Cliche Presidents & PMs thread

Inspired by the hipster thread.

Are there any cliche alt-Presidents & PMs that are used too often?

Republican

  • Ted Bundy
  • Charles Lindbergh
  • Nile Kinnick
  • Robert Taft
  • James Blaine
  • Barry Goldwater
  • Nelson Rockefeller
  • Jack Kemp
Democratic

  • Robert Kennedy
  • Edward Kennedy
  • John F. Kennedy, Jr.
  • Joseph P. Kennedy
  • Huey Long
  • John Garner
  • Henry Wallace
  • Champ Clark
 
I disagree with a few on your list, but you could add Rumsfeld/Cheney to it.

I disagree on the Republicans, at least. Ted Bundy isn't cliche. It's just become hipster, because people keep ripping off whoever thought of it first. And if memory serves, the first TL to use it was not all too long ago. But honestly, it has not been used that much. And no one uses Nile Kinnick at all. Robert Taft, perhaps. Lindbergh perhaps. I disagree on Blaine, but I'm not familiar with the Pre-1900 subforum enough to be sure. Nelson Rockefeller, I agree with. Jack Kemp I definitely agree with, but that may be more of a cliche not because we use it now, but because maybe 10 years ago it was used endlessly. And Goldwater, I disagree with.
 

shiftygiant

Gone Fishin'
  • Ted Bundy
Even as that guy who did that Bundy Timeline that keeps getting referenced, I'm getting really sick of him popping up everywhere to show how 'ooo dystopia'. Like come on, variety is the spice of life!
Please show me one TL where each of these gentlemen is President.

Oh wait, you can't. Sorry.
I've done Rockefeller, but wouldn't think that counts and it's a bit shit.

He's one of those underused cliches where everyone assumes he's had a big timeline, but in reality... well, he hasn't.
 
My problem with the cliche discussion is that it adds a tinge of taboo to things that are actually not cliche. Cliche needs to be a really specific definition.
 
Even as that guy who did that Bundy Timeline that keeps getting referenced, I'm getting really sick of him popping up everywhere to show how 'ooo dystopia'. Like come on, variety is the spice of life!

I liked MAGL. Bundy has become overused, though. There are other serial killers, guys! We need more President Jim Jones and Lyndon LaRouche.

I've done Rockefeller, but wouldn't think that counts and it's a bit shit.

He's one of those underused cliches where everyone assumes he's had a big timeline, but in reality... well, he hasn't.

Yeah, true. Same with those other fellers.
 
As far as cliche goes, Scoop Jackson, Spiro Agnew, and Garner, yeah.

I'm not sure about Jackson and Agnew, but Garner is the go-to guy for Great Depression dystopia. Certainly, recovery would be worse under him, but there are other sucky Depression-era presidents.
 
I'm not sure about Jackson and Agnew, but Garner is the go-to guy for Great Depression dystopia. Certainly, recovery would be worse under him, but there are other sucky Depression-era presidents.

Scoop gets used a lot on lists, and Agnew, yeah, but Garner is used a lot, because it's so easy to swing.
 
I'd say Jackson isn't a cliche, as far as I know I'm the only one with a Jackson TL. But there have been several Agnew TLs, he is a 1970s dystopia go-to, and a cliche IMHO.
 
Since the hipster thread eventually evolved into "Cliché Alternate Heads of State/Government thread":

Leon Trotsky is perhaps the ultimate cliché Soviet leader. So are the people behind the August 1991 coup (which has seen several AHCs, TLs, etc. about what if they succeeded).
 
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