DBWI: What if David Petraeus never entered the GOP Presidential race?

SO, like many of you, I've been following with great interest the excellent timeline "Make America Great Again: Fear, Loathing and Trump on the Campaign Trail '16" and find its rendition of a Petraeus-less GOP Primary fascinating, and very dramatic. Mainly how Donald Trump enters the race, utterly dominates the field and the race with his crass and extreme appeals to far-right populism, and how the rest of the GOP - the candidates, and the parties - are unable, unwilling, or both, to really stop Trump until it's too late, and where now (at the present point in the timeline), he's on the road to becoming the GOP nominee.

Now, it is *one* possible avenue of what would have happened had General David Petraeus not entered the race, and while it is a bit early to be writing it as a timeline (the GOP primaries have yet to end, and we have yet to see who Petraeus, now the presumptive nominee, will face in the fall), it got me thinking: what would have happened, in real life, had David Petraeus not entered the GOP race? I mean, the moment he entered the race, he *was* the frontrunner, what with the monumental positives he had (war hero, respected, admired and looked up to by military brass, the general rank and file in the military, and politicians on both sides of the aisle in Congress and throughout the country), and at this point it's just a given that he'll be nominated officially when the Convention happens in the coming months. There's even strong assumptions that he can definitely give Hillary a run for her money in November (should she get the nomination).

But what if he didn't? Firstly, what could have caused him to *not* get involved in the race? The nomination was basically his for the taking when he jumped into the race, and he took it. And if, for whatever reason, he didn't enter the race, who would likely come out on top in the primary battle that was to follow? Bush? Rubio, Cruz even? What would the race look like absent a Petraeus in it?

I hope this stirs up some good debate and conversation! I look forward to reading all of it! :)
 
Top