Serious Politicians Who Could’ve Become Jokes

[Heliogabalus]

Harold Stassen was a major contender for the presidency in 1948. However, after a failed run for the governorship of Pennsylvania and multiple campaigns for the Republican presidential nomination between 1964 and 1992, he became the biggest joke in American politics. Similarly, Eugene McCarthy came close(ish) to the Democratic nomination in 1968, but afterwards moved towards libertarianism and ran as a nonfactor either for the Democratic nomination or as a third party in 1972, 1976, 1988, and 1992.

Based on these people who could’ve become president but ended up as jokes, are there any people who reached a major position such as President or Prime Minister IOTL, but could’ve have turned to perennial candidacy, conspiracy theorism, and/or assorted crankery in another TL until they became a complete political non-factor?

 

[Indicus]

Ronald Reagan, who actually began politics as a joke.

 

[GeographyDude]

Jack Kemp had a reputation as "loquacious."

And he could have gotten a reputation as a single-idea person with his advocacy of a supply side tax cut.

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But here's the challenge . . . Pumping money into the economy does work during a recession. That is, Keynesian economics are more right than wrong. And few things get money into the economy quicker than a tax cut which reduces withholding.

 

[Colonel Zoidberg]

Any athlete or Hollywood-type who runs for office has that possibility. I’ll steer clear of the low-hanging fruit and go with Jesse Ventura, who actually sounded pretty on-the-ball in interviews as governor.

 

[neonduke]

There were occasions were Ian Paisley looked like he was severely damaged politically (2nd Ulster Workers Strike for one) but he always managed to claw his way out of it. It's possible that if he hitched his wagon to the wrong group at the wrong time it could finish him.

 

[Bolt451]

Jeremy Corbyn? (I mean, still a bit, but just look at before and after this years General election)

John Major? (Yes there were jokes but he was actually PM for seven years)
Also
"Hey remember that time a wrestler ran for Governor of Minnesota?"

 

[overoceans]

I think it was largely due to a combination of pedigree and public discontent with the incumbent government that led to Justin Trudeau being seen as something other than a joke. If his father had been a bricklayer, and the Conservatives not been at the tail end of their welcome, I don't think JT would have gotten anywhere in politics.

Which is not to say that I dislike him on all counts, just that I don't think he'd personally have much of a career if not for the aforementioned factors.

 

[overoceans]

There were occasions were Ian Paisley looked like he was severely damaged politically (2nd Ulster Workers Strike for one) but he always managed to claw his way out of it. It's possible that if he hitched his wagon to the wrong group at the wrong time it could finish him.

Safe to say that Ian Paisley would be a joke pretty much anywhere outside of jurisdictions where large sections of the electorate think the Pope in the antichrist, or are at least willing to tolerate leaders who say that in public.

 

[FlyingSquirrel]

As much as I love him, maybe Joe Biden if he hadn't managed to turn his occasional gaffes into part of his "Uncle Joe" charm.

Maybe also Howard Dean if he'd had another "YEEAAARRRGHHHH!" moment at some point, and continued trying to run for President instead of becoming DNC Chair after 2004.

 

[GeographyDude]

. . . I’ll steer clear of the low-hanging fruit and go with Jesse Ventura, who actually sounded pretty on-the-ball in interviews as governor.

I think Jesse was generally fiscally conservative and socially liberal.

And you'd think there'd be space for such a party. But no, the existing parties are where they are. And a bunch of our fellow citizens, maybe 25% ? ? , are socially conservative and do view such issues as important.

 

[Colonel Zoidberg]

I think it was largely due to a combination of pedigree and public discontent with the incumbent government that led to Justin Trudeau being seen as something other than a joke. If his father had been a bricklayer, and the Conservatives not been at the tail end of their welcome, I don't think JT would have gotten anywhere in politics.

Which is not to say that I dislike him on all counts, just that I don't think he'd personally have much of a career if not for the aforementioned factors.

Keep in mind that he’s hardly alone in that vein. George W. Bush doesn’t have a chance in hell at the Presidency if he isn’t the son of a former President, and the fact that he was coming off the heels of the Lewinsky scandal really helped his cause (if Clinton admitted at first to the affair but did so in a limited fashion, it would have blown over and probably helped Gore enough to swing the election the other way. But I digress.)

Reagan probably doesn’t win except in 1980 at the height of a frustrated America and hostages in Iran. Obama doesn’t win except on the heels of a devastating recession and the country being really pissed off at Bush. And going back even farther, Theodore Roosevelt fades away as a rambunctious former VP if some anarchist fuckwad doesn’t assassinate McKinley.

 

[Heliogabalus]

I’ll steer clear of the low-hanging fruit and go with Jesse Ventura, who actually sounded pretty on-the-ball in interviews as governor.

I'd say Jesse Ventura is actually the opposite: someone who could've been important, but ended up as a joke. His governorship isn't well-remembered in Minnesota, and he's spent the last decade indulging in conspiracy theories. If he had run for the presidency in 2012/2016 as he hinted, he wouldn't have been taken very seriously.

 

[TRH]

To address the elephant in the room, Donald Trump is pretty much both at once right now, but could have simply remained a joke had he not run in 2016. For that matter, if Hillary Clinton had been primaried twice, or perhaps had to face Rudy Giuliani in 2000 and lost, she'd be taken less seriously.

And I have to wonder about Nixon's historical reputation if Humphrey had come from behind to beat him in 68. Choking narrowly twice isn't a good look for anyone.

 

[overoceans]

Keep in mind that he’s hardly alone in that vein. George W. Bush doesn’t have a chance in hell at the Presidency if he isn’t the son of a former President, and the fact that he was coming off the heels of the Lewinsky scandal really helped his cause (if Clinton admitted at first to the affair but did so in a limited fashion, it would have blown over and probably helped Gore enough to swing the election the other way. But I digress.)

Reagan probably doesn’t win except in 1980 at the height of a frustrated America and hostages in Iran. Obama doesn’t win except on the heels of a devastating recession and the country being really pissed off at Bush. And going back even farther, Theodore Roosevelt fades away as a rambunctious former VP if some anarchist fuckwad doesn’t assassinate McKinley.

Yeah, I'm not saying Trudeau the only one. He just came to mind because he's the guy being lionized by the global media as the hot new thing.

As for the rest of your list, well, yeah, it's often the case that politicians win because the other guys are particularly lame, or the economy is in rough shape etc, rather than solely on the basis of their own merits. I'm not sure I'd say that about Obama though. He had managed to get elected to two different offices(the latter a Senate seat) before running for president, and in both presidential elections, he won a majority of the popular vote.

I guess some people might say Reagan was serious for the same reasons(eg. managed to win governership of the largest state before going federal), but something about him(or maybe just my personal bias) makes me still want to list him on the "joke" side of the ledger.

 

[Miss Teri]

I'd go with Nixon if he had lost in 1968, with what would be three losses in a row.

 

[Brundlefly]

Silvio Berlusconi. Okay, one might argue that he never became a serious politician and never stopped being a joke, but then again he became too powerful and basically toxified Italian politics for years to come. So he somehow evolved from a joke to a very bad joke to something very sinister and dangerous.

Similar case: the Kaczynski brothers in Poland. They were basically voted off in 2007, because most Poles were ashamed of them, yet they managed to bounce back, with the remaining one being a force to be reckoned with.

I'm fearing that Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg may actually turn from the joke he still is into a serious politician in the next years, if he's planning a comeback in German politics.

 

[Archibald]

François Hollande, obviously. He was president, and one of the least corrupt (he is really a Gandhi in comparison to Chirac, Mitterrand or even Sarkozy)
Yet in 2017 he managed to sink the PS to a lower bottom than Mitterrand did in 1993 (30 deputies vs 70 over 577)

 

[TRH]

François Hollande, obviously. He was president, and one of the least corrupt (if compared to Chirac, Mitterrand or even Sarkozy) yet at the end, he managed to sink the PS to a lower bottom than Mitterrand did.

Well, that sounds like a serious politician who did become a complete joke. The question is about ones who could have reached that status. Macron seems like he's on his way, for that matter.

 

[Archibald]

Fair enough. Laurent Fabius might be a better start.

 

[Deleted member 16736]

Obvious one, perhaps, but Bill Clinton. His convention speech in 1988 was a snoozer - a real dud that stands out given his later reputation as Mr. Charisma. So if Cuomo or some other more serious contender decides that he's going to challenge Bush in 1992 and Clinton's indiscretions come out more or less on schedule and wreck his campaign that year I can see a much, much different career trajectory for OTL's 42nd President. Consider: Clinton won't end up in Cuomo's cabinet or on his ticket because of the baggage he carries with him from his personal life, so he stays in Arkansas. Meanwhile, details about the Whitewater Controversy still bubble up, brought to the FBI's attention by Clinton's presidential run. By the mid-1990's Governor Clinton, along with his wife Hillary, Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker, and associate David Hale, are neck-deep in a federal investigation. Whatever the outcome of that investigation, Clinton will forever be remembered (to the extent he's remembered at all) as a skirt-chasing, corrupt, southern good old boy politician who couldn't hack it on the national scene.