Trumped

[PPT Spiral]

President Donald John Trump, Sr.

2017-2021

The presidency of Donald J. Trump would mark one of the most "confusing, frustrating, and downright ludicrous" eras in American history. Coming fresh off of a totally unconventional election as the victor, Trump set his sights high but with plenty of obstacles along the way. He would have none of it. This is the tale of the man who changed the national discourse away from the policies and moved it back to him. At the end of it all, everyone was left wondering: "How the hell did we come here?"

Good question.

[Dancing with Myself]

Looking forward to it.

Besides my old TL about Trump as the Reform Candidate in 2000 no one has done a TL about him. I'll be a rabib reader as a result

[BigVic]

Interesting....A Trump Peesidency is highly unlikely in real life. How did Mr Trump got the GOP nomination?!?

[Maxwell]

YES. So excited for how this happened.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

YES. So excited for how this happened.

Yeah, this will be good!

[The Other Castro]

This might come in handy

[JonathanSwift]

Mark me down as intrigued.

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

One of the great things about timelines like this is the ability to think about a terrible event without it actually having to occur.

I'll be watching this like people watch a train wreck.

[PPT Spiral]

Chapter I: This Is No Joke

"My friends, you've all seen the headlines from the media. 'Oh, Trump's not gonna run! He's a fraud! He's a joke! The guy just wants more money and attention!' Well, today I'm here to prove all those knucklehead journalists and pundits wrong. This is no joke: I am running for President of the United States! I've built a great, great company and I've employed thousands of people. No one else in the field can claim to have my kind of record. They just can't! We have probably the most incompetent president we've ever had in Barack Obama in the White House right now, and God help us all if it's Hillary's turn next. The motto of this campaign is 'Make America Great Again.' We have to make America what it used to be: the greatest nation in the world. We can't have countries like China laughing all the way to the bank like they are and get away with it. I'm running to win this whole shebang and turn this country back around, and with your help, no one will dare mess with America again!"

And just like that, eccentric businessman Donald Trump announced his presidential campaign in the flashiest of ways you can expect from Donald Trump, boasting in front of the Trump Tower on June 12. Many were shocked to see Trump finally take the plunge into presidential politics after years of teasing and always backing down. Even as he finally got involved, his chances weren't taken seriously at all. "Do you really want me to treat Donald Trump as some kind of legitimate candidate?" Chris Matthews snarkily said on his MSNBC show soon after the announcement. Despite the dismissals from virtually everyone in the press, Trump would be unfazed by it. In his mind, he was now on a mission to win, and he was going to prove his skeptics dead wrong again, just like he had by announcing his candidacy.

At this point in the race, the polls had been relatively stable for a while. Jeb Bush and Scott Walker had been at the top of national polling for the Republicans, typically followed by Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Mike Huckabee not too far away. With Trump's highly publicized announcement, however, he got a considerable boost and landed in the high single digits to low double digits shortly thereafter, leaving him solidly in the second tier of candidates. As for the Democrats, Hillary Clinton continued to dominate, leaving all the other Democrats to eat her dust. Bernie Sanders was the only competitor who got notable traction at this point, hovering around 20%.

Soon, the debates would roll around. Trump knew that this would be his time to shine.

Republican Primary Poll - July 2015
Jeb Bush - 15%
Scott Walker - 14%
Marco Rubio - 10%
Rand Paul - 9%
Donald Trump - 8%
Mike Huckabee - 7%
Ted Cruz - 6%
Ben Carson - 5%
Chris Christie - 4%
John Kasich - 3%
Carly Fiorina - 2%
Rick Perry - 2%
Rick Santorum - 2%
Lindsey Graham - 1%
George Pataki - 1%
Undecided - 11%

Democratic Primary Poll - July 2015
Hillary Clinton - 55%
Bernie Sanders - 19%
Martin O'Malley - 7%
Jim Webb - 4%
Lincoln Chafee - 1%
Undecided - 14%

[PPT Spiral]

Chapter II: No Mercy

As all of the candidates were building their campaigns, the first televised primary debate in mid-August inched closer by the day. This would be when things really start to change, and every second of precious airtime would count. While low-polling candidates like Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham, and George Pataki were scrambling to get a podium reserved (really, though, who cares about them?), the star of this timeline could rest comfortably knowing that he was already a lock for the debate. Foregoing the amount of preparation usually warranted for an event of this magnitude, The Donald stuck with the best piece of advice he ever heard: "Just be yourself." After all, it worked out for him plenty of times before. (Usually, at least.)

Finally, Debate Night arrives. As the debate begins and the field enters the stage, the candidates start off with their opening remarks to make their pitch to the voters on why they should be entrusted with the country's nukes. After going through about three-fourths of the line, it is now Donald Trump's turn to give his spiel.

"In case you don't know already, the name's Donald Trump. Some people even call me The Donald! I have had tremendous success my whole life. I've had a great business and I've built wonderful, beautiful buildings all around the world. Not only that, but I've made a LOT of money! Believe me. I'm the only candidate who knows how to get this economy back on its feet. I will destroy ISIS in the most spectacular way possible. I will toss out the trainwreck we all know as Obamacare and replace it with something totally better. I'll also finally hold China accountable and show them who's really boss. If you want to make this country great again, I'm your only choice, not these bozos next to me we call our elected officials!"

That last line drew a large round of applause from the audience, but the bomb-throwing from Trump wouldn't end there. On the contrary, he was by far the most active when it came to launching attacks on his opponents, and no one was spared.

On Jeb Bush: "You're telling me this guy is supposed to be conservative?! He's okay with the illegals pouring in and he wants Common Core in all our schools, yet he's apparently conservative? Don't even get me started on his last name, too! We can't afford another Bush in the White House, it's that simple."

On Rand Paul: "Look, I like the guy, but he's going to be dangerous for this country if he ever becomes president. He'll let Iran get the nukes and he'll let the whole Middle East get engulfed by ISIS. We just can't have that! We need a leader who means business, not somebody who sides with President Obama on these issues! They'll laugh at Rand Paul!"

On Marco Rubio: "You know what Marco is? A lightweight. He doesn't mean business. He doesn't have a damn clue what he's doing because he's never had to do anything that meant anything. Frankly, I don't know why he's still running."

On Ted Cruz: "Okay, you know how to shut down the government, but have you ever dealt with the Chinese like I have? They're ruthless! They'll just tear you up if you ever had to deal with them. We need somebody in the White House who knows how to close a deal and not just be able to talk for hours on end."

The crowd ate all of it up. Perhaps part of it was due to the novelty of Donald Trump being on the debate stage, but they loved what he had to say, and with the tenacity that he had saying it. To the surprise of the media, Trump was the unexpected winner of the debate. He successfully tore down his opponents that night and received a new round of attention, definitely good news for him. Now the question was what would come next.

Republican Primary Poll - September 2015
Scott Walker - 15%
Jeb Bush - 13%
Marco Rubio - 11%
Donald Trump - 10%
Rand Paul - 8%
Mike Huckabee - 7%
Ted Cruz - 5%
Ben Carson - 4%
John Kasich - 4%
Chris Christie - 3%
Rick Perry - 2%
Carly Fiorina - 1%
Lindsey Graham - 1%
George Pataki - 1%
Rick Santorum - 1%
Undecided - 14%