"What Madness Is This?" Volume I: The Union Forever

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Prince Daemon Targaryen

Thinking about it, wouldn't it be poetic if Oswald and Nixon secured their positions in the MDP by blackmailing Steele with the fact that they knew a certain Biserion Dzugashvilli in Shicagwa and had documents hidden in a secret place ready to be published to every major figure in the Union if anything happened to them. The ultimate blackmailer taken down with his own tactic.

Unknown said:
Yeah, I know Joe Steele is evil personified ITTL, but I loved his takedown of Billy Sunday, the hypocritical child molester...

If Sunday goes too far ITTL, we're gonna see TTL's version of Beria's trial scene from The Death of Stalin (1), methinks (the fact that Stalin freaked when his daughter was alone with Beria should tell you something, as well as the fact that Stalin's aides, for all of their jerkassery, hated Beria)...

(1) Since Beria would have done to them what they did to him IMO, he does not get to complain about his unfair treatment...
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Yeah, there's no sympathy for Sunday. Steele should just have him killed publicly in my opinion after purging the entire church of people not loyal to him.
 
Time Enough

Time Enough

raffaele gaggioli said:
Maybe Hughes will become the RU's version of Gobbels.
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That would make sense, it would be interesting if he still affected by his OCD and becomes a shadow figure of the RU. Running the motion-picture clan from the dark.

Also I just thought of something, I could see some inferiors becoming film actors, forced to play bad guys and more whilst living in a ghetto commune.
 
Murica1776

Murica1776

raffaele gaggioli said:
I suspect that Steele's first act as president (besides starting this TL's version of the Great Purge) will be the integration of Carolina into the RU. Not only it would be a great propaganda victory for Steele but it would also give to the RU more lands in Africa. Considering how much the ORRA already influences Carolina's government, i wouldn't be surprised if this "reunification" is the result of some kind of referendum.
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Here's why I don't think that will happen:

1. The Great War is still going on if I'm not mistaken. Russian Alaska, England, revolts in Nippon are all higher priority as a result. Then after that, there's the weakened, but probably pissed off Europans, the Reich who have probably alienated the Union by agreeing to a ceasefire, the Russians, and the Persians. Lots of fish to fry.
2. They basically already control the country. Raleigh is deathly afraid of a Yankee invasion, and basically does everything Philly tells them to. Why fix what isn't broken?
3. On the other hand the general population, while not anti-Union, is rabidly nationalistic. Holding a revanchist grudge for half a century does that to you. Any "reunification" could spark massive revolts from at least a sizable minority of the country. The Appalachians/Smokeys could turn into an Afghanistan like nightmare basically overnight.

Essentially, I think a "referendum" for "reunification" would spark massive backlash from the Carolinian people, and turn a loyal client state and decent trading partner into a drain on Yankee resources. Not the best move.
 

Darksider166

Murica1776 said:
Here's why I don't think that will happen:

1. The Great War is still going on if I'm not mistaken. Russian Alaska, England, revolts in Nippon are all higher priority as a result. Then after that, there's the weakened, but probably pissed off Europans, the Reich who have probably alienated the Union by agreeing to a ceasefire, the Russians, and the Persians. Lots of fish to fry.
2. They basically already control the country. Raleigh is deathly afraid of a Yankee invasion, and basically does everything Philly tells them to. Why fix what isn't broken?
3. On the other hand the general population, while not anti-Union, is rabidly nationalistic. Holding a revanchist grudge for half a century does that to you. Any "reunification" could spark massive revolts from at least a sizable minority of the country. The Appalachians/Smokeys could turn into an Afghanistan like nightmare basically overnight.

Essentially, I think a "referendum" for "reunification" would spark massive backlash from the Carolinian people, and turn a loyal client state and decent trading partner into a drain on Yankee resources. Not the best move.
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Also regarding the purge, Steele needs to get order brought back from the inferior uprisings and also needs to get more and more dirt on all his enemies in government to justify such a purge and find suitable replacements for them that will be competent enough for the jobs while also being submissive enough to never become a threat to Steele. I can see the first purges start around 1920-22, I mean it took over a decade for Stalin IOTL to begin his mass purges.
 

Gar48

Murica1776 said:
They basically already control the country. Raleigh is deathly afraid of a Yankee invasion, and basically does everything Philly tells them to. Why fix what isn't broken?
3. On the other hand the general population, while not anti-Union, is rabidly nationalistic. Holding a revanchist grudge for half a century does that to you. Any "reunification" could spark massive revolts from at least a sizable minority of the country. The Appalachians/Smokeys could turn into an Afghanistan like nightmare basically overnight
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While i agree with the first point, i have a couple of counter-arguments:
1)Both the white and black population of the RU would see an eventual annexation of Carolina extremly well, because it would mean reuniting the old United States and free the oppressed blacks in the region. Heck, maybe the blacks in Carolina will actually endorse and help the yankees like it already happened in Virginia during the Great American War.
2)We both know that Steele would simply start deporting the population like he did in OTL
3)The RU is much more insane and violent than OTL URSS in the 70s/80s.
 
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Murica1776

Murica1776

raffaele gaggioli said:
While i agree with the first point, i have a couple of counter-arguments:
1)Both the white and black population of the RU would see an eventual annexation of Carolina extremly well, because it would mean reuniting the old United States and free the oppressed blacks in the region. Heck, maybe the blacks in Carolina will actually endorse and help the yankees like it already happened in Virginia during the Great American War.
2)We both know that Steele would simply start deporting the population like he did in OTL
3)The RU is much more insane and violent than OTL URSS in the 70s/80s.
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I would normally agree with point 1. However:

Napoleon53 said:
In 1870, with the creation of Jacksonland in Africa, Wade Hampton III and Nathan Bedford Forrest were placed in charge of "Denegrification."
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Carolina has been forcibly deporting its black population to Jacksonland for almost 45 years by this point in the TL. Where they have subsequently been worked to death. Horrifying by humanitarian standards. However, it also makes a fifth column increasingly impractical. How many Afro-Carolinians are even left by this point?

2 and 3 are both fair points. However, I feel like Steele's character plays a big part in why he won't attempt such a move. He is a power-hungry, black-hearted son of a bitch, but as far as I can tell he's also supremely pragmatic. Whether or not he formally reunifies Carolina with the Union, he knows that in a practical sense, he's the real Chancellor of Carolina. If he asks Carolina to jump, they ask how high and how many times. Why bother with a fake referendum, a bloody guerrilla war, and expensive deportations when it won't actually make him that much more powerful? In my opinion, if anyone attempted such a move, it would be Chucker-Fucker Oswald. He's not just power-hungry, but egotistical in the extreme. He'd spend the lives and resources simply to force a few more people to Hail him and treat him like the Second Coming. Steele is content to just dominate.
 

Prince Daemon Targaryen

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President Steele, the true definition of a Pinnacle Man, is all smiles while resting his soul among quiet meditation among Patriot-Saints past at Martha's Vineyard after his visit with the great Reverend-Colonel Sunday. All Hail!
 

halfcoop

So correct me if I’m wrong but Billy Sunday attempt to centralized the power of the Reverend-Colonel lead to the Council of Jehovah losing power. So by the time Steele started to exert power has the council become significantly neutered, right?
 

President Earl Warren

Napoleon53 said:
Dear Reverend-Colonel. This is a false bomb. But I could have just as easily had a real one planted. Just in case you think you can trust your Zealots, know you are never out of my grasp. Trust no one, not even yourself. All hail."
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For all he is an evil bastord, you have to say Joe Steele is at least kinda classy in his Evil intimidation. Never thought I would find my self applauding a Take down by Joseph Stalin but I am. May Billy Sunday go to hell and Burn for Eternity.
 
Napoleon53

Napoleon53

Sorry for lack of replies and stuff guys! Not only did I have to replace a radiator in my Galaxie, I had my off days taken away because my coworkers called in. Lol I've worked a week straight.
 
Napoleon53

Napoleon53

Honestly, while I love analogues and always try to work as many in as possible (I know some may dislike that, but I find it wildly entertaining both to read and write), I also avoid having straight analogues of different people mostly by combining different people's OTL characteristics into one person. For instance, Custer is quite clearly both himself from OTL, Hindenburg, and Lenin. Steele is clearly Stalin, but also Hitler, FDR (just wait), Mao, and even a little bit of Heydrich, and even some more after that. As for who will be Goebbels, I can see traces of it in Sunday's potential future, but it will likely be someone else. I have also discussed making Bugsy Siegel (aka Benny Riechenthal) the Riefenstahl proxy, and I also have some fictional characters in reserve. At work I daydreamed up a character named Chip Davis, a distant relative of the Jefferson Davis family, who is an influential filmmaker and movie star in Florida (where I imagine a Hollywood stand-in would be; perhaps Kissimmee, since it has already been shown to be a playground of the rich?). I also have good ol' Max Cross in reserve as well from 1.0. I'd say Benny Riechenthal will most likely be the head of the Filmmakers Clan, furthering the Jews-succeed-in-the-Union trope. Also, I just love how much the name sounds like Leni Riefenstahl. I could imagine his parents and himself as a small child fleeing Europe and antisemitism after seeing the success and rise of Jews like Goldstein in America.

WAIT.

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Benny Riechenthal is Benny from Fallout New Vegas. It's so damn perfect. He straight-up looks like a Hollywood boss already.
 
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