I have been watching the netflix life documentary about Ted Bundy, and one thing that got my attention is that when he get the death sentence the judge comments about how a promissing young man he was, how he is someone pleasant to talk and how much potential he wasted with his crimes. This made me wonder, based on his social skills and knowledgement in law and politics, how far could he feasible go if he wasn't a psycho? Could he had been elected senator in the 90s or the 2000s?
If he hadn't been a serial killer, he'd be a typical political type and probably unremarkable other than being a nice face. I don't think anyone would ever know who he was outside of people in the area he lived in, where he'd be a local politician (probably at the state level), maybe at best having tried to run for the House of Representatives at some point.
To be fair the TL had gone off the rails a bit by that stage, kinda regret starting the “President Bundy” meme.
I will say I enjoyed that timeline. It went in unexpected directions.
Yes he'd be a completely different individual if he had, you know, empathy.
If he was indeed a psychopath, it's worth keeping in mind that psychopath does not automatically equal criminal. So if he just avoids breaking laws but is otherwise basically the same person, I could see him having some success in business or politics with his superficial charm. If he has no inclination towards any sort of deviant or antisocial behavior at all, then I suppose it's an open question whether he would have also had the same political ambitions that he had IRL - that's a pretty big piece of his personality to "remove" and then guess at what he'd have been like otherwise.
Keep him as close possible to our time line on the question of personality, but he does not comitt the crimes he did OTL, no murders or robberies of cars. How far can he go on politics?
From what I have read, Bundy did horribly in law school so any future as an attorney is out the window.
Having lived in SLC, with his background in politics, being a staunch Republican, and a member of the LDS Church, he definitely would have moved up both the political and religious ladders (something that is required for both). His psychopathology would have served him well in office. Charisma goes a long way and for the rest, staff can conceal the negatives and accentuate the positives. He EASILY could have made it into the House. Senator is likely pushing it too far.
His desire to murder and rape could likely be curtailed by busying himself with campaigning and civic responsibility. The man was a narcissist who needed power in some form. His murders only increased the worse his life became and only a chance discovery by a highway patrolman led to his arrest. Make him a bishop or higher in the Church, keep increasing his political clout, and marry him into a publicly required domestic life and the murders likely decrease in number (and his ability to travel extensively due to being a Congressman may further conceal the connections of his crimes).
He still likely gets caught by the mid 80s or early 90s if he doesn't fully redirect his aggressive nature from murder to politics, something BTK was able to do for some time with his employment. If he makes it to his forties, Ted's need to rape and murder likely drop (an odd discovery psychologists have made about serial murderers).
Having lived in SLC, with his background in politics, being a staunch Republican, and a member of the LDS Church, he definitely would have moved up both the political and religious ladders (something that is required for both). His psychopathology would have served him well in office. Charisma goes a long way and for the rest, staff can conceal the negatives and accentuate the positives. He EASILY could have made it into the House. Senator is likely pushing it too far.
His desire to murder and rape could likely be curtailed by busying himself with campaigning and civic responsibility. The man was a narcissist who needed power in some form. His murders only increased the worse his life became and only a chance discovery by a highway patrolman led to his arrest. Make him a bishop or higher in the Church, keep increasing his political clout, and marry him into a publicly required domestic life and the murders likely decrease in number (and his ability to travel extensively due to being a Congressman may further conceal the connections of his crimes).
He still likely gets caught by the mid 80s or early 90s if he doesn't fully redirect his aggressive nature from murder to politics, something BTK was able to do for some time with his employment. If he makes it to his forties, Ted's need to rape and murder likely drop (an odd discovery psychologists have made about serial murderers).
No problem. I met people who knew Bundy and they just couldn't say enough positive things about him, even now after the revelations. The ability to build THAT level of faith and trust is a natural gift for politics.
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I largely agree with @Inferus, but with one stipulations: people like Bundy are born psychopaths. If you can avoid his early exposure to violent pornography and stabilize his home life during his childhood, you might be able to get him better positioned for the social strains of the teenage years. IIRC, he was very introverted and quiet in high school, which is right before his first real murderous rampages took place. If he can make it through his teenage years without developing a hatred of women, you'll end up with a slightly safer but still deeply disturbed man. You can't really butterfly away chemical imbalances in my opinion. Which means that, though he might not be a violent serial killer, he still might have the tendencies of a sexual predator. I'd imagine that if Ted Bundy were to be, say, Governor of Washington or something (I agree with @metalinvader665 that he is likely to never advance beyond party functionary one way or another unless his career was in Utah) during the 1990s, he'd be currently facing some very serious and probably quite numerous #MeToo allegations.
Meh. JFK, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Obama, Trump all didn't have that either and managed to get into that office. No reason Ted Bundy or Jim Jones couldn't have.He does not have the skill to be a president.however there are scenarios like that, for example.