pop musician as POTUS?

Not sure Mustaine is a Republican. Of course, I havent heard any of his recent opinions, but he was pretty critical of the George W Bush administration (see the album cover for "The System has Failed" or the line about the Patriot Act in the song "Endgame") and he wasnt a big fan of Bush 1 either ("Foreclosure of a Dream"). Of course, he's also criticized the Democrats as well, but I think he's more of a guy who doesnt care for either party. Come to think of it, Mustaine and Blackie Lawless (who's also criticized both parties) could be an interesting Independent ticket.
 
I can't imagine someone as allergic to kowtowing to mass popularity as Cobain becoming a politician whose job is to do just that at the expense of all personal dignity. That's Cobain In Name Only.

Honestly I was being somewhat facetious; I could see him being prominent as an activist for addicts or medical weed, but politics would be a leap.

Of the grunge icons, I could rather imagine Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam as a potential POTUS. Cobain would be the popular activist with many enthusiastic ground support, who's doing well on state level, but who'd be considered too extreme/difficult for a candidacy by the party machinery. Vedder would deliver a similar message, but with a more populist streak acceptable to the wider masses.

I like that idea. If I had an iota of time, I'd start a timeline on President Vedder. Possibly a member of Green Day in his Cabinet.
 
Not sure Mustaine is a Republican. Of course, I havent heard any of his recent opinions, but he was pretty critical of the George W Bush administration (see the album cover for "The System has Failed" or the line about the Patriot Act in the song "Endgame") and he wasnt a big fan of Bush 1 either ("Foreclosure of a Dream"). Of course, he's also criticized the Democrats as well, but I think he's more of a guy who doesnt care for either party. Come to think of it, Mustaine and Blackie Lawless (who's also criticized both parties) could be an interesting Independent ticket.

If Nugent is the hard-right sort of guy, then Mustaine can muster up independent and neutral credit solely by his music, if not his actual political beliefs. He's said many interesting things in interviews, to say the least. But look how Alex Jones (who Mustaine has links to) has associated with the Trump administration. Seems like if you're a hard-right sort of guy and want a left-wing/neutral guy to balance the ticket, you might go for Dave Mustaine. Likewise, for a hard-left sort of candidate (lots of conspiracy theorising, let's say they'd do), you'd go for Dave Mustaine for the same reason. Either way is giving a popular musician a shot at the presidency. And either way is paying heed to many, many conspiracy theories. Like how Dave says Foreclosure of a Dream applies in large to part to Monsanto and such nowadays.

Maybe in a TL where Ross Perot wins you might get more of that sort of thing and thus the door opens for a Reform Party candidate (Trump?) to include Mustaine on their ticket and have a serious shot.
 
There's always Frank Zappa, who was an interesting card. A very principled fiscally conservative that criticized against the War on Drugs, SDI, the religious right, and fought hard against censorship could easily find in with the libertarian Republican movement.
 
There's always Frank Zappa, who was an interesting card. A very principled fiscally conservative that criticized against the War on Drugs, SDI, the religious right, and fought hard against censorship could easily find in with the libertarian Republican movement.

If the Reagan years turn out to be a failure or leave a bad taste in America's mouth - say, Iran-Contra generates Lewinsky-Level backlash and Reagan gets impeached, forcing the GOP to backpedal its Reagan-era agenda - then this could work.
 
If Jerry Brown became President in the 1970s-1980s, a First Lady Linda Ronstadt could run for office at some point. Andrew Cuomo presided over Billy Joel's wedding. Let's say that Gore picks Cuomo as his running mate in 2000, and the ticket wins. Cuomo might convince Joel to enter politics himself.
 
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