Variation of
the War of the Five POTUS.
Trump wins majority delegates at the RNC in July 21, but the Republican establishment freaks out and keeps the nomination from him via brokered convention, and Rubio becomes the anointed candidate. Embittered and still uber-popular, Trump reverses his pledge to Norquist, runs as an independent under the Make America Great Again Party. He also makes several other populist moves, including rescinding his anti-tax pledge to Norquist, putting forth a new economic plan that makes more concessions to the middle class, as well as suggesting big infrastructural programs. He also declares the need to "Cure Public Health Once and for All" with his own upcoming healthcare plan that includes "stopping Big Pharma from overcharging you" also anti-epidemic initiatives that would "work with the FBI and military" to "prevent Zika and ebola from ever endangering American citizens." Ben Carson is rumored to have been asked to serve as his new Surgeon General.
Alone in his hotel room at the RNC, Ted Cruz watches the events on television. He bows his head in prayer. Several minutes later, he raises his infamous visage and declares that the convention pick was unjust and refuses to abide by it. In an emergency rally, he refuses to concede to Rubio and instead declares a "righteous crusade" to wrest the Republican Party from "Rubio's neoconservatism and pro-amnesty globalism" and "Trump's secret socialist sympathies." Though only a minority of the evangelicals and 'very conservative' Tea Party partisans who previously supported him rally to his Real Republican Party, he also bleeds some MAGAP folks who are betrayed by Trump's apparent support for big government programs.
A week later, the Democratic nominee is Hillary, who prevails in a very close primary fight and is widely perceived to have been selected via brokered convention (despite the rumor being most likely untrue). She wins the nomination, loses the mandate. Revolt risk in the Democratic party is at record heights. The RNC is already over for a week and both Cruz and Trump have already announced third-party candidacies. Anti-Hillary groups, furious at the party establishment but perceiving progressive victory to be inevitable since the right-wing is divided, switch to an unprecedentedly massive write-in campaign for Sanders. Despite only capturing the attention, much less support of a minority of formerly pro-Bernie voters, disgruntlement at the party machinery and discomfort at voting for Hillary causes uncertainty in many Democrats, especially with the youth. Sanders himself rejects any sort of third party run, but his movement has marched onwards without him, intent on drafting him via write-in; direct democracy by sidestepping the party nomination process entirely. He also does not endorse or support Hillary, despite officially conceding to her at the convention. His supporters insist that he can be drafted, and that the three-way Republican split means that a Democratic victory is inevitable.
True to his words,
former Gov. Jesse Ventura launches his candidacy with Sanders' official defeat in the primary. As part of this, he resurrects the Reform Party label.
In other third party news, the Libertarian Party chooses a unity Gary Johnson-John McAfee joint ticket. The experience of Johnson and the celebrity antics of McAfee (as well as his personal wealth) helps the party attain an unprecedented level (for the Libertarians, that is) of exposure and semi-respectability. Let's say 2000 Nader-levels of general public awareness.
Amidst all of this, Bloomberg jumps in as centrist unity figure.
So, uh, how does this play out?
