Sun and Moon - The Presidential Election of 2040

[morgankingsley]

The election was not as close as close as the numbers try to say it was. Trump won 31 states, 230 districts, and 86 percent of the counties. This was the closest to a true landslide in terms of geographical mass since the 80's. Yeah the popular vote may say otherwise, but the popular vote is virtually meaningless in the long run. Even if Hillary won the election, she would have only been the third person elected to win less states, a occurrence even less often than the popular vote winner losing. If Hillary won, people would be violently complaining about it for the state by state reason and the fact he won much more than her and was close to stealing another few from her. That is my long over due piece on the election

[The Govanah Jake]

The election was not as close as close as the numbers try to say it was. Trump won 31 states, 230 districts, and 86 percent of the counties. This was the closest to a true landslide in terms of geographical mass since the 80's. Yeah the popular vote may say otherwise, but the popular vote is virtually meaningless in the long run. Even if Hillary won the election, she would have only been the third person elected to win less states, a occurrence even less often than the popular vote winner losing. If Hillary won, people would be violently complaining about it for the state by state reason and the fact he won much more than her and was close to stealing another few from her. That is my long over due piece on the election

Winning 306 Electoral votes and 46% of the popular vote is not a landslide in any sketch of the imagination. It is a modest electoral win at best. A electoral case for a landslide doesn't even make sense either as his 56.88% of the Electoral College came only 46th out of all 58 presidential elections. Reagan in 1984 or Nixon in 1972 are real landslides. 56% of the electoral vote while winning the popular vote is not. Also in my opinion a landslide is a candidate who wins over 400 electoral votes and over 10% in the popular vote.

[OBD]

I really like this story! I would probably be GOP in this story tho.

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

February 5, 2040 - Clinton Presidential Center, Little Rock, Arkansas

It was a sunny day here in Little Rock. The air was cool and fresh. It would have been cold in decades past, but the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that built up over the past few years made the air warmer than it otherwise would’ve been. People actually liked it during the winter - down jackets gave way to windbreakers, and sometimes it was warm enough for t-shirts - but it was unbearable during the summer. That was one of the reasons why people like Ricky usually visit the South during the winter.

“So this is where Hillary Clinton is buried,” Ricky messaged his workplace friend Emily Peebleton via brain implant. He took another long look at her gravestone:

HILLARY CLINTON
OCTOBER 26 1947 - DECEMBER 14 2031

Never doubt that you are valuable and powerful
and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world
to pursue and achieve your own dreams.

Ricky stood in silent contemplation and awe. Technically, the Clinton Presidential Center was merely a side diversion on his way to Dallas, but it may as well have been the highlight of his trip. Twenty-four years ago, almost an era ago, he voted for the very woman who now laid buried at his feet.

Emily needed to see this; with his mind, he turned on the vision-VR interface that would transfer the data from his optical nerve to the Internet, so that Emily herself could visit without having to spend time off from work to go to Little Rock.

He liked Emily as a friend; the two met a few years ago when Ricky started his new consulting job in Reston, Virginia. At least in person; in truth, the two met many many years ago, on an obscure politics forum called Atlas. Back then, much was different. Ricky was a college student trying to find his place on this swiftly tilting planet, and Emily used to be male.

Time is a powerful force, and change is its agent. In those twenty-four years, Ricky graduated from George Washington University during a time of relative economic stability, though that prosperity gave way shortly to the Crisis, and worked as a Congressional staffer and a consultant in the DC metro area. Through sheer temerity, Emily escaped the grip of North Carolina’s infamous anti-transgenderism, found refuge in the social liberalism of Northern Virginia, and found herself.

“Wow,” Emily replied after she saw those words through Ricky’s eyes. On one hand, they were inspiration, but on the other hand, they brought back bad memories. “They do realize that that was said during her concession speech.”

“I know,” Ricky said. “I was there. I saw the speech on television. I remembered that day.”

“So did I.”

“I wonder, where were you that day?”

“I don’t know. Where were you?”

“I was visiting Johns Hopkins with my friends from GW. I was staying with this girl named Lisa and she was with some of her friends, including her roommate...oh.”

“Oh what?”

“Do you know Lisa?”

“No.”

“Okay. But you do know who her roommate was.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah you do.”

“Who was she then, because I don’t know Lisa, so I don’t know who her roommate was obviously. Was she someone famous?”

“She was Crystal Sun.”

“Crystal Sun...oh. You mean the President.”

“Yeah.”

“You met the President, is that right?”

“Yep. The future President of the United States.”

Emily took a full minute to process this insane discovery. “That...is...so...awesome! Are you serious?”

“Yes,” Ricky said. “Of course, I didn’t know she would become the President back then. Back then she was a college student just like I was.”

“Cool. Did you talk to her or anything?”

“I hugged her.”

“You hugged her?”

“Yeah. Platonically, obvious, but she really needed a hug so I gave one. I even still remember what she smelled like. Strawberry shampoo with a hint of detergent.”

“You hugged the future President of the United States and you remember what she smelled like, that’s so precious.”

“Yep.” Ricky paused. He felt something empty in his stomach. “You know, wouldn’t the world be great if presidents campaigned on giving out free hugs?”

Emily didn’t respond immediately. His car did instead. “Ricky, we need to leave now. Estimated travel time to Dallas is 3 hours.”

Crud, Ricky thought as he temporarily set his connection to private. If he didn’t make it in time he’ll miss dinner.

Ricky picked up a pebble from the top of Clinton’s tombstone and tossed it in his hand. Free hugs, he thought, free hugs. That would make the world a better place.

End of Chapter 3

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Ask me why I'm cryin in the club rn

[morgankingsley]

Wow, I can't believe it. You actually made me feel a little sad for Hillary. I never thought that would have been possible. Now I am curious on how Trump's grave will look

[MAINEiac4434]

Rest In Peace, Madam Secretary. History will smile upon you.

[_]

I hope Trump's President Center is all ruined and destroyed.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

Second first-page TL I made a cameo in = great honer!

(Although, if I'm gonna carpetbag to a more socially liberal state to have an easier time transitioning, I have to admit, I don't think I'd pick NoVA. I mean, I assume moving there allowed for me to meet Ricky and have my cameo, but still)

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Second first-page TL I made a cameo in = great honer!

(Although, if I'm gonna carpetbag to a more socially liberal state to have an easier time transitioning, I have to admit, I don't think I'd pick NoVA. I mean, I assume moving there allowed for me to meet Ricky and have my cameo, but still)

It's quite the great honer to cameo alongside Peebs (yes that's me Ricky) // and Danica Roem's impending election could cause a quick improvement with the Nova culture being more accepting of trans people!

[MAINEiac4434]

I hope Trump's President Center is all ruined and destroyed.

Honestly I imagine it’ll just be a small plaque on a Manhattan KFC.

[Kingpoleon]

So Trump does slightly better than he did in OTL and gets about .2 percent more of the popular vote. I wonder what caused this (albeit very slight) increase

At this level, any .2% increase or decrease can be attributed to random chance, so there really isn't any particular reason. It was kind of lucky for Clinton that she won Minnesota and New Hampshire OTL, so if the wind blew the wrong way she could've quite easily lost those states.

You do see an increase from OTL turnout (which was 54.7% according to Wikipedia), and you see a turnout boost in OTL in all states except for Hawaii (-13k votes) and Wisconsin (-156k votes). This was actually due to an error I made when computing TTL's numbers, but I feel it's realistic enough to keep it canon.

So it's also alternate history (in a way)? Pretty cool!

My original plan was to make this a strictly future-history TL, so I'd keep the 2016 election and other current events the same as OTL, but I realized that I'd hate myself trying to adjust for OTL events, so I decided to do this to make things more flexible from the get-go. Trump winning Minnesota and New Hampshire was close enough to OTL as to not change things dramatically, but was still visible enough to make TTL recognizable as alternate history.

My prediction was (mostly) right.

Amazing.

I wonder what was the "mostly" part.

You should be getting paid for this.

Amazing. I'll be willing to donate if you choose to accept them.

Wow. This has always been a side hobby for me, so I never expected anyone to offer monetary compensation. But I guess I could set up a Patreon account if enough of my readers want to donate. (Would that even be allowed under Atlas' TOS?)

I just read the Minnesota part!

Glad to see that in this timeline I have been correct in how Minnesota almost votes to the right of Wisconsin.

[TheSaint250]

I hope Trump's President Center is all ruined and destroyed.

Honestly I imagine it’ll just be a small plaque on a Manhattan KFC in Red Square.

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

I hope Trump's President Center is all ruined and destroyed.

Honestly I imagine it’ll just be a small plaque on a Manhattan KFC.

Uh I don't think KFC will be the one displaying the plaque.

Anyways for Chapter 4, we will be back in the future! Great Scott!

[WestVegeta]

I hope Trump's President Center is all ruined and destroyed.

The Trump Presidential Library and Resort*

FTFY

[Cynthia]

I hope Trump's President Center is all ruined and destroyed.

The Trump Presidential Library and Resort*

FTFY

I guess the abandoned Westchester state park would have some purpose as a presidential library and resort.

[OBD]

Is this dead?

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Is this dead?

GRR Martin kept us waiting and it was worth it, so nj_dem can do it too

[morgankingsley]

One tiny question I just thought of. I doubt it will be too much of a spoiler outside of possible shock value, but in 2020, 2024, 2028, or 2032 will we see a third party candidate actually come in and win a state outright or not?

[West_Midlander]

One tiny question I just thought of. I doubt it will be too much of a spoiler outside of possible shock value, but in 2020, 2024, 2028, or 2032 will we see a third party candidate actually come in and win a state outright or not?

I'm wondering the same. A simple yes or no would suffice, for me. And a yes would be preferable.

[MAINEiac4434]

I'd love to see an update...

[Cynthia]

I'd love to see an update...

Same here

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

Chapter 4. Christmas Day.

[Enderman]

*great excitement*

[WestVegeta]

AAAAAHHH