H.W Bush/Dole 1980 (Collaborative Thread)

February 8th, 1985: Where The Buffalo Roam:Redux, a collection of short essays by Hunter S. Thompson, is released. It follows Thompson as he revisits the Southwest following the Glen Canyon disaster. He revisits Las Vegas, to find the parts he had visited in 1972 abandoned or destroyed. He also visits Imperial Valley and Fresno, and explores the effects the flood had on local farming communities.
 
February 28th, 1984: New Hampshire Democratic primary: Gary Hart at 32%, Biden at 29%, Mondale at 21% - Jesse Jackson and John Glenn are the 'best of the rest'.
 
October 10th, 1984: Ninteen Eighty-Four, directed by Michael Radford, and based off the novel by George Orwell, is released. A new backstory is conceived, an alternate history where a nuclear war in the 60's gave rise to the three superstates.
 
January 21st, 1984: Phil Crane announces his intention to run for Republican nomination - with an early endorsement by James Pearson. Bush doesn't publicly comment on it but Kemp hears him darkly mutter about "wolves at the door".

January 26-28th, 1984: The Nicaraguan Democratic Force - who have been getting less cash and focus from the US since South Africa exploded - are hit by a targeted government surge, backed up with helicopter gunships that the contras don't have enough rockets to completely fight off. The regime lost quite a few soldiers and the operation is a no-score draw, but it suggests to the increasingly fatalistic Bush that the contras aren't working out. Instead, the Coordinadora Democrática Nicaragüense and their man Arturo Cruz (who is in contact with the CIA) will be advised to run in the upcoming election and be given whatever assistance the State Department and CIA can plausibly get away with - this risks the Sandinistas getting to claim legitimacy if they win but could also get them out of power faster. The CIA are disgruntled with the change in focus.

(EDited from Rumsfeld running)
 
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September 5th, 1984: South Prime Minister Andries Treunicht is assassinated by a SADF soldier set up by the coup plotters. However, Clive Derby-Lewis, the new Prime Minister, was aware of the plot, and in a bid to gain power, had the Treunicht assassination go through, only to have soldiers placed where they could capture the coup plotters, as they attempted to gain power. FW de Klerk and Constand Vijoeren are both executed for attempting to subvert the Apartheid state. Pik Botha disappears. Derby-Lewis merges the Conservative and National Party to prevent any further insurrection from the latter. Derby-Lewis also demands that plans continue for a potential nuclear attack on rebel strongholds.

September 10th, 1984: The MK stronghold in Johannesberg is surprised to find a guest: former Foreign Minister Pik Botha. He tells them the truth of the attempted coup, and warns them of a potential nuclear attack.
 
September 11, 1984: After a fraught discussion, the MK alert their Soviet Union contacts - the USSR goes into an emergency session and decide that they'll have to threaten South Africa with a nuclear retaliation. First order of business is to inform the United States and NATO, and a phone call is arranged via the Irish consulate between Botha and the White House. Bush, Baker and Nixon manage to talk the USSR into letting them tell Derby-Lewis to back off first. By late afternoon local time, Derby-Lewis is informed the US knows about the plan (they imply the CIA has a man on the inside) and if there's even the threat of a nuclear strike on the rebels, the US will allow the Soviet Union to respond in kind.

Derby-Lewis retorts that he'll drop the nuclear plans if the US gives him diplomatic cover if he uses chemical weapons. Bush, assuming this is a terrible bluff, tells him he stick to convention force. Discussions are held after about what the hell to do about South Africa, while hoping like hell that Derby-Lewis is indeed going to back off. (Meanwhile, Michael Foot and French President d'Estaing - usually not the best of friends - have their own discussions, neither involved in South Africa and both highly concerned a limited nuclear war could break out over it)

As far as the public is concerned at the time, the only significant event happening on the 11th is the death of foremr congressman Jerry Voorhis.
 
November 9, 1985: First visit of Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in Bonn. Following the visit, it became of the the warming of relations between the USSR and West Germany
 
Donald Rumsfeld announces his intention to run for Republican nomination - with an early endorsement by James Pearson. Bush doesn't publicly comment on it but Kemp hears him darkly mutter about "wolves at the door".

I get that they may not like themselves personally. But that isn't a reason to run against him. I don't want this to end up like the Bush 2012 TL in which every Democrat runs against Obama
 
He doesn't like him, and there's four years of a large section of the Republicans who aren't happy with how Bush's government was run (including Rumsfeld), and for the last few months before this on the timeline, Bush's approval ratings have been low and he looked weak and tired in public.

Alternatively, since this is a collaborative timeline, if it bothers you that much you could pitch something else in its place.
 
He doesn't like him, and there's four years of a large section of the Republicans who aren't happy with how Bush's government was run (including Rumsfeld), and for the last few months before this on the timeline, Bush's approval ratings have been low and he looked weak and tired in public.

Alternatively, since this is a collaborative timeline, if it bothers you that much you could pitch something else in its place.

It would make far more sense for someone like Phil Crane or Jesse Helms to mount a primary challenge, not Rumsfeld.
 
It would make far more sense for someone like Phil Crane or Jesse Helms to mount a primary challenge, not Rumsfeld.

But, then again, Robertson has already run. One primary challenger should be enough

Besides, Bush isn't a terrible president ITTL
 
July 4th, 1985: Warrior of Vengeance, a Cannon Films production starring Chuck Norris as a disgruntled former US Marine fighting against Communist backed rebels in a non-descript South American nation, is released, to financial success, but critical panning. It is part of Donald Trump's new approach for having Columbia Pictures distribute "patriotic features"
 
You guys can make your own decision on this matter. However, because Bush is a decent President in this TL, like someone pointed out, it makes sense that he'd have only a few challengers.
 
September 15th, 1985: At this point just determined to win the suit against the federal government, and get a massive payout, Kerkorian sells MGM/UA and its film library to Donald Trump. With these film companies under his control, Trump forms the "Trump Film Group", a subsidiary of the Trump corporation.
 
Editing Rumsfeld for Crane (two challengers from the conservative wing seems manageable)

January 24th, 1984:
Iowa primary vote for Republicans - Bush only gets 39% of the vote, but Robertson and Crane split the conservative opposition vote 34%/27% respectively. The press present this as a political loss for Bush as it was dependent on a split; Bush refuses to publicly comment. Old

February 18, 1984:
[1] Puerto Rico Republican vote. Bush wins 51% to Crane's 28%, Robertson at 21%. Crane and Robertson both request the other drops out to avoid splitting the vote.

February 28, 1984: New Hampshire: heavy campaigning from Robertson and Crane about Bush's deficit spending, "wasteful" ART policy, and others - as well as endorsements by people against Bush, with Rumsfeld stating Crane "has good sense" - hammer Bush's vote share to 33%, but Crane only gets 34% and Robertson is also at 33%. Neither will budge. Concern grows in the White House that Bush is not contesting as hard as he could, worn out by the events of 1983. Concern grows by Crane that Robertson will discredit him by association with moderates.

March 1, 1984: A letter is leaked to the press, in which Robertson stated his plan to end the Bush era funding for AIDS treatments - a policy other Republicans have said but he refers to the disease as "God's judgement". Bush is roused and makes a short, angry statement to radio news, stating the way AIDS kills and calling it "repugnant to suggest God would inflict that on His own children". Crane swiftly condemns the idea too and, despite having planned to cut the funding himself, announces a U-turn. Polls show that many religious conservatives agree with Robertson, others are startled by the harshness.

[1] I'm guessing as I couldn't find when this was
 
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