Sun and Moon - The Presidential Election of 2040

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I would like to find out more about what caused the realignment and if it was in 2020 or 2024?  And, what happened to "movement conservative" types?  I see that Rubio is in the cabinet, but did he evolve to be significantly more moderate?  What are types like Cruz, Bevin, Walker, Tim Scott, etc. up to these days?

[_]

First, amazing job so far, I really like how it's set up, and I think Tim Ryan dropping out post Iowa was a good choice.

Second, I would like to see a list of Governors and Senators if possible, I'd like to see who was able to survive/come out of the realignment.

Third, personal request, could you tell me what happened to Bruce Rauner?  How badly did he lose in 2018(if he lost) and did he have any political career post 2018.

[morgankingsley]

So if she is the 48th president and Trump is 45, that means there is two in between. If Castro was beaten for a second term, that means that he got into office in 2032. This means there is 16 years between Trump's election and Castro's first round. Since you can't be president for more than 8 years, does this mean that Trump got elected for a second term and then the one after him got two terms and then Castro one? It would add up.

 8+8+4=20
and
2036-2016=20

[Deblano]

I wonder what its like in Virginia in this timeline...

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

Wow, so many questions, so many responses!

I would like to find out more about what caused the realignment and if it was in 2020 or 2024?  And, what happened to "movement conservative" types?  I see that Rubio is in the cabinet, but did he evolve to be significantly more moderate?  What are types like Cruz, Bevin, Walker, Tim Scott, etc. up to these days?

I hope you are patient, because I'm not going to spoil what's basically the first of two climaxes (the second one being, of course, the Election of 2040).

What I will tell you is that after the Realignment, the GOP fell into civil war between the various factions. At first it was basically a battle between the "movement conservatives," led by Cruz, Rubio, etc. and the cultural nationalists, led by Sen. Tom Cotton. But that didn't get the GOP any closer to their original power. Then in the early 2030s, Sun, Stefanik, etc. offered a new, socially liberal vision of American conservatism and strong-armed, ahem, convinced the rest of the party to adopt it. And to their credit, that vision has achieved impressive results.

As for Rubio in particular, he barely won reelection in 2022, but he decided not to run in 2028, as he was frustrated by the GOP civil war and the obstinate attitudes of the Senate Democrats. Since then he kept to the private sector, keeping a low profile until Sun gave him a second chance in the spotlight. So he agreed to become Attorney General, in exchange for toeing the Administration's line on criminal justice reform and other such social issues.

First, amazing job so far, I really like how it's set up, and I think Tim Ryan dropping out post Iowa was a good choice.

Second, I would like to see a list of Governors and Senators if possible, I'd like to see who was able to survive/come out of the realignment.

Third, personal request, could you tell me what happened to Bruce Rauner?  How badly did he lose in 2018(if he lost) and did he have any political career post 2018.

1. You're welcome!

2. I'm currently in the process of making the Senate list, so that should come some day. I will tell you that the Senate is currently 58 R, 42 D. (Technically it's only 41 D right now because Van Hollen retired, but his seat is Safe D so it doesn't matter.)

3. Yeah, Bruce Rauner fell and fell hard in 2018. Like Rubio, he kept quiet in the private sector, but unlike Rubio he never got a second chance to shine.

Speaking of Florida Senators...

Could I ask who represents Florida in the Senate?

Senior Senator: Stephanie Murphy (R-FL)



Junior Senator: Dwayne Johnson (R-FL)



Murphy was elected to the Senate as a Democrat after Rubio declined to run for another term, handily defeating her no-name opponent. However, as a Blue Dog, she became frustrated with the increasing progressivism of her Democratic colleagues, so she switched parties in 2034 and won as a Republican.

Johnson, after an illustrious career in acting, decided to satisfy the "Dwayne 4 President" people and entered politics. He defeated incumbent Democrat Andrew Gillum in 2036.

I wonder what its like in Virginia in this timeline...

NoVA has become more Republican. Not as Republican as Orange County (for example), but it's still pretty (Atlas) blue. The south and southwestern regions have become more Democrat, but that doesn't counter NoVA's R trend. Thus Virginia is in 2040 can be considered a tilt or lean-R state, though it would only vote for a moderate, socially liberal Republican.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

North Carolina?

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

Meet Barron Trump, The World’s Richest Man


Trump at the Mumbai Virtual Development Conference in 2038

Virtualearth Inc. CEO Barron Trump is now officially the world’s richest man, according to the Forbes World Billionaires List. His current net worth clocks in at $825.6 billion, which exceeds that of the previous record-holder, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, who has a net worth of $820.3 billion.

Trump, 33, acknowledged his newfound status on Twitter, saying “Great news. Now let’s keep on making the world a better place.”

Trump’s newfound status is an auspicious sign for his Sacramento, California-based virtual reality behemoth, of with Trump owns a 20 percent stake. The news comes only a few months after Virtualearth achieved the 3 billion global users milestone, across both conventional and brain-integrated platforms. The VR network boasts more than 1 billion users in India alone, 350 million users in China and 264 million users in the United States. It has a market capitalization of $1523 billion as of December 2039; as such, Virtualearth is the 4th largest publicly-traded corporation in the United States and the 17th largest in the world.

It is hard to imagine a life before Virtualearth and other virtual reality networks. Before, social media was mainly restricted to one-dimensional Internet posts. Now, friends and family on opposite sides of the planet can practically talk to each other in person. I can experience my friends’ vacation as if I traveled there myself and present to audiences of thousands without leaving my house. Millions of users spend billions of dollars through Virtualshop, play VR games with Virtualplay, and even enjoy virtual pornography with Virtualearth After Dark. And its influence, virtual and real, continues to grow; Virtualearth has been a prominent player in the VR device market since acquiring Oculus from Facebook in 2038 and operates a joint fiber-optics venture with Verizon Inc., whose board of directors include Trump as a member.

Unlike most Silicon Valley executives, Trump is not a man new to wealth; as the youngest son of the late president Donald Trump, he started Virtualearth with a $125 million contribution from his billionaire father. “I’ll admit, it’s not exactly what you call a ‘small loan,’” the younger Trump said in an April 2039 interview, referencing how the elder Trump himself started his business empire with a “small loan” of $1 million from his own father, real estate developer Fred Trump.

“My father used to say,” Trump said in his commencement address to the University of Pennsylvania class of 2038, “He is so good with these computers! He’s great with the cyber!’ He always told me that. And so I agreed and ran with the idea.”

With that $125 million, Trump was able to found Virtualearth in 2025, when he was still a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania. While virtual reality social networks were emerging at that time, it was Trump who, with his money, was able to acquire the necessary infrastructure, particularly the central servers, that would lead to Virtualearth dominating the market over its potential competitors.

Trump, who is fluent in English and Slovene, has often distanced himself from his father; for example, he is an unapologetic proponent of globalization and multiculturalism, a stark contrast to the elder Trump’s isolationist and nationalist worldview. In his April interview, Trump said that “my dad wanted to build a wall between America and Mexico. So I built a bridge instead. Now you and me here in New York can have a coffee chat with someone in Mexico City without leaving our rooms.”

Trump is an active philanthropist. To date, he has donated $10 billion to the Barron Trump Initiatives foundation, which Trump founded in order to develop Internet infrastructure and renewable energy for developing countries, along with helping them with adapting to the effects of climate change. He is also involved in politics, and was a strong supporter of Crystal Sun’s campaign during the 2036 presidential race.

That is not to say that Trump or Virtualearth is free from controversy. In 2038, five prominent Indian politicians were accused of accepting bribes from Virtualearth, though the company denies it; all were eventually acquitted. Likewise, Virtualearth has come under fire for accepting Chinese censorship requirements; regularly, Great Firewall bots censor posts for Chinese users.

However, any such controversy must be put into the context of Virtualearth’s remarkable success. It is rare that an entirely new form of communication is invented, but when that happens, the whole world turns upside down. As Trump implies, the fact that he’s now the world’s richest man is just an asterisk to his bigger accomplishment to changing the world, and this accomplishment is simply a hint of the shape of things to come.

[Blackacre]

Is that 58R-42D Senate after the 2038 midterms or before?

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Speaking of Florida Senators...

Could I ask who represents Florida in the Senate?

Senior Senator: Stephanie Murphy (R-FL)



Junior Senator: Dwayne Johnson (R-FL)



Murphy was elected to the Senate as a Democrat after Rubio declined to run for another term, handily defeating her no-name opponent. However, as a Blue Dog, she became frustrated with the increasing progressivism of her Democratic colleagues, so she switched parties in 2034 and won as a Republican.

Johnson, after an illustrious career in acting, decided to satisfy the "Dwayne 4 President" people and entered politics. He defeated incumbent Democrat Andrew Gillum in 2036.

That is so much drama!! I don't know whether to be glad or terrified...

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

Is that 58R-42D Senate after the 2038 midterms or before?

That's after the 2038 midterms.

Before that, it was 59 R, 41 D.

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Is Puerto Rico statehood an issue in national politics at this point? I feel like it could be a major issue for Puerto Ricans living in the U.S., and they're a quickly growing voting bloc in Florida and other states

[libertpaulian]

Trevor Noah and The Rock are SENATORS?!  If that's the case, please please please tell me Trey Parker or Matt Stone is a Senator from Colorado...

[Blackacre]

Is that 58R-42D Senate after the 2038 midterms or before?

That's after the 2038 midterms.

Before that, it was 59 R, 41 D.

Ds only gained one Senate seat in the midterms? Thats pathetic tbh. Or were they just overextended bc the class was last elected in 2032?

[America Needs R'hllor]

I love the fact that Trevor Noah is a Senator

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

February 2, 2040 - Columbus, Ohio

Richard Cordray was a great chef. No, seriously; Cordray’s meatloafs was stuff from heaven. Not only did he know how to cook them, he knew what meats to choose, which slices of the cow to buy. And it had to be a cow, usually, though artificial meat was also acceptable so long as it was from one of those new boutique labs in Wisconsin or Chicago. None of the vat-grown crud that most supermarkets sell these days.

But Richard Cordray was not just a great chef. He was a distinguished Ohio politician, the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Board, and one-time Secretary of the Treasury. It was a resume almost as distinguished as his guest’s, the 46th President of the United States.

The two men sat down at the dinner table in Cordray’s lovely Victorian-style house. They were joined by Cordray’s wife; the former president was once married, but had long since been divorced. The table itself was quite aesthetic, even though it was 3D-printed and sold unassembled for $500 at IKEA. It was fitting decor for Cordray, who believed that America governed not for the rich and powerful, but for all of its people, and especially for the poor and vulnerable.

“Hmm,” the Realigner, as he was often called, said, furrowing his eyebrows while he was scrolling on his phone. “Tim Ryan dropped out. I’m sorry.”

“Yes, I heard,” Cordray said, taking the first bite of his meatloaf.

“I’m sure you’ve got to be really disappointed that he had to drop out so early,” he said. “He was a decent guy with decent policy who would’ve made Ohio proud.” It was true; Senator Ryan was pretty progressive these days. Ryan’s flaws weren't with policy, but with charisma; he was a bit boring and was viewed as a poor man’s version of Pete Buttigieg.

He remembered when Ryan first tried to topple Nancy Pelosi to become the next House Minority Leader, all those many years ago. In that sense, both he and Ryan were insurgents, taking on the establishment and ushering a new era of progressivism.

“Yeah, I have to say, I am disappointed,” Cordray said. He took a sip of the sparkling pear juice he bought; normally he would serve wine, but this guest didn’t drink. He chuckled. “I guess it is a good decision not to endorse him right away. But hey, what do they say? Hindsight is 20/20.”

“Just curious,” the former president said, “Who did you want to win the nomination? Do you have a favorite?”

“Oh, don’t ask me that. Please.” Cordray said, wiping his mouth with a bamboo napkin. “Ever since I left Washington, I checked out of politics. Like, when I left Washington the first time, when I left the CFPB, I thought I was done, but then you brought me back. But then I left, and I left for good! Now I’m just staying in Ohio, helping out my community as a private citizen.”

“But if you want an answer,” Cordray continued, “I don’t really have a favorite per se. I liked Ryan, I guess, I guess there is that home state factor. But I like Glass and Buttigieg too.”

“And let’s pretend the two others don’t exist,” Cordray’s wife, Peggy, said.

“I mean, I’m actually kind of the same as you are,” the former president said, as he carefully scooped up another clod of meatloaf with his fork. “I like Glass and Buttigieg, not so much Ossoff, and Gabbard’s Gabbard.”

“Gabbard’s Gabbard,” Cordray repeated. “Nice way of putting it shortly.”

“I mean, I see myself in both of them,” the Realigner said. “You got these young passionate people who worked their way up the system so they can change the rules. I mean, look at Ms. Glass. She started out the same way I did, as an activist. She was an activist, you know that?”

“Yes, I am aware of that,” Cordray said.

“And then like me, she worked up her way to becoming Governor, and now she’s running for President. And Buttigieg, now Buttigieg was never an activist, but he’s someone who started small and worked his way up in Congress. And he’s from the Midwest.”

“Heh,” Cordray said.

“You gotta start somewhere,” the Realigner said. “That’s what I like about the two. They don’t forget their roots. These kids are passionate for a reason. They don’t forget the people they serve, and they won’t if they become President. I can feel it.”

The two elderly Midwesterners, over Cordray’s delicious meatloaf, exchanged a few more words on various topics. They talked about President Sun’s global trip that will, not coincidentally, start on the first day of the Chinese New Year. They talked about Barron Trump’s recent success, compared the younger Trump with his late father, and lamented the laxity of Indian financial and anti-monopoly regulations.

While talking and eating, the 46th President thought deeply. He thought about his own life, how all those years simply flew by. It seemed like yesterday when he was just another activist protesting injustice, with the aim of bringing the heat onto the politicians so they could see the light. Then he became a politician himself, first a lowly state representative, then a Congressman. He thought about his victories in Congress, but more importantly, he thought about his losses.

He thought about his run for Governor, and he thought about his run for President. He remembered the Republicans who feared he would destroy America with the twin evils of socialism and Sharia. He remembered the Third Way Democrats who viewed him with suspicion at best and hostility at worst. He remembered the pundits who said he was unelectable, or that if he was elected, he would be a one-term President. Oh, and there were those two guys who tried to kill him.

And yet he defied them all, won big, and transformed America.

He thought about how he transformed America. He had graduated college when the Reagan Revolution was getting started. Supply-side economics was ascendant, and the gains of the New Deal, the Great Society, and the Civil Rights Movement were under threat. People, including himself, fought back, but the conservative hegemony of those times was simply too strong.

Then the Crisis came, people suffered, and they wanted change. Ironically, many originally saw change in then-President Trump, whether he wanted to restore American jobs or, more darkly, the racism and white supremacy of decades past. But Trump failed. The people still wanted change, and so they chose him.

And now, in 2040? Millions of people, some of whom had viewed him as the Antichrist when he was president, love him today. (Then again, millions more still think he’s the Antichrist today. Some things never change.) He had been lionized and placed with the likes of Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan. Songs have been written about him; statues have been made in his image.

He took a sip of sparkling juice and flipped to another story on his phone, this time one about the president. He smiled, for he thought about his most enduring legacy, the America he created, a progressive nation where every citizen is guaranteed health care and a living wage, a nation that led the fight for human rights and against climate change.

Another thought appeared in his head as he took a sip. “You thought about running for Governor of Ohio, like a long, long time ago, right?” the former president asked as Cordray came back with the desert. Pineapple upside-down cake, to be precise. It wasn’t one big cake, but rather twenty smaller cakes the size of your palm, all made with love.

“Eh, I don’t really know what you’re talking about,” Cordray said as he set the tray down on the dinner table.” Are you talking about 2020...no...2018! Okay, yeah, I thought about it, and I actually said I would announce on Labor Day the year before at this event in Cincinnati.”

“But you didn’t,” the Realigner said.

“Yeah, I’m sorry, but I kind of went back from my promise. But I had more important things to do at that time. I had the CFPB to run, and I didn’t want to appear too political.”

The Realigner gave a hearty laugh. “Yeah, as if you were anything but too political.”

“I know,” Cordray said, finally taking his first bite into a cake.

“So I have been thinking,” the Realigner said, “what would happen, in some alternate universe, where you became Governor of Ohio and then President, like how I did in my state, while I just sit in Congress for the rest of my life?”

"Me, President? Don’t be nuts.” Cordray said. “You know that I don’t have nearly the level of ambition that you do. I don’t have the bold progressive vision that you brought to this country, and I don’t have your awesome charisma. No way I would have won West Virginia or Kentucky twice.”

“Dude, you’re a white man,” the Realigner said. “You’re the one who would’ve been a shoo-in for those two states!”

“Race isn’t everything,” Cordray said. “Religion isn’t everything. Or maybe it is. Maybe God destined you to become the Realigner and save America.”

“He he he,” the Realigner chuckled, taking a bite out of his own upside-down cake. “I’m no prophet. I was never destined for anything. It was the people who wanted me as President. It was the people who wanted change and voted accordingly.”

“I mean, sure, that’s like how every president was elected,” Cordray said. “The people want something, change, prosperity, whatever, and that’s why every President got the votes they did.” A pause. “Except Trump.” He referenced the fact that both times, Trump lost the popular vote while winning the Electoral College.

“Or Bush,” the Realigner said, chuckling, referencing the other modern president who won without at least a popular vote plurality.

“But yeah, who knows, maybe I could’ve been governor, then president, just like you,” Cordray continued. “But I didn’t. I was done with the rough-and-tumble of electoral politics, especially of a time like twenty years ago. Who knows, if I threw my hat in back in 2018 things would’ve been different.”

“Who knows indeed.” The radical governor who became the leader of the free world, the 46th President of the United States, took a sip and reached across the table for another upside-down cake.

End of Chapter 2

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

the Realigner chuckled, taking a bite out of his own upside-down cake.

I feel bad that my first thought was "You mean the Chaos Emeralds?"

[mvd10]

Oh God, please not Keith Ellison

Anyway, I like this TL. It's quite different from most other Atlas TL's

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

It was so tense reading that! I'm waiting for that reveal, and when it comes the wait will def have been worth it. Keep up the good work

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

Chapter 3: Four Walls

“This is an interesting question [Martha Raddatz], but ultimately I don’t think that we’ll have an Asian president in my lifetime. Maybe not ever. People still think of us as foreigners who aren’t suited for leadership in what’s basically still a white nation. White people like to point to Asian politicians like Kamala Harris and say that Asians have it fine, but either they whitewash themselves, face a sh*t-ton of racist abuse, and/or flat-out lose.”

 - Chef and activist Eddie Huang, December 12, 2020

September 8, 2016 - Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

Today is exciting. Thousands of people from all walks of life, gathering to explore and share their different interests during the Student Activities Fair. Whether its fraternities and sororities recruiting new members for rushing, journalism clubs looking for fresh perspectives for their writings, or small interest groups looking for like-minded folks, everything and anything imaginable was happening under the bright fluorescent lights of the Rec Center.

And here I was, as president of the JHU College Democrats club, standing at our booth, holding donkey stickers with both of my two hands. I strained my neck to take in the vast expanse of concrete, cardboard, and paper that the four walls of the Rec Center managed to contain. My eyes then scanned our aisle, from left to right and back again. To my left was my right-hand man, err, woman, Communications Director Melissa Michova. Right in front of me were students young and old, squeezing through the crowds eyeing the booths like tent caterpillars looking for food. And to my right was, of all things, the College Republicans booth, manned by its president, Isaac Mohammed Hassan, who at this time was checking his phone instead of looking for new recruits.

In theory, hands being full aside, I could do just the same. Just go on my phone, check Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or the Atlas Forums, and not pay attention to my surroundings. But I wasn’t gonna do that. Who can, besides someone as cynical as Isaac? Today we are going to recruit a new year’s worth of freshman babies into our club!

I looked over Melissa’s shoulders at the clipboard listing our newest club members, or at least the people who signed our email list. Eighteen, no, nineteen people. Eh, not that many, but also not bad. It had only been twenty minutes since the Fair started. We should have at least twenty or so new people showing up at our first meeting, I guess.

I pored over the names and emails when I felt someone walk up to us. The irony of not getting distracted. But I leaned back to my regular position and turned towards that new person.

“Hi,” said new person said, “this is the College Democrats club, right?” half looking at me and half looking at the words “Hopkins College Democrats” plastered on the cardboard behind us.

For a split second, I examined this person, who I could tell was a freshman baby, my eyes nodding down and up as my head kept still. She had a denim jacket on top of a black-and-white striped shirt, black pants, and blue-and-white Converses. She was Asian, though I couldn’t tell what ethnicity she was. The most unusual thing about her was her hair, which was fashioned into some sort of pixie cut, even though by college student standards that wasn’t unusual in the slightest. My Algebraic Topology professor, Dr. Emily Riehl, had a similar sort of pixie cut. Interestingly enough, even though the girl in front of me was Asian, her hair color was dyed to be similar to Dr. Riehl’s straw blond.

Melissa got back to her. “Yes, this is the club that you’re looking for! We are the Hopkins College Democrats. Want a sticker?”

“Sticker?” said the girl as she looked at the blue and red donkey stickers in our hands. “Sure.”

“We got cookies too!” Melissa added as the girl proceeded to grab a sticker from out of my hand.

“Nah,” pixie cut girl said as I was reaching for the pan of donkey-shaped sugar cookies in the back.

“If you’re interested in our club,” I said, putting down the cookies and and the stickers and using my elbow to point to my laptop, which for some reason had the Java API open in another tab, “you can sign up for the email list here.” I held out the clipboard with my right hand, with a black pen in my left.

“Thanks,” she said, slightly pushing us to the sides. I discreetly eyed our list as she was typing on it, doing my best to read with my head tilted sideways.

“Amber Moon,” she wrote under the name column. “2020” for year. “amoon3@jhu.edu” for email. Standard stuff.

“Here,” Amber said as she finished typing.

“Thanks,” I said. “Remember, if you’re interesting in joining, our first meeting will be on Thursday, September 15.”

“Okay,” Amber said. “I’ll put that in my calendar. By the way, can I get your names?”

“I’m Crystal Sun, fall president of the club, and this is my friend and Communications Director Melissa Michova.”

“Cool,” Amber said. “So when does this club meet, and what does it do? Do they go out and volunteer for the national Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, like that?”

“Yes we do,” I said. “So about meetings, we have meetings every Wednesday, starting a week from now on September 15. During our meetings, we talk about what’s in the news, what the Democratic Party is doing, and we debate about issues. We do canvassing and phone banking for Democratic candidates, and we sometimes hold debates with the College Republicans and Libertarians.” I gestured to my right, towards Isaac’s booth.

“That’s nice and all,” she said. “But what exactly is...um...the ideological balance of the club? I don’t mean to be rude, but personally I’m very much to the left of the Democrats, like I’m borderline socialist. Don’t get me wrong, I still really want to join the club to help with the Clinton campaign, but I’m just curious.”

I smiled at the question. “Oh our club covers a wide range of ideological opinions. Like I’m more of a centrist, but there are also very left people in the club as well.”

“Personally I’m in the middle,” Melissa interjected. “Like I support Planned Parenthood and Black Lives Matter, but I think that the free market and free trade have important roles in our economy.”

“Yes Melissa, thanks for telling us how much of a Moderate Hero you are,” I grumbled. Not that her political beliefs were that different from mine's. Back on topic: “So yeah, we have a wide variety of views in our club. Our goal is to basically be an umbrella for anyone who has liberal views, from left-of-center to pretty super left, and so when we do debates in the club we have a wide range of views being expressed. It's pretty exciting.”

‘Uh huh,” pixie cut girl said, nodding skeptically.

“Are you sure you don’t want a cookie?” Melissa said, grabbing the cookie tray out from the back again.”

“Nope,” Amber said, more quickly and confidently this time.

“Aww, me and Crystal worked so hard to make these cookies,” Melissa said, making puppy eyes and conveniently ignoring the fact that I did most of the baking while she kept getting lost in my tiny apartment.

“I mean, thanks, but I’m kind of a health nut, and sugar’s really bad for you. It’s actually worse than fat in terms of making you fat. Trust me, I watched a documentary on this in high school.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “Melissa always wants to flatter people.”

“That’s because you’re the quiet one,” Melissa said.

“I’m not particularly quiet,” I countered.

Melissa ignored me, turned to Amber, and put a huge grin on her face. “You know that Crystal is really smart, right? She took a graduate-level course in topology last year - as a junior! And she had internships at both Facebook and Google!”

“Shut up!” I said.

“Wow, I didn’t know that,” Amber said, with an expression that betrayed a lack of knowledge of what topology is. “Congrats Crystal.”

“Thanks,” I said, trying to mentally brush off the unneeded flattery.

But Amber still looked confused, tapping her left foot on the concrete floor. “So you’re math-”

“CS and Math double major,” I said. “That’s another awesome aspect of our club actually. It’s not just all IS or poli-sci people. We have people from all majors, like I’m CS and Math, Melissa is Econ, and so on.”

“Yeah, I’m poli-sci myself, so I guess I fit in better with the stereotype of the type of person who goes into politics. Plus if you talk about math or CS stuff, it’s all gonna be some second language. And I say that as a person who speaks three languages, kind of.”

“I wish I can say that,” I said, “I can understand Mandarin and speak a bit of it, but that and English is about it as far as human languages go.”

“I mean, I know some Korean and I learned Spanish in high school, and I know no computer languages, so I’m not exactly a language expert either,” Amber said.

“It’s okay,” I said. “Different people have different strengths.” I leaned backwards, accidentally hitting the cardboard display and nearly toppling it. Fortunately, Melissa was there to stabilize the situation.

“I have to go now,” Amber said. “There’s a lot more clubs I want to see. It’s been nice meeting you!”

“You too,” I said. “See you on Thursday!”

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

October 21, 2016 - Interstate 95, en route to Philadelphia

On my left was the window, out of which I could see the beautiful Maryland countryside. On my right was pixie cut girl, Amber Moon, who right now was texting to whomever.

Today was exciting. Me, Amber, and three other fellow College Democrats were going to DemCon, one of the largest convention of College Democrat clubs in the country, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania’s College Democrats. There, after we do the requisite parties and whatnot, we will campaign for Hillary Clinton and downballot tickets in what they said was a crucial swing state.

I looked behind me and scanned the rest of the bus. Besides Amber, we had Melissa and two other freshman babies, Jake Bhattacharya and Emily Hazelton. It was only half an hour since we got on the bus, yet all of them except for Amber and Jake, who was staring out the window as if the countryside was outer space, were asleep. Melissa and Emily in particular looked really cute, the two girls sleeping, with Emily’s head resting on Melissa’s shoulder, as if Emily the freshman saw Melissa the junior as a second mom.

I smiled. All five of us convention goers spanned the entire left half of the political spectrum. You have your socialists like Amber and Jake, then the social justice warrior named Emily (and I mean warrior; nary a meeting goes by without her mentioning some obscure LGBTQ event she attended), then the “moderate hero” Melissa (who’s conservative by our standards and a raving leftist to most Americans), then me, the resident establishment hack. Okay, the club has plenty, but somehow Melissa and I were the only ones on the Greyhound going to DemCon.

No, Bernie won’t get anything done with Congress with these kinds of nutball ideas, I told my classmates who bragged about voting for Bernie in the primaries. No, single payer health care is not gonna happen in America, and neither is free public college or universal basic income. No, a $15 per hour minimum wage will not help the poor; it will hurt them. No, nobody’s going to raise taxes on the middle class. Why would you even want to raise taxes on the middle class?

But unlike the Republicans, at least the socialists and progressives had love in their hearts. They were just naive. They wanted a better world, and no obstacle was going to stop them.

“Hey Crystal,” Amber said. “So I have a friend from high school who’s also coming to DemCon, so I’ll probably be leaving the group at some point to hang out with her. Just letting you know.”

“Sure,” I said, “I don’t really care, so long as you go to all the important events.” And there were many not-important events. Like the midnight party, for instance. Yeah, parties are fun when you’re a freshman, especially if they’re as intense as the one that UPenn holds, but when you look at it, they’re pretty stupid ways to have fun. One-on-one interactions with good friends is a lot more wholesome than drinking and dancing for six hours, followed by sticking your head in the toilet for the next six.

“I’m pretty excited for this,” Amber said. “Besides meeting Deneb - my friend, that is - it’s pretty exciting to visit Philly, even if it weren't about politics. It get kind of stifling studying in Brody every day.”

“I know,” reflecting on the years I spent studying and programming in the Brody Learning Commons, a wing of the Milton S. Eisenhower library. (Fun fact: Milton Eisenhower was the younger brother of Dwight D. Eisenhower). “I’m curious, what college does your friend go to?”

“Georgetown,” she said.

“Really?” I said. “I thought Georgetown canceled on us.”

“They did, but they switched back at the very last minute,” Amber said. “Yeah, it’s confusing. But she’s coming, don’t worry.”

Out of curiosity, I went on Amber’s Instagram account. Yep, there they were, the many photos of Amber and Deneb. Like this one:

“Hey,” Amber said, scaring the sh**t out of me. Instinctively, I switched to viewing my own photos, fearing the wrath of an angry Amber. Even freshman babies can be brutal at times.

“Were you Instagram stalking me right in front of my face?” she asked.

“I was just curious,” I said, shrugging nervously. “I wanted to know what your friend Deneb looked like.”

“Nah, it’s okay,” Amber said. “I don’t mind if people I know look at my Instagram or whatever. If it were total strangers, it would be a different story, but I trust you enough.”

“Thanks, I guess,” I said. Not knowing what to do next, I mindlessly scrolled over the photos I took over the years.

“Hey, what’s that,” a curious Amber asked. I looked down at my Instagram. Turns out I happened to have paused at this year’s Great Wall photo. There I was, standing carefree, wearing a pink shirt and red pants, my right arm resting on the structure with my left hand resting against the small of my back, my left leg in front of right. Wispy clouds drifted in the background, partially the obscuring the green of the forest and the gray of the Wall.

“That’s me,” I said, “at the Great Wall. Specifically the Badaling section of the Wall, which is the most famous.”

“You went there last summer?”

“Yes, I did after I finished a summer internship at Google,” I said. “I often go ‘back’ to China to see family. It’s always fun when I go, even though communication outside my immediate family can get dicey there.”

“Yeah, I wish I went back to Korea more often,” Amber said. “Last time I went back was, let me think, the summer of 2015, when I visited my dad.”

“Your dad works in Korea?” I asked.

“Yeah, he went back after he couldn’t find work here in America, after he was laid off in 2011.”

“Interesting,” I said. Then I noticed that Amber was looking at my Instagram account. “Hey,” I said, “whatya doing?”

“Oh, heh,” Amber said. “I probably should’ve asked for permission.”

“No it’s okay,” I said. “I just hope you like my pictures.”

“Literally?” Amber asked.

“Either way,” I said. “There are some pics I’m personally really proud of.”

“Like the Great Wall one? Or...what’s this one?”

“Oh, that’s me working with this group Syrian refugees who were resettled here in Baltimore,” I said. “This was with a volunteer program called the Refugee Action Program - I think you may have saw them during the club fair. We basically tutor them at Moravia Park Elementary, which helps them succeed in academics and, more broadly, in integrating into American society.”

“Wow, you must be really busy, doing all these clubs and internships and volunteer work,” Amber said.

“Well, I only did this for one semester,” I said, “you know, because refugees have become such a big issue in the news and have been unfairly demonized by racists and xenophobes, I felt I had to help them out. And last fall, it just so happened I had a little bit more extra time in my schedule, but then when spring arrived I didn’t have any time anymore. But it was a fun experience. I highly suggest you try it.”

“I might,” Amber said, looking closely at the three Syrians sitting next to me in that picture. “You know, it’s really despicable that there are millions of people, here and in Europe, that think that these refugees should be expelled because there might be terrorists among them. Or something.”

“I know,” I said. “I mean, there are legitimate fears-”

“Yeah,” Amber interrupted, “‘legitimate fears’ that serve as an excuse for Islamophobes to display their bigotry.”

“I mean, it’s possible that ISIS sympathizers can sneak themselves in the refugee flow,” I said, “so some level of vetting is necessary. But yeah, I agree with you. For Pete’s sake, these people should remember that they’re more likely to die from falling out of bed from being the victim of a terrorist attack.”

“Exactly,” Amber said. “And now idiots like Trump see what European countries like Hungary have done - put up barbed wire fences to keep away refugees - and wants to do this and more. He wants a wall! Just like the Chinese Great Wall! Except that it’s twice as high, and golden! Or...something.”

“Heh,” I said. “I bet he doesn’t know that the Great Wall has failed multiple times at keeping out the nomads. Like the Mongols.”

“He probably thinks the Mongols were the exception,” Amber said, making a reference to John Green’s Crash Course World History series.

“Then tell him about the Xiongnu,” I said.

“I should add,” Amber said, “for me, it’s personal. My grandparents were refugees who fled the North Koreans in order to find safety and a better life in the South. My parents grew up in the South, they immigrated to America, and then they had me. I am the children of immigrants, so I am a target of Trump.”

“So am I, since I am also the daughter of immigrants,” I said.

“Then again,” Amber said, “we won’t be the ones who are worst affected. We have money, and we have privilege. Not white privilege, but definitely class privilege and privilege that comes with going to a top-10 school like Hopkins.”

Amber readjusted herself on her seat as we crossed the Susquehanna River. “If Trump somehow, somehow wins, life might be surprisingly normal. For us. For a Dreamer or a refugee awaiting resettlement, or even for a poor black resident of Baltimore, life will get very ugly.”

Silence as I nodded in implicit agreement. Then, wanting to break the silence, I asked a question. “Your grandparents were North Korean refugees, right?”

“Yeah,” Amber said, nodding.

“What do they and your parents think about your leftism? Like you said you like socialism. Do they distinguish it from Communism or the ideologies or North Korea or no?”

Amber suddenly blanked out. “Umm…”

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

October 21, 2016 - University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

“Deneb!” Amber said, happy as a puppy.

“Amby!” Deneb said, opening her arms for a hug.

“Oh my goodness I haven’t seen you in so long!” Amber said as she embraced Deneb in a giant bear hug. Or at least, as giant a hug as two five-foot-five girls can make. They looked pretty small in the central room of UPenn’s College Hall, whose four white walls soared above our heads as if they were the walls of a cathedral or a limestone cavern. Throngs of young aspiring Democrats in fresh-looking suits and dresses milled around by those walls, trying to find where to put their luggage and who they will be staying with for the night.

“What do you mean ‘haven’t seen you?’” Deneb said, her voice muffled by Amber’s shoulder. “I see your Facebook profile pic every day when I message you!”

“That doesn’t count,” Amber said.

They released themselves from each other after hugging for the greater part of a minute. “How’s John Hopkins?”

That’s when the rest of the Hopkins delegation perked our ears. Especially Amber. “Hey, it’s Johns Hopkins, with the S.”

“Sorry,” Deneb said, “Johnsss Hopkins,” ridiculously elongating the S. “But yeah, how’s college.”

“Good,” Amber said, “it’s hard, but it’s really exciting to be around so many smart and motivated people. I also really like my professors and my classes, since we get to talk about so many current events that affect us.”

“Yeah, same here at Georgetown,” Deneb said. “It’s a lot of work, but at the same time it’s really fun.”

“Great to hear that,” Amber said. Then she turned to me, as I was sorting out all of our luggage on the woolen floor, trying to get it all in one place. “Hey Crystal, can you take a photo of us?”

“Sure,” I said as Amber rummaged through her left pocket to get her phone. She pulled it out and gave it to me; once that was settled, she and Deneb stood in front of the great white wall.

“Say cheese,” I said. They smiled, and I took two, three, four pictures of them, standing in the exact same pose of Amber’s arm around Deneb’s neck. It’s something I always do, as a mini-prank, when I take pictures of other people.

“Thanks,” Amber said as she pocketed away her phone.

“You’re welcome,” I said. “Oh, by the way,” I added, turning to Deneb, “I’m Crystal Sun, president of the JHU College Democrats.”

“Oh, hi!” Deneb said, shaking my hand. “Very nice to meet you, President Sun.”

President Sun. I like the sound of that. It never gets old.

“I’m Deneb Luna,” Deneb continued, beaming a giant smile. “I’m Amber’s friend from high school. We’re both from Johns Creek, Georgia and we both went to Johns Creek High School. As you can probably guess, I’m part of the Georgetown College Democrats, and just like you I’m here for DemCon! Aren’t you excited?”

“Yeah, I am,” I said, slightly backing off from this girl who seems to be permanently caffeinated, almost like a super-Melissa. I wish I could be like her; it would be very helpful for 3 AM coding sessions. “And the best part about DemCon is meeting other enthusiastic Democrats like you!”

“Yep,” she said. “Though I heard the parties at Penn are also something of note.”

“They...they are,” I said, resting my right hand on my suitcase. Hopefully Deneb isn’t the kind of person to get carried away at frat parties, even though most signs worryingly point in that direction.

Trying to change the subject, I remembered my secret weapons. “Now that you’re here, do you want one of our famous donkey stickers?” I took one out of my purse, out of several that I carry at all times. “They’re free.”

“Oh, thanks,” Deneb said, examining the sticker. “I’ll put this on my Mac I guess.” She looked back at Amber. “How much time do we have left?”

Amber pulled out her phone again. “Actually quite a lot before we have to get back to our rooms,” she said.

“Okay, good.” Deneb turned back to me. “Okay, nothing to do with politics or even college, just curious, are you familiar with K-pop?”

Wow, a question I can answer for hours upon end. Take BTS, for example, my own bias group, the group whose posters I have taped across my apartment walls. I usually code by having one of their albums in one tab while coding in Eclipse or vim in another tab. Simply put, the energy and emotion that their songs have is unlike what any other band has. Also, the members are hot.

I wasn’t sure how much detail I would give about my love for K-pop, though. “Yes,” I said, leaving it simple.

“Are you familiar with f(x)?” she continued.

Uh oh, I see where this is going. But I went along with it. “Yes,” I said again.

“Okay, so you know what the members look like, right?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Let me guess, you’re going to say that I look like Krystal Jung, the maknae of f(x).”

“Wow, you can read my mind,” Deneb said, almost laughing. “Yeah, I was going to say exactly that. Sorry if I offended you.”

“That’s okay, you didn’t offend me.” That was a slight lie, since hearing it for the five hundredth time is pretty annoying. (Not to mention that it plays into the racist insinuation that all Asians look the same.) But I digress. “It’s just that people say this all the time. Especially since my sister’s named Jessica and kind of looks like Jessica Jung, so people call us ‘the Jung sisters’ all the time.”

“I get you,” Deneb said. “People say that I look like Luna, and that Amber looks like - guess what - Amber J. Liu. Though in Amber’s case, it’s kind of on purpose, since she cut her hair short to purposely look like Amber.”

“So Amber is Amber’s bias,” I said.

“Yeah,” Deneb said, “though it’s weird since she actually hates K-pop usually. She just likes f(x) as an exception. She thinks that K-pop is shallow commercial music and hates how the industry exploits the artists to make money.”

“Such as how companies force trainees into debt and pay them pittance salaries, forcing them to train and tour without rest, force them into extreme diets to fulfill impossible beauty standards, and even force them to undergo plastic surgery,” Amber interjected as she overheard our conversation.

“Sorry, she sometimes does that,” Deneb said. “She’s very socialistic, so don’t be afraid if she says something that makes you uncomfortable.”

“She’s a fellow College Dem, and she’s very vocal during our debates,” I said. “So I know how socialistic she can get.”

“By the way,” Amber continued, “if you want to know what’s good music, check out The Knife. They’re a Swedish EDM brother-sister duo who are very big on gender equality.”

“Yeah, she likes f(x) for the European EDM style, not for the K-pop,” Deneb added.

“The songwriters for many SM songs are actually Swedish,” Amber said, referring to the K-pop label SM Entertainment.

“Wow, for someone who hates K-pop,” I said, “she certainly knows a lot about it.”

“Probably because I like K-pop a lot,” Deneb said. “Like, for example, I like BTS. Are you familiar with it?”

And so goes the rest of our time left in College Hall.

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

***

Our host, a Penn student from Illinois named Inez Kapoor, was a very nice host, having already set up not one, but two air mattress for us to sleep on for the night. But sleep was for the weak. Frat parties were for the strong. And so they went to tonight’s party, while I contented myself with lying in bed, laptop in hand, checking Facebook, Github, and Politico at the same time. Multitasking, it turns out, was also for the strong.

I managed to fall asleep while watching Orphan Black, one of my favorite shows, on Netflix. But it was a short nap. I was woken up to the sounds of footsteps and banging against the walls.

“Who is this?” I asked.

“It’s us, it’s...it’s us,” said Melissa, who was holding Inez for support while stumbling into the dormitory.

“Are you okay?” I said, getting out of bed. “Here, let me help you.”

“I’m okay,” Melissa said before making vomiting sounds. Her face looked very red, her cheeks swollen from apparently trying to hold the vomit back.

“You are not okay,” I said. “I’ll open the bathroom and you vomit in there.”

“Thank you,” Inez said as she guided Melissa to the bathroom, where the throwing up, as planned, took place.

“Geez, what happened?” I asked once Melissa was done with Inez’s toilet.

“Eeh, too much beer pong,” she said. “Must’ve gone over my limit.”

“Yeah, you definitely have,” I said. “Good thing it’s not so bad that you’re unconscious or nearly dying and we have to call 911 on you.”

“I’m sorry,” Melissa said. “I’ll do better next time.”

“Welp, now the only thing left to do is to let you rest and sober up by morning,” I said, gesturing towards the other air mattress. I guided Melissa onto said air mattress, which was when I noticed that alcohol wasn’t the only substance that Melissa consumed at the party.

“Thanks,” Melissa said, staring at the ceiling.

“You’re welcome,” Inez and I said in unison. Pleasantly surprised by the coincidence, we smiled and gave each other a mental high-five.

I climbed back onto my air mattress when Melissa started mumbling things to me.

“Have you noticed,” Melissa said, checking that Inez was indeed asleep, “that Inez Kapoor looks like the Bollywood star Shraddha Kapoor?”

That thought never occurred to me, but now that I thought about it, I had to agree. Inez did look like the Bollywood star, down to the surname.

“And you know how people say you and your sisters look like the Jung sisters from K-pop?” she added.

“Uh huh,” I said.

“And how Deneb looks like Luna and how Amber looks like...like Amber?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“What if,” Melissa said, “what if this is all not a coincidence? What if we’re part of some story written by some sort of God-author, who created us to look like famous celebrities so they could use these celebrities’ pictures from the Internet for their story?”

“Melissa,” I said, “you’re not sober. Go to bed.”

“No, I can’t!” she said, “I’ve been thinking about this all night! Like what could such a story even be about?”

“Our lives,” I said. “Now go to sleep.”

“No, no, it has to be about something more. Like what’s that obscure politics forum that you’re part of?”

“Atlas Forums?” I said, not knowing what other social media platform I used could fit that description.

“Yeah, don’t you write stories on there?” she asked.

“Yeah, I guess.” It’s not something I like to talk about, since all my stories on Atlas end up dead after five posts. It’s not really something you can do when you’re a Math-CS double major who has twenty hours of homework and who knows how many hours of research and extracurriculars each week.

“Yeah, like what if some guy, in some other universe, or even in the multiverse, was writing a story about us, on that forum for other forum members, and how we become these really famous and awesome politicians and that right now we’re just in the backstory stage-”

“What do you mean ‘famous politicians?’ Look at me. I’m going to Google. I’m not going to become a politician. I mean it would be nice to be called ‘Senator Sun’ or even ‘President Sun’ by everyone but you and me know that that’s just not going to happen.”

“But think about it! Senator Kapoor! Governor Moon! President Sun!” Melissa said while gesturing furiously with her arms.

“Yeah, a small Asian girl with no intention of ever going into politics becomes President of the United States. Do you realize what a ridiculous vision this is?” I pulled up my blanket to hide my face from Melissa’s weird thoughts. “Now go to bed.”

“But think about the possibilities,” Melissa said, “it’s almost like if the Universe is determining our very actions-”

“Quantum mechanics says that’s impossible,” I corrected.

“-or that we’re in some sort of multiverse, or that we’re just a simulation. Wait, don’t people say that we’re infinitely more likely to live in a simulated universe than a real one?”

“Listen, you can go hit a blunt and talk about this with the physics majors. I don’t want to hear anything more about this.”

“You’re a math major. Close enough.”

I stood up in bed. “You think math majors and physics majors are the same? Do I look like someone who uses the small angle approximation? Please, Melissa, if you-”

I heard noises coming from outside. Laughter. Curious to see what it is, I got up and looked out the window. More laughter. I looked down. And there they were, Amber and Deneb, childhood friends, laughing and probably crying together as they stumbled back to the Penn dorms.

Somehow, unlike Melissa, the two freshman babies actually looked adorable. Maybe it’s because they are freshmen babies and not depressed upperclassmen like Melissa and me. It was too cute, actually. Grabbing my iPhone from my desk, I took a picture of them as they stumbled onto the wet grass below.

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

That last part threw me for a tizzy, but I like the meta aspect of this timeline lol. I really like the backstories. Keep up the good work!

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

Hi, sorry for the lack of updates (see above disclaimer), but before I post the next "official" update I have a proposition: You can be in the story!

Just PM me to be included in the next Atlas update, which will be about the 2016 elections. Don't worry if you registered after that time period; I can just have you join Atlas earlier in TTL than in OTL. (And this universe is indeed different from our own, as you will see during Election Night 2016.)

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

Atlas Forum
- Presidential Elections - Analysis and Discussion
-- 2016 U.S. Presidential Election (Moderators: AndrewTX, Likely Voter, Justice TJ)
--- Trump will win

Not_Madigan Sr. Member ★★★★ Posts: 321

Trump will win « on: October 22, 2016, 01:01:24 am »Heres my prediction

Crystal Clear Clintonite nj_dem YaBB God ★★★★★ Posts: 1354

Trump will win « Reply #1 on: October 22, 2016, 01:02:51 am » You must be logged in to read this quote. Okay, I'll give you my serious take on this. I doubt Trump will win Florida and North Carolina. Maybe one of them, but probably not both. Trump is not going to win Pennsylvania. He could win on the large white working class population there, but right now that's not happening, as evidenced by the fact that Clinton is up by 6 points. Trump can win Wisconsin and New Hampshire in theory, as they've been close states in the past (especially Wisconsin in 2004). But Trump is down in both of those states too, so he's not going to win them them either. He has a bad chance in Nevada because of the Reid machine and the Hispanic vote. Michigan and Minnesota? Trump's not going to win them. And...OREGON? Why?

The Govanah Jake Jake Jewvinivisk YaBB God ★★★★★ Posts: 552

Trump will win « Reply #2 on: October 22, 2016, 01:03:34 am » You must be logged in to read this quote. Okay, I'll give you my serious take on this. I doubt Trump will win Florida and North Carolina. Maybe one of them, but probably not both. Trump is not going to win Pennsylvania. He could win on the large white working class population there, but right now that's not happening, as evidenced by the fact that Clinton is up by 6 points. Trump can win Wisconsin and New Hampshire in theory, as they've been close states in the past (especially Wisconsin in 2004). But Trump is down in both of those states too, so he's not going to win them them either. He has a bad chance in Nevada because of the Reid machine and the Hispanic vote. Michigan and Minnesota? Trump's not going to win them. And...OREGON? Why?[/quote] Bro, I know you're a huge Clinton hack, and I doubt he wins Oregon, but he can definitely win some of these states in the "blue wall."