in. Milk had considered himself a Strong ‘Bayh Democrat’ during the late 70s and the early to mid 80s with his time as both a San Francisco City Councilman and Congressman showcasing this. However his attempts to deal with the Feinstein machine in San Francisco during the late 80s had hit a brick wall and so he decided to run against her and supporters as a Reform Party member. When he entered the Reform primaries he had just finished running Angela Alito’s successful campaign for Mayor and had become a popular figure on the political talk show circuit alongside his successful period as a Congressman.

Iacocca threw his weight behind Milk, deciding he could be the best chance to unroot Lamm. Lamm would quickly falter against Milk, particularly after a series of gaffes involving offensive statements about immigration and the Black and Hispanic population. Milk would meanwhile campaign on Civil Rights, Electoral Reform and Lower Taxes for the Working and Middle Classes, as well as keeping neutral on NAFTA. Milk would easily beat the lagging Lamm and a quixotic campaign from Gatewood Galbraith.

Milk would be offered a varied choice for a potential running mate ranging from Frank Fasai to Mike Gravel to Russell Means and more. Milk would go with El Paso Mayor and notable campaigner Pat O’Rourke, famous for his support of Jesse Jackson’s failed 84’ Primary Run and being one of the key Texas Campaigners for the Iacocca-Lamm 88’ ticket. O’Rourke’s Populist charm and Southerness would help balance the ticket.

Many saw the Milk campaign as at most winning maybe a good second place, maybe beating the tried, scandal filled Republicans lead by Cheney who was dealing with a battle from the Right. Many expected the charismatic Charlie Wilson who was campaigning on similar policies to Milk in many ways. Then Wilson on the campaign trail would be arrested for drunken and disorderly conduct which spiral into an investigation of drug offences to. Wilson would be replaced by Paul Tsognas who find himself embroiled in a scandal over his health.

Suddenly, Milk who was campaigning on a single term of Anti-Corruption, Electoral Reform and Civil Rights seemed like a more viable option. Media Titan Ted Turner would throw his weight behind Milk, Funding from a variety of backers would come flooding in and Milk’s barn storming tactics would allow vast gains. Even an assassination attempt would only briefly slow campaign down.

As Election Day neared many Democrats supported a movement called ‘Milk 2nd’ which was to place Milk Second on the ballot paper which could be useful in a deadlock situation (one of Bayh’s few successful voter reform legislation), mainly out of fear that they could see another four years of Cheney or worse, MacDonald.

And Election Day came. And a tie situation ensued with Milk, Cheney and MacDonald all fairly evenly matched. But in the end, MacDonald voters weren’t going to support Cheney nor vice versus. Democrats on the other hand decided that Milk fulfilled a lot there’s needs.

And so Harvey Milk would find himself President.

Milk’s single term would see a lot of ups and downs, from NAFTA to Single Payer Healthcare problems to the awkwardness of trying to bring about more electoral Reform to ensuing aftermath, from O’rourke’s problematic campaign and the victory of Jay Rockerfellar on a platform incredibly similar to Milk’s is a story for another’s time.
 
The Illusion of Law

2012-2017 Crin Antonescu (USL,PNL after 2015)
2012 Presidential Impeachment Referendum: 90,09% Yes,voting presence 51,18%-APPROVED
2012 Parliamentary Elections: USL [386],PP-DD [81],ARD [78],UDMR [27]
2012 Presidential Election First Round def: Dan Diaconescu (PP-DD),Mihai Rãzvan Ungureanu (ARD),Corneliu Vadim Tudor (PRM)
2012 Presidential Election Second Round def: Dan Diaconescu (PP-DD)
2013 Constitutional Referendum: 88,91% Yes,voting presence 41,59%-APPROVED
2014 European Parliament Elections: USL [23], PD-L [4],UDMR [2],PMP [2],PP-DD [1]
2016 Parliamentary Elections: PSD+UNPR-ALDE [253],USR [40],PNL [38],PD-L [36],UDMR [30],PMP [26],PRU [26]


2017-2017 Dan Voiculescu (PSD+UNPR–ALDE,interim)
2017 Presidential Impeachment Referendum: 55,81% Yes,voting presence 40,07%-APPROVED

2017- present day Liviu Dragnea (PSD+UNPR-ALDE)

2017 Presidential Election First Round def: Crin Antonescu (PNL),Nicușor Dan (USR),Victor Ponta (PRU)
2017 Presidential Election Second Round def: Crin Antonescu (PNL)
2017 Constitutional Referendum: 94,07% Yes,voting presence 32,05 %-APPROVED
2018 Constitutional Referendum: 90,68% Yes,voting presence 31,79%-APPROVED
2019 European Parliament Elections: PSD+UNPR-ALDE [11],PNL [8],PD-L [6],PRU [3],PMP [2],UDMR [2]
-LOCAL,PARLIAMENTARY AND PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS POSTPONED INDEFINITELY DUE TO COVID-
 
Trying something new

List of FC Barcelona Managers:

2020-2023: Ronald Koeman (Pragmatic Cruyffista)

2020/21: La Liga 3rd, Champions League RO16, Copa Del Rey Champion
2021/22: La Liga 2nd, Champions League QF, Copa Del Rey SF
2022/23: La Liga 2nd, Champions League Finalist, Copa Del Rey Champion

2023-2026: Xavi (Cruyffista-Guardiolista)
2023/24: La Liga Champion, Champions League QF, Copa Del Rey Champion
2024/25: La Liga Champion, Champions League SF, Copa Del Rey SF
2025/26: La Liga 2nd, Champions League Champion, Copa Del Rey Finalist

2026-2030: Julian Nagelsmann (German School-Red Bull School)
2026/27: La Liga Champion, Champions League Champion, Copa Del Rey Champion
2027/28: La Liga Champion, Champions League QF, Copa De Rey Champion
2028/29: La Liga 3rd, Champions League Champion, Copa Del Rey SF
2029/30: La Liga 4th, Champions League Groupstage, Copa Del Rey RO16

2030-2030: Javier Mascherano (Pragmatic Bielsista)
2029/30: La Liga 3rd, Copa Del Rey QF, Europa League Champion
2030-2032: Erik Ten Hag (Cruyffista-German School)
2030/31: La Liga Champion, Champions League QF, Copa Del Rey Champion
2031/32: La Liga 2nd, Champions League RO16, Copa Del Rey SF

2032-20XX: Mikel Arteta (Guardiolista)
 
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Love and Kindness on the Campaign Trail

1969-1977: Colorado Gov. John Love/fmr. Vermont Gov. Robert Stafford

defeated Vice President Hubert Humphrey/Mayor of Los Angeles Sam Yorty, Alabama Gov. George Wallace/fmr. Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Benson (American Independent)
defeated Maine Senator
Ed Muskie/ South Carolina Gov. Robert McNair
1977-1985: Indiana Senator Birch Bayh/California Rep. Leo Ryan

defeated Alaska Gov. Wally Hickel/Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker
defeated California Rep. Pete McCloskey/Illinois Rep.
John B. Anderson, fmr. California Gov. Ronald Reagan/Georgia Rep. Larry McDonald (Morning in America)
1985-1989: Ohio Senator Tom Kindness/Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson

defeated Vice President Leo Ryan/Mississippi Gov. Cliff Finch
1989-1997: Texas Senator Mickey Leland/Minnesota Gov. Kent Conrad

defeated President Tom Kindness/Vice President Alan Simpson, Alaska Senator Mike Gravel/Texas Rep. Ron Paul (Reform)
defeated fmr. Alaska Gov. Jay Hammond/New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici

1997-200?: Kentucky Gov. Wendell Berry/Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders
defeated Arizona Senator John McCain/Illinois Gov. James R. Thompson
 
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Colonel of The Virginia Regiment, 1770-1800
  • Lieutenant-Colonel George Washington (1770-1784), later Brigadier-General The Lord Washington of Mount Vernon
  • Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Morgan (1784-1790)
  • Colonel George Rogers Clark (1790-1794)
  • Colonel Sir David Dundas (1794-1796)
  • Colonel Alexander Hamilton (1796-1800), later Major-General Sir Alexander Hamilton, Patriot/Whig MP for Albany, New York
Colonel of the 1st Battalion, 101st (Royal Virginian) Regiment of Foot, 1800-1888
*Separated from 2nd and 3rd Battalion, also 1st Virginia Cavalry Regiment raised in Prince William County
  • Lieutenant-Colonel Robert ‘Black Bob’ Craufurd (1800-1806), later Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Craufurd, 1st Baron of Ciudad Rodrigo, 15th Crown Governor of Virginia
  • Brevet Major William Henry Harrison (1806-1814), later Major-General Sir William Harrison, 1st Earl of Charles City, Tory Member Virginia Governor's Council, Governor of the Superior Colony, His Majesty's Ambassador to the United Mexican States
  • Colonel Wade Hampton* (1814-1815) First Battalion Disbanded post-Waterloo, survivors folded into 60th Rifles, Battalion raised agian in Frederciksburg in 1819
  • Lieutenant-Colonel Amos Norcott (1819-1830)
  • Colonel Winfield Scott (1830-1845), later Lieutenant-General Sir Winfield Scott, Commander of the Mississippi District, Commander of the 7th (Light) Division, Virginia Representative to the Court of St James
  • Lieutenant-Colonel Marquess Arthur Wellesley of Douro (1845-1851), later 2nd Duke of Wellington
  • Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Edward Lee (1851-1854), later General Lee, 1st Duke of Fredericksburg, Commander of the Army of the Mississippi, Supreme Commander of the Armies in the West
  • Brevet Major Thomas Jackson (1854-1855), remembered as “Stonewall Jackson” for his poor conduct commanding the regiment in the Battle of Fort Henry
  • Major George Henry Thomas (1855-1857), later Lieutenant-General Lord Thomas of Shiloh, Commander of II Corps of the Army of the Mississippi, C-in-C Army of the Mississippi, Military Governor of Georgia, 33rd Crown Governor of Virginia.
  • Colonel Lord Charles Sackville-West, The Lord West (1857-1860), later Major-General The 6th Earl De La Warr
  • Colonel HRH Edward, Prince of Wales (1860-1865), later Edward VII
  • Colonel Garnet Wolseley (1865-1873), later Field Marshal Viscount Wolseley, Commander-in-Chief Ireland, Commander-in-Chief North America, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces
  • Honorary Colonel His Royal Highness The Prince Leopold (1873-1884)
  • Colonel Charles W. Field (1884-1888)
Colonel of The Duke of Fredericksburg’s Own (Royal Virginian) Regiment, 1888-1925
*Amalgamated with Virginia Fusiliers and The Fredericksburg Rangers
  • Colonel Charles W. Field (1888-1890)
  • Colonel Gonville Bromhead (1890-1898)
  • Honorary Colonel HRH Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (1898-1902), despite lacking a real commision followed a detachment deployed in the Boxer Uprising, during which he caught typhoid in Hong Kong
  • Brevet Major Andre W. Brewster (1902-1903)
  • Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Edward Lee III (1903-1905), later Governor of Bermuda
  • Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Franklin Leedy (1905-1914), member of the House of Burgesses, later MP for Norfolk, Va.
  • Brevet Colonel Clement Flagler (1914-1916), later Commander of 117th “Chesapeake” Brigade during the Somme Offensive, Commander of 77th “New World” Division
  • Colonel Mason Patrick (1916-1918), later Temporary Commander of 85th “Lord Washington” Division in the Hundred Days
  • Colonel Cecil Simonds (1918-1919)
  • Lieutenant-Colonel George Pearkes (1919-1922), later Major-General Pearkes, Governor-General of the Dominion of Columbia
  • Colonel George C. Marshall (1922-1931), later Field Marshal The Earl Marshall of Arlington, Commander of Virginia Corps in 1940, Commander of XX Corps, Commander of the 2nd American Army, Supreme Commander of the Americas, 1st Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations
Colonel of The Duke of Fredericksburg’s Regiment (Virginia), 1931-1970
  • Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Maitland Wilson (1931-1933), later GOC of the British Empire Troops in Egypt, GOC Commonwealth Troops in Greece, GOC Ninth Army
  • Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Edward Huxley (1933-1938)
  • Colonel Edward Almond (1938-1940), later GOC 83rd (South African) Division
  • Colonel Benjamin O. Davis Sr. (1940-1941), later first Black Commonwealth officer promoted to Major-General, Special Advisor Supreme Allied Commander Europe
  • Brevet Major Robert Sink (1941-1944)
  • Lieutenant-Colonel Randolph Churchill (1944-1947)
  • Colonel James Michael Calvert (1947-1955)
  • Honorary Colonel Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1955-1970)
*Amalgamated with Virginian Mobile Infantry Regiment and The Virginia Guards to form The Royal Virginia Infantry
 
2005-2017: Angela Merkel (CDU)
2005: Gerhard Schröder (SPD), Guido Westerwelle (FDP), Gregor Gysi & Oskar Lafontaine (Left), Joschka Fischer (Green)
2009: Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD), Guido Westerwelle (FDP), Gregor Gysi & Oskar Lafontaine (Left), Jürgen Trittin & Renate Künast (Green)
2013: Peer Steinbrück (SPD), Gregor Gysi (Left), Jürgen Trittin & Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Green)

2017-2020: Martin Schulz (SPD)
2017: Ursula von der Leyen (CDU-CSU), Frauke Petry (AfD), Christian Lindner (FDP), Dietmar Bartsch & Sahra Wagenknecht (Left), Robert Habeck (Green)
2020-: Cem Özdemir (Green)
2020: Markus Söder (CSU-CDU), Martin Schulz (SPD), Beatrix von Storch (AfD), Christian Linder (FDP), Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters)

At the end of 2016, not long after congratulating Hillary Clinton on her historic victory, Angela Merkel announced that she would not lead her party into next year's election and would instead retire. Early in 2017 Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen was selected as her successor as CDU leader and was shortly afterwards confirmed as the CDU-CSU's Kanzlerkandidat, facing a surprisingly competitive challenge from Friedrich Merz. That near-loss in an internal election foreshadowed what was to come. Von der Leyen soon proved to be gaffe-prone and indecisive, drawing the ire of the right and alienating moderates with her half-hearted and cynical criticisms of her government's handling of the million migrants accepted into Germany. This left the 2017 election surprisingly volatile and it soon became clear that the SPD's hail-mary pass in the form of Martin Schulz was paying off. The SPD was tied with the CDU for most of the election, but few truly believed that the SPD could win the election until the exit poll.

The post-election negotiations proved extremely painful. Both Schulz and Von der Leyen had ruled out another grand coalition during the election campaign but after Christian Linder blew up negotiations for a "Traffic Light" coalition, there was little alternative. It was not until December that a new coalition could be formed, one that was barely approved by the membership of either party and cost Von der Leyen her career.

The Schulz government soon proved to be deeply unstable. The CDU bristled constantly as the junior partner in the coalition and there were constant disputes over everything from immigration to integration. Any and every domestic achievement, from the minimum wage to same-sex marriage, was a long, brutal, drawn-out negotiation that left all sides feeling disappointed. Chancellor Schulz was no more effective on the international stage: he became a roadblock for President Clinton's efforts to create an anti-Putin alliance, François Fillon emerged as the leading European statesperson in Merkel's absence and his remarks on European integration were a large contributor to David Cameron's downfall in early 2018. As both governing parties slipped steadily in the polls their differences came to a head in early 2020. The CDU, unable to tolerate its subordinate position in the government, presented an ultimatum to Schulz calling for a much tougher line on refugees and what they were entitled to from the German state. Schulz called their bluff, and the government collapsed.

In a hail-mary pass of their own the CDU nominated Bavarian Minister-President and constant Schulz critic Markus Söder as their Kanzlerkandidat, but he was soon bogged down by gaffes and corruption controversies of his own. Instead the party that had led the polls for the previous two years continued to lead in the polls. Despite everything no-one seemed to truly believe that Ozdemir could become the first Green Chancellor until election night, where the Greens got their best ever result and the SPD their worst ever one. It took another four painstaking months for a coalition to be formed, with Linder frequently threatening to collapse the negotiations just like four years earlier. While the rise of the Greens and Ozdemir had boosted the CDU and the AfD in the polls - for the wrong reasons - the former party of government has been embroiled in infighting over it's ideological direction and potential co-operation with parties to their right. And the current government is proving to be only slightly more stable than it's predecessor.
 
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2005-2017: Angela Merkel (CDU)
2005: Gerhard Schröder (SPD), Guido Westerwelle (FDP), Gregor Gysi & Oskar Lafontaine (Left), Joschka Fischer (Green)
2009: Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD), Guido Westerwelle (FDP), Gregor Gysi & Oskar Lafontaine (Left), Jürgen Trittin & Renate Künast (Green)
2013: Peer Steinbrück (SPD), Gregor Gysi (Left), Jürgen Trittin & Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Green)

2017-2020: Martin Schulz (SPD)
2017: Ursula von der Leyen (CDU-CSU), Frauke Petry (AfD), Christian Lindner (FDP), Dietmar Bartsch & Sahra Wagenknecht (Left), Robert Habeck (Green)
2020-: Cem Özdemir (Green)
2020: Markus Söder (CSU-CDU), Martin Schulz (SPD), Beatrix von Storch (AfD), Christian Linder (FDP), Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters)

At the end of 2016, not long after congratulating Hillary Clinton on her historic victory, Angela Merkel announced that she would not lead her party into next year's election and would instead retire. Early in 2017 Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen was selected as her successor as CDU leader and was shortly afterwards confirmed as the CDU-CSU's Kanzlerkandidat, facing a surprisingly competitive challenge from Friedrich Merz. That near-loss in an internal election foreshadowed what was to come. Von der Leyen soon proved to be gaffe-prone and indecisive, drawing the ire of the right and alienating moderates with her half-hearted and cynical criticisms of her government's handling of the million migrants accepted into Germany. This left the 2017 election surprisingly volatile and it soon became clear that the SPD's hail-mary pass in the form of Martin Schulz was paying off. The SPD was tied with the CDU for most of the election, but few truly believed that the SPD could win the election until the exit poll.

The post-election negotiations proved extremely painful. Both Schulz and Von der Leyen had ruled out another grand coalition during the election campaign but after Christian Linder blew up negotiations for a "Traffic Light" coalition, there was little alternative. It was not until December that a new coalition could be formed, one that was barely approved by the membership of either party and cost Von der Leyen her career.

The Schulz government soon proved to be deeply unstable. The CDU bristled constantly as the junior partner in the coalition and there were constant disputes over everything from immigration to integration. Any and every domestic achievement, from the minimum wage to same-sex marriage, was a long, brutal, drawn-out negotiation that left all sides feeling disappointed. Chancellor Schulz was no more effective on the international stage: he became a roadblock for President Clinton's efforts to create an anti-Putin alliance, François Fillon emerged as the leading European statesperson in Merkel's absence and his remarks on European integration were a large contributor to David Cameron's downfall in early 2018. As both governing parties slipped steadily in the polls their differences came to a head in early 2020. The CDU, unable to tolerate its subordinate position in the government, presented an ultimatum to Schulz calling for a much tougher line on refugees and what they were entitled to from the German state. Schulz called their bluff, and the government collapsed.

In a hail-mary pass of their own the CDU nominated Bavarian Minister-President and constant Schulz critic Markus Söder as their Kanzlerkandidat, but he was soon bogged down by gaffes and corruption controversies of his own. Instead the party that had led the polls for the previous two years continued to lead in the polls. Despite everything no-one seemed to truly believe that Ozdemir could become the first Green Chancellor until election night, where the Greens got their best ever result and the SPD their worst ever one. It took another four painstaking months for a coalition to be formed, with Linder frequently threatening to collapse the negotiations just like four years earlier. While the rise of the Greens and Ozdemir had boosted the CDU and the AfD in the polls - for the wrong reasons - the former party of government has been embroiled in infighting over it's ideological direction and potential co-operation with parties to their right. And the current government is proving to be only slightly more stable than it's predecessor.
Great to see my man Cem become PM. I wonder what Erdogan and the wider Turkish world, and also Turks in Western-Europe’s reaction to such a progressive Turkish immigrant becoming PM would be though.
 
(From a thread on the other site, about an alternate pandemic)

"Hell, if you wanted to go back in time, you could have an earlier AIDS/HIV epidemic happen right during the tail end of the Summer of Love. In that world, young people are overloading the healthcare system in a panic instead of the old, so you'd see a mass of young people organizing for universal healthcare (during the heyday of late-20th-century activism) fighting against older folks who are saying "I told you so" with their ballots. That could create an interesting scenario where political polarization is at an equal magnitude to OTL's present, but it's broken across generational lines with boomers of all people being shifted to the left permanently."
-Me

Summer of Love, Decade of Fear

1963-1969: Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic)

1964 (with Hubert Humphrey) def.: Barry Goldwater / William Miller (Republican)
1969-1971: Richard Nixon (Republican)
1968 (with Jim Rhodes) def.: Hubert Humphrey / Ed Muskie (Democratic); George Wallace / Curtis LeMay (American Independent)
1971-1977: Jim Rhodes (Republican)
1972 (with Larry Hogan) def.: Robert F. Kennedy / Fred Harris (Democratic); Eugene McCarthy / Noam Chomsky (New)
1977-1981: Hank Grover (Republican)
1976 (with Elliot Richardson) def. Henry M. Jackson / Marvin Mandel (Democratic); Eugene McCarthy / Frances Farenthold (New); Larry Hogan / Jacob Javits (Independent Republican)
1981-1989: Gore Vidal (Democratic)
1980 (with Birch Bayh) def. Hank Grover / Elliot Richardson (Republican)
1984 (with Birch Bayh) def. Howard Baker / Doris Day (Republican)


I'm going to shape this into a TLIAW in the near future, so things might not look exactly the same, but the presidents following the "Decade of Fear" are probably VP Birch Bayh (D-IN) from 1989 to 1993, Gov. Fred Phelps (R-KS)- yes, him- from 1993 to 1997, and Gov. Sarah Weddington (D-TX) from 1997 to 2005.
 
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