The Romney Administration

[mvd10]

François Fillon  elected French President, defeating the Far Right Candidate Marine Le-Pen in a landslide


First Round Results:

François Fillon 23.5%
Marine Le-Pen 20.7%
Emmanual Macron 20.4%
Jean-Luc Mélenchon 19.3%
Benoît Hamon 6.1%
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan 5.2%
Others 4.8%


Second Round Results:

François Fillon 64.9%
Marine Le-Pen 35.1%

Okay time out…this part is somewhat off the rails.  Speaking as someone who is half French how would this TL change history to allow Fillon to win?  I get Brexit not happening because Romney was not as public as Obama about it (and yay) but Fillon's defeat was due to a massive nepotism scandal that I don't see Romney really changing.  Please explain how Fillon would win because this part is a bit confusing and I don't see how this TL would have caused this (or at least caused this without a complete collapse in PS numbers)

I definitely don't like Fillon winning, but I think in this TL it's explained as a part of a global right-wing trend where the establishment right does well in elections. It's possible that an alternate history will have many different changes. However, yeah, I don't see Fillon overcoming this scandal and actually beating both Macron and Le Pen in the first round.

I guess the global centre-right just is more popular in this TL, maybe because of Romney's successes. And I don't think Fillon was lost at all. Penelopegate wasn't the only way he screwed up, his campaign was terrible and his platform cost him some votes (even though it was admirable). I don't think Fillon getting to 23-24% or so in round 1 and beating Le Pen in round 2 is far-fetched at all if he had run a good campaign or if he aced the debates like he did in the right-wing primaries. He was close to qualifying to round 2 irl anyway, but he probably wouldn't have beaten Macron (even in this TL).

[mvd10]

Pataki is a great choice. Anyway, so far I'm not sure who I'd support, but it'd be a Democrat. Waiting for everyone to announce and polls to come out to decide. In any case, it won't be Biden or de Blasio.

Why not Biden? Because of the Clarence Thomas hearings or because he's a walking #MeToo bombshell?

But seriously, you can always jump ship and back flawless beautiful cosmopolitan conservative Nikki Haley. It's never too late to be what you might have been .