For WTP, I was thinking either a dove (to represent humble government and foreign policy) or two arms bent at 45 degrees in an isosceles triangle with linked hands (to represent progressivism).
Rumsfeldia: Fear and Loathing in the Decade of Tears
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For WTP, I was thinking either a dove (to represent humble government and foreign policy) or two arms bent at 45 degrees in an isosceles triangle with linked hands (to represent progressivism).
For some reason, I thought the Statue of Liberty would represent WTP better than an animal could. I know the OTL Libertarians have her as their symbol, but it would be an interesting twist to have the statue represent the diversity of America and as a symbol of social justice per "The New Colossus".
EDIT: Plus, with the ACLU in OTL using the Statue of Liberty as a logo, it wouldn't be unprecedented for a left-wing party to appeal to a more inclusive form of patriotism after the nightmare of Rumsfeldia.
"Principle is okay up to a certain point, but principle doesn't do any good if you lose."
- OTL Dick Cheney, 1976
- OTL Dick Cheney, 1976
Something like that, although I was also looking at him possibly choosing a moderate Republican like William Scranton (America's twice un-elected Vice President) as his running mate to try and create a bridge to moderate Democrats and Independents or possibly even Gerald Ford (solid, middle American type known to be both moderate and conservative, and with a record of standing on principle in the whole Agnew fiasco). On the other hand he might have chosen Jack Kemp, but that might have been doubling down on his own base. Then there was always Governor Bush of Texas.
One of the challenges of the Reagan 41 Presidency would be to implement his agenda with the fracturing of the Electoral College, and how he would have dealt with the lack of a popular mandate.
Ridley Scott – Made The Deullists and Tristan and Iseult and has a moderately successful career as a European film maker.
Michael Caine – After making the Jigsaw Man he made the mistake of calling Rumsfeld “a complete idiot” and “an ape in a man’s suit.” The accident investigation was unable to conclude what caused the brakes to fail on his car, and the verdict was left open.
John Kasich – After losing his seat in the Ohio Senate, he became a franchise operator for Donald Trump’s hair club for men. After going bankrupt, he later denounced Trump as a crook. Last seen living at an indigent camp operated by the CVs, having traded his vote for shelter and food.
Steven Spielberg – The man who directed this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.A._2017 was, by 1983, considered a visionary. After the success of his early films he made a number of films about the dystopia caused by the Depression of the 1970’s. When he started a push to correct the mythical history being pushed by the Rumsfeld propaganda machine he had a nervous breakdown.
Hugo Chavez – He disappeared while posted to Elorza.
Dilma Rousseff – Remains a Marxist agitator. Reportedly spent several years in Lisbon during the immediate post-revolutionary years learning how to lead a Marxist revolution from within.
Rudy Giuliani – I believe he was mentioned as being on Kelsey “the Hammer” Grammer’s staff.
Jerry Seinfeld – His career fizzled with the collapse of late night comedy under Rumsfeld. He became a speech writer for Pete McCloskey.
Salman Rushdie – A writer who generally upsets people, and who took note of what happened to Michael Caine.
Michael Harrington – Became involved with the 1970’s rise of the Socialist Worker’s Party (which had a wider appeal ITTL with its electoral successes) and later was active with the We The People Movement.
Boris Johnson – A playboy of no consequence. Donald Trump once offered him 500,000 pounds for his hair. The deal soured when Trump tried to pay him with Irish pounds instead of UK pounds.
Theresa May – Bank of England executive.
Roy Jenkins – mentioned as being part of several post-Heath Labour cabinets until he retired to write his memoirs.
Michael Caine – After making the Jigsaw Man he made the mistake of calling Rumsfeld “a complete idiot” and “an ape in a man’s suit.” The accident investigation was unable to conclude what caused the brakes to fail on his car, and the verdict was left open.
John Kasich – After losing his seat in the Ohio Senate, he became a franchise operator for Donald Trump’s hair club for men. After going bankrupt, he later denounced Trump as a crook. Last seen living at an indigent camp operated by the CVs, having traded his vote for shelter and food.
Steven Spielberg – The man who directed this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.A._2017 was, by 1983, considered a visionary. After the success of his early films he made a number of films about the dystopia caused by the Depression of the 1970’s. When he started a push to correct the mythical history being pushed by the Rumsfeld propaganda machine he had a nervous breakdown.
Hugo Chavez – He disappeared while posted to Elorza.
Dilma Rousseff – Remains a Marxist agitator. Reportedly spent several years in Lisbon during the immediate post-revolutionary years learning how to lead a Marxist revolution from within.
Rudy Giuliani – I believe he was mentioned as being on Kelsey “the Hammer” Grammer’s staff.
Jerry Seinfeld – His career fizzled with the collapse of late night comedy under Rumsfeld. He became a speech writer for Pete McCloskey.
Salman Rushdie – A writer who generally upsets people, and who took note of what happened to Michael Caine.
Michael Harrington – Became involved with the 1970’s rise of the Socialist Worker’s Party (which had a wider appeal ITTL with its electoral successes) and later was active with the We The People Movement.
Boris Johnson – A playboy of no consequence. Donald Trump once offered him 500,000 pounds for his hair. The deal soured when Trump tried to pay him with Irish pounds instead of UK pounds.
Theresa May – Bank of England executive.
Roy Jenkins – mentioned as being part of several post-Heath Labour cabinets until he retired to write his memoirs.
Lost Freeway
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I wonder why Rummy wasn't content to simply have him suffer a nervous breakdown.
Michael Caine was not a US citizen, therefore Rummy didn't want to cause a "diplomatic incident" by detaining a foreign citizen without a good reason to tell the authorities.
Indeed. Another wild card that bookmark95 does not consider in his analysis of the outcome of the TTL 1984 election is activist-based politics. In the absence of OTL's "Vietnam Syndrome", the TTL Reagan administration is unlikely to shift its focus from military interventionism to CIA-funded proxy wars. Therefore, the TTL Reagan administration is likely to send troops into most of the conflicts that Rummy did (although a leader with more emotional intelligence may be weary about South Africa due to a concern of not alienating the black vote) and there may be burning mud huts on American television screens every night as late as TTL 1984.
The longer Vietnam war and the worse economic situation of this world kept 1964 - 1972 style radicalism alive for longer. This factor later inspired the creation of the We the People movement to absorb these disparate elements. With the military-industrial complex visibly chugging along around the world, Reagan's OTL 1984 message of successfully restoring peace, prosperity and strength after the turbulence/stagnation of the 1960s and 1970s ("Morning in America") will be harder to sell. Therefore, he may not have a landslide in TTL 1984 in spite of a likely divided opposition.
No infrastructure for that in the UK. But the message is "I can reach out and swat my enemies anywhere, anytime I like."
He obviously took some inspiration from Operation CONDOR. Under this multi-lateral effort by many Latin American banana republics in the 1970s and 1980s, many expatriates were assassinated outside of their home countries.
With a more brutal leader in South Africa , I doubt Reagan would intervene militarily.
Rumsfeld here brings to mind OTL's Erdogan and Putin. Having silenced dissidents at home, he now wants to clamp down on his critics abroad.
Archibald
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I wonder if polonium poisoning is in use ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Alexander_Litvinenko
bookmark95
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Reagan would probably be more willing to send troops to certain regions, but unlike Rumsfeld he would still be willing to heed his allies in Western Europe. I doubt he would dare say in public that Greek and South African fascists are protectors of freedom.
That radicalism has divided progressive forces in the US, so its not hard to imagine Reagan being re-elected, since I doubt he would alarm the Democrats enough to recruit Pete McCloskey.
Oh, I am pretty positive that he would be re-elected; the question was on how well he would be re-elected. Who the Democrats would nominate in a TTL Reagan scenario would be an important indicator on how the election would go. The political successes of McKeithen and Wallace has undoubtedly kept many of the Dixiecrats/social conservatives in the Democratic Party who became "Ronniecrats" in OTL. Reubin Askew (Carey's running mate) would be a strong contender for keeping much of the OTL soft core of Reagan supporters on board with the Democrats. On the other hand, there would also be the need to attract the emerging WTP vote. I am almost positive that Dellums would try to get the WTP to stand down for the 1984 election to "Dump Reagan" as he actually tried to in Real Life with fringe third parties as seen in this video. However, the strongest devotees would inevitably resist as they did in Rumsfeldia granting Reagan a second term.
bookmark95
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As I said, Reagan would end up supporting Ryzhkov's peace initiatives in 1984, which would be a dramatic divergence from Rumsfeldia-84, since Dellums and other left-wing types wouldn't dare call Reagan, the man trying to reach a peace with Russia, a dangerous warmonger. And the business ties with MBA USSR would create tremendous economic opportunities.
Wouldn't he also criticize the human rights abuses committed by Ryzhkov? Without Rumsfeld, Ryzhkov looks a lot worse.
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