Fractured America

[RC (a la Frémont)]

Written by ReaganClinton

This is a revival of my unfinished timeline, entitled "Death of the Two-Party System." This timeline begins directly after the election of Donald Trump on November 8, 2016. The election causes a domino effect of opposition leaving the left and right with four major parties to choose from. The consequences of such events will be explored in this timeline. Original parts from the unfinished original will be altered to make the narrative flow at a better pace.

[RC (a la Frémont)]

November 9th, 2016

Businessman Donald J. Trump has been elected the 45th President of the United States, Chris Christie elected 48th Vice President

Businessman Donald Trump (R-NY)/Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) - 274 Electoral Votes

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D-NY)/Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) - 264 Electoral Votes

At about 6:30 AM EST, Businessman Donald Trump received a phone call from the Democratic Presidential nominee and Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It was a call of concession. He had done it. The New York entrepreneur had won the ticket to the highest office in the modern world. After hearing this news, Trump reportedly turned on his television to the news that he had carried New Hampshire and Wisconsin, putting him barely over the 270 electoral votes needed.

It was unexpected by many, the American people, the mainstream news outlets, and even Trump's campaign team up to the man himself. However, one such group that expected this was the Democratic National Committee, who up until the week of the election, was debating on whether or not to replace the "Hillary Clinton and Senator Tim Kaine" ticket with a "Vice President Joe Biden/Senator Cory Booker ticket." Though they didn't go through with this action, they did prepare for the worst. With a month left, they had pulled a quarter of the presidential ticket's national funding to focus on many congressional and gubernatorial races around America.

After reporting Trump's win, the news network had switched over to a slideshow of maps. The first map shown had projected all the Senate pickups that night.

Democrats: 51 Seats (+5)

Republicans: 49 Seats (-5)

The Democrats had taken a slight majority back in the Senate, picking up Representative Tammy Duckworth in Illinois, Former Senator Russell Feingold in Wisconsin, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx in North Carolina, Former Governor Ed Rendell in Pennsylvania, and Governor Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire. A blow to Trump and his team, who were still shocked from the previous projection. The projection could definitely prove a problem to the new presidency, but not enough to be a huge problem for anyone. Next, the House projections, and thankfully for the President-elect, the Republicans kept control, a 12 seat Democratic gain (A 235-200 Majority) had been accumulated that night. Finally, a map of Governorships had flashed onto many Television screens across America.

Republicans: 30 Governorships (-1)

Democrats: 19 Governorships (+1)

Independents: 1 Governorship (±0)

It appeared as if the DNC's plans have all around succeded. They had held many Governorships. In Missouri, they had recruited the popular Progressive Democrat and State Secretary of State Jason Kander to withdraw from the state's Senate race in order to hold the seat. Deputy State Secretary of State Mark Connolly held Maggie Hassan's governorship in New Hampshire, and North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper replaced Incumbent Republican Governor Pat McCrory. The most surprising gain came out of Indiana, where Governor and Potential Republican Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pence, lost re-election to Former Senator Evan Bayh, who was one of the two, along with Jason Kander, convinced to drop out of a Senate race in order to attempt to make gains in Governorships.

The gains made that night were considered both technical victory for both of the parties. Republicans were pleased with picking up the Presidency and keeping the House, while Democrats maintained relative peace through their gains in Governorships and overtake in the Senate. However, this peace would be destroyed between the election and inauguration of the President-elect.

[Edgeofnight]

Christie as Vice President is a terrifying world.

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

Nice timeline! I'm hungry to read more.

[RC (a la Frémont)]

December 16, 2016

Let the Leaks Begin

About a week since the election of Donald Trump, many in the almost nonexistent transition team were rushing to gather a semblance of what the Presidency would look like. Thus far a series of meetings had taken place between the President and Vice-President-elects, Trump's transition team, led by recently outed Governor Michael Pence, potential cabinet members, members of incumbent President Barack Obama's transition team, and many others. Things were going relatively well. and Trump was even going to hold a rally revealing one of his cabinet choices, until the President-elect was called in for an urgent meeting. The news was the first major blow for the team since some minor election night news. Wikileaks had released an article, detailing a nearly perfect representation of what Trump's cabinet choices were. The team read down the list, perturbed at how accurate it was. It started at Secretary of State.

Rudy Giuliani, the Former Mayor of New York, renowned for his leadership during the September 11th attacks and despised for pretty much everything else, was promised a position in the cabinet by Trump. Though the transition team had their reservations about Giuliani, he was loyal to Trump, and they obliged, giving Trump the choice of what office he would occupy. Though they did this, they were somewhat blindsided by the choice of Secretary of State, one of the most important and high ranking offices in the administration. Even though there was pushback, especially from Pence, he was decided upon for the job.

Continuing on, there was his Treasury Secretary,

Jamie Dimon was a compromise between the team and Trump. The two men had their disagreements in the past, but he was seen as an experienced choice in the eyes of the team, as well as an outsider of the "Washington swamp" that Trump liked to bring up so much during his campaign. The reports slowly popping up, though, labeled the choice as unsurprising and even hypocritical, as Trump had criticized the choice of Wall Street executives that were members of Barack Obama's administration.

The third man on the list, though, was blasted by many. His choice for Secretary of Defense.

Michael T. Flynn, the disgraced Former National Security Advisor, and a retired three-star Lieutenant General. A footnote laid beside the report, stating that Retired United States Marine Corps General James Mattis was denied the role by the President-elect, another true statement. Flynn and Trump were practically best friends, he was one of the highest positioned on Trump's shortlist for Vice President, but that choice was shot down by the Republican National Committee. But now, it was Trump who had turned the table, despite the transition team, Pence, and the RNC's efforts. Liberal media criticized him for appointing such an untrustworthy man, while conservatives berated him for appointing an Obama administration official.

Then, Trump's Attorney General and Interior Secretary were revealed.

Sessions and Zinke were relatively safe choices, and both received the least media coverage. Hell, Sessions had already been a public choice for about a week now. The Senator was the first in Congress to endorse Trump, and was rewarded with for his loyalty. As for Zinke, it was a recommendation from Pence, eventually overriding Trump's lobbying of putting Sarah Palin in the position.

Speaking of her, Former Governor Sarah Palin would become the next Secretary of Agriculture. This was one of the only positions the transition team and Trump could completely agree on. This wasn't a major revelation, though, as she was supposed to be revealed at the rally as the nominee.
Additionally, in a less detailed fashion, the other offices were listed below.

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It was all correct, with the exception of one, that being Georgia Representative Tom Price. The position had remained unfilled since meetings had begun back in November. Despite this, the President-elect put pressure on the transition team to find a nominee by blasting the article in a tweet.

The single tweet had put panic into everyone in the room. Now, everyone was rushing to meet the rally deadline in just three hours. Thus, in an effort to discredit the report, they would move aside the reveal of Palin as his Agricultural Secretary to later on in the rally. continuing onward, the team fumbled around, attempting to call anybody high up and experienced enough to be somewhat qualified for the position. Eventually, with 45 minutes left, they had convinced Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove to be his Health and Human Services Secretary. The position was only agreed upon by Cosgrove when he was offered to exit at any time, as he didn't even want it.

Finally, with only about a half an hour left, Trump, his team, and the soon to be revealed nominees arrived in Jacksonville, Florida, where Trump walked out on stage and in Trump fashion, introduced the man he had just met moments before.

TBC.

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Terrible.

Good TL though! So far

[Sestak]

Former Governor Ed Rendell in Pennsylvania

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Just re-read that and saw the gubernatorial contests.

Kander 2020!

[RC (a la Frémont)]

December 17, 2016

Unity and Division

Following the day of the leaks, many Senate Democrats. most prominently Bernard Sanders of Vermont. spoke out against Trump's cabinet nominees and temperament. Sanders, a major opponent to Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Presidential Primaries, shared his thoughts on CNN that afternoon.

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Most of the left's sentiment was the same as Sanders' towards the cabinet. Most Democrats, minus ones in Conservative states like West Virginia's Joe Manchin, had spoken out, and have promised to fight against the nominees.

January 4, 2017

BREAKING: SENATOR SANDERS MEETS WITH HOUSE PROGRESSIVE MEMBERS, POSSIBLY DISCUSSING SPLIT FROM DEMOCRATIC PARTY

It has been reported that since early December, Senator Sanders had been meeting with fellow congresspeople in the Progressive Democratic House Caucus discussing ways to get a wider reach to their base. One proposition was to create a new party, which was well received by the group but pundits speculate is unlikely to happen due to how established the two-party system is. Regardless, a joint statement was made by both incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) attempting to calm the group, stating if the party split in two, it would be the end of Liberal ideals in the country. Outgoing President Barack Obama also commented that a new party would be a bad idea, and would only alienate the country more.

President-Elect Donald Trump also made a colorful statement on Twitter:

TBC.

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[RC (a la Frémont)]

Should I revive this just to wrap it up or is it too late lol

[deluxedriver]

Revive!!!

[RC (a la Frémont)]

Alright, I'm gonna humor 17-year-old me and see what I can do with this.

I, Donald J. Trump, Do Solemnly Swear...

Source

A strange moment for many in American history fell on the date of January 20, 2017. The man that many thought had no chance of even being able to step foot in the White House was now taking the oath to become its occupant. Republicans may have not won a trifecta, but liberals and progressives everywhere experienced some form of whiplash seeing the man they so hated become the 45th President of the United States.

Of course, that wasn't without issues for the man on the biggest stage in America...

January 6, 2017

Electoral Certification

Some in liberal circles, between the election and inauguration of the new President, thought of one last way they could potentially stop an incoming Trump administration. If just five Trump electors could change their votes, not even to Clinton but to anyone other than Trump, the election would be thrown to the House. As slate after slate went through congress, a pattern revealed itself.

It wasn't just Trump's electors defecting, not even five did. It was Clinton's electors who fled from the Democratic nominee. Trump held 271 of his 274 electoral votes.

It was desperation time for any Democrat in Congress who wanted to block Donald Trump from becoming President. A small group of Democratic Representatives attempted to object to the certification of electoral votes in any state they could.

"Do you have a Senator who has signed on to your objection?" the Senate's President asked? Every answer came back no. "In that case, the objection will not be entertained." Joe was having none of it.

Certified Election Results

Donald J. Trump (R-NY)/Christopher J. Christie (R-NJ) - 271* Electoral Votes

Hillary D. Rodham Clinton (D-NY)/Timothy M. Kaine (D-VA) - 264 Electoral Votes

Bernard Sanders (I-VT)/Various - 5 Electoral Votes

Colin L. Powell (R-MD)/Various - 5 Electoral Votes

Ronald E. Paul (L-TX)/Christopher J. Christie (R-NJ) - 1 Electoral Vote

*Christie officially recieved 274 electoral votes.

It's over.

Source

Joe sat in his office as the final days of the Obama administration wound down. He knew he could've beaten Donald Trump, "like a drum!" but the veep didn't have it in him this time around. Between competing with Hillary and her connections and money and the loss of his beloved son Beau, he knew he couldn't go out there for a third time around.

Then he turned to his own party. One that fought internally tooth and nail the past two years only to lose to a glorified reality TV host. He could see the seams of the party breaking down as Nancy and Harry scrambled to keep members of their own party in check. "That Senate majority? Could go to sh*t by the time I'm gone," Joe thought to himself.

He kept packing his things for the inevitable transition, he just met with the Vice President-Elect a few days ago and knew his time in this office was numbered. Whatever the coming years held, within his party and otherwise, he'd be keeping a close eye on things.

"That bastard better not get stuck in the tub," Joe joked to himself.

January 20, 2017

"He will not devide us."

Source

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York had just become Senate Majority Leader on January 3rd. In the blink of an eye, he went from being Harry Reid's understudy amongst six years of Republicans lambasting everything his President and Democrats did, to being the one in control. He knew exactly what he was going to do.

"We are going to give every one of Mr. Trump's nominees a fair and free nomination process." Not exactly music to the progressive wing's ears, who wanted every fiber of the Trump presidency to be torn down and turned away on day one. He'd already instituted a Muslim ban in his first hour of being President, what more do you need to convince you to resist him? Despite many wondering this, Schumer went on with the business of the day. No getting it twisted, he wasn't going to let the new President off easy. That could be seen by his first order of business.

Source

[/size]Lt. General Michael Flynn, disgraced from the Obama administration, was sitting right across from him. Trump thought of Flynn as one of his greatest allies, jumping at the chance to appoint him as his Secretary of Defense, well, as long as he changed his party affiliation. While Chuck knew most Democrats would easily take the chance to vote down Flynn, what he didn't know was how much unease was sitting with the Republicans during this first session of the Trump administration.

Mitch McConnell knew he didn't have the votes to get Flynn confirmed outright, but maybe if he could get West Virginia's Manchin to side with them, then Christie could break the tie? Chuck didn't think so. Not only did he meet with Manchin, he would conference with Missouri's Claire McCaskill, North Dakota's Heidi Heitkamp, Montana's Jon Tester, Indiana's Joe Donnelly, and Florida's Bill Nelson to make sure their opposition would be felt by the administration.

At the end of the hearing, Schumer took a sigh of relief, all 51 Democrats and Independents voted down Trump's first nominee. A surprise to him, they would also be joined by Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. A perfect storm had fallen right into his lap.

The President, of course, was infuriated. Tweeting long into the night about the Democratic phonies in Congress, RINO Lisa and Susan, and some nonsense about the Obamas and Clintons tapping Trump Tower phone lines. Chuck didn't care, for the night, the first of many, he would stand in the Senate as its leader with his first victory in hand.

Chuck smirked, then thought of the chant that was filling the streets of Washington that day.

"He will not devide us."

TBC. (Probably won't take four years this time).

[BigVic]

Alright, I'm gonna humor 17-year-old me and see what I can do with this.

I, Donald J. Trump, Do Solemnly Swear...

Source

A strange moment for many in American history fell on the date of January 20, 2017. The man that many thought had no chance of even being able to step foot in the White House was now taking the oath to become its occupant. Republicans may have not won a trifecta, but liberals and progressives everywhere experienced some form of whiplash seeing the man they so hated become the 45th President of the United States.

Of course, that wasn't without issues for the man on the biggest stage in America...

January 6, 2017

Electoral Certification

Some in liberal circles, between the election and inauguration of the new President, thought of one last way they could potentially stop an incoming Trump administration. If just five Trump electors could change their votes, not even to Clinton but to anyone other than Trump, the election would be thrown to the House. As slate after slate went through congress, a pattern revealed itself.

It wasn't just Trump's electors defecting, not even five did. It was Clinton's electors who fled from the Democratic nominee. Trump held 271 of his 274 electoral votes.

It was desperation time for any Democrat in Congress who wanted to block Donald Trump from becoming President. A small group of Democratic Representatives attempted to object to the certification of electoral votes in any state they could.

"Do you have a Senator who has signed on to your objection?" the Senate's President asked? Every answer came back no. "In that case, the objection will not be entertained." Joe was having none of it.

Certified Election Results

Donald J. Trump (R-NY)/Christopher J. Christie (R-NJ) - 271* Electoral Votes

Hillary D. Rodham Clinton (D-NY)/Timothy M. Kaine (D-VA) - 264 Electoral Votes

Bernard Sanders (I-VT)/Various - 5 Electoral Votes

Colin L. Powell (R-MD)/Various - 5 Electoral Votes

Ronald E. Paul (L-TX)/Christopher J. Christie (R-NJ) - 1 Electoral Vote

*Christie officially recieved 274 electoral votes.

It's over.

Source

Joe sat in his office as the final days of the Obama administration wound down. He knew he could've beaten Donald Trump, "like a drum!" but the veep didn't have it in him this time around. Between competing with Hillary and her connections and money and the loss of his beloved son Beau, he knew he couldn't go out there for a third time around.

Then he turned to his own party. One that fought internally tooth and nail the past two years only to lose to a glorified reality TV host. He could see the seams of the party breaking down as Nancy and Harry scrambled to keep members of their own party in check. "That Senate majority? Could go to sh*t by the time I'm gone," Joe thought to himself.

He kept packing his things for the inevitable transition, he just met with the Vice President-Elect a few days ago and knew his time in this office was numbered. Whatever the coming years held, within his party and otherwise, he'd be keeping a close eye on things.

"That bastard better not get stuck in the tub," Joe joked to himself.

January 20, 2017

"He will not devide us."

Source

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York had just become Senate Majority Leader on January 3rd. In the blink of an eye, he went from being Harry Reid's understudy amongst six years of Republicans lambasting everything his President and Democrats did, to being the one in control. He knew exactly what he was going to do.

"We are going to give every one of Mr. Trump's nominees a fair and free nomination process." Not exactly music to the progressive wing's ears, who wanted every fiber of the Trump presidency to be torn down and turned away on day one. He'd already instituted a Muslim ban in his first hour of being President, what more do you need to convince you to resist him? Despite many wondering this, Schumer went on with the business of the day. No getting it twisted, he wasn't going to let the new President off easy. That could be seen by his first order of business.

Source

[/size]Lt. General Michael Flynn, disgraced from the Obama administration, was sitting right across from him. Trump thought of Flynn as one of his greatest allies, jumping at the chance to appoint him as his Secretary of Defense, well, as long as he changed his party affiliation. While Chuck knew most Democrats would easily take the chance to vote down Flynn, what he didn't know was how much unease was sitting with the Republicans during this first session of the Trump administration.

Mitch McConnell knew he didn't have the votes to get Flynn confirmed outright, but maybe if he could get West Virginia's Manchin to side with them, then Christie could break the tie? Chuck didn't think so. Not only did he meet with Manchin, he would conference with Missouri's Claire McCaskill, North Dakota's Heidi Heitkamp, Montana's Jon Tester, Indiana's Joe Donnelly, and Florida's Bill Nelson to make sure their opposition would be felt by the administration.

At the end of the hearing, Schumer took a sigh of relief, all 51 Democrats and Independents voted down Trump's first nominee. A surprise to him, they would also be joined by Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. A perfect storm had fallen right into his lap.

The President, of course, was infuriated. Tweeting long into the night about the Democratic phonies in Congress, RINO Lisa and Susan, and some nonsense about the Obamas and Clintons tapping Trump Tower phone lines. Chuck didn't care, for the night, the first of many, he would stand in the Senate as its leader with his first victory in hand.

Chuck smirked, then thought of the chant that was filling the streets of Washington that day.

"He will not devide us."

TBC. (Probably won't take four years this time).

A narrow victory after faithless electors

[RC (a la Frémont)]

BREAKING: SANDERS TO LEAVE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS

Source

February 5, 2017 - Washington D.C.: Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the runner-up for the Democratic nomination last year announced in a press conference that he would not caucus with any party during the remainder of the 115th United States Congress. The junior senator and leading socialist voice in the country rebuked the Democratic Party as "unwilling to help regular Americans if [the party] continued to favor special interests and billionaires." Sanders additionally criticized the Democratic National Committee for their "corrupt practices" during the 2016 presidential primaries.

Many of Sanders' contemporaries responded negatively to the news, with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) calling the move "highly disappointing," while previous Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (D-NY) commented on social media "Bernie makes it clear once again that he only cares for himself. As opposed to unifying our party, he once again divides in the face of the most dangerous man elected president."

Others had more positive reactions to the news, with President Trump tweeting "Bernie finally grew a backbone and left the dirty democrats! Nice job Debbie! You lost yourself 20 million votes!"  Trump would go on to further criticize former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, referring to her simply as "that loser." Former Ohio state senator and Sanders campaign surrogate Nina Turner would show support for Sanders' decision, pushing further for a "new progressive alternative."

Speculation continues to surround Sanders, as well as multiple U.S. Representatives and surrogates of the Vermont Senator as to his political future. Going forward, it seems as if those plans will be without the Democratic Party.

A Rocky Start.

Source

President Trump was pissed. The Senate Democrats, despite their growing cracks, were stronger than the president once thought. Voting down Mike Flynn was one thing, having members of his own party help out the majority felt like treason to the newly inaugurated leader of the free world. The Senate had also voted down Betsy DeVos (R-MI), nominated for Secretary of Education by a 51-49 party-line vote, and Toby Cosgrove (I-OH), nominated for Secretary of Health and Human Services by a 50-49 vote (Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill was unavailable at the time of the vote).

Compacting his growing outrage was the withdrawal of Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard, who was set to take over at the Department of Veterans Affairs, due to his "Muslim ban" policy.

Despite all this, his cabinet was still slowly forming. The Senate widely approved Lou Barletta (R-PA) at the Transportation Department, Rudolph Giuliani (R-NY) for Secretary of State, and Jamie Dimon (I-NY) at the Treasury Department. Trump also had a saving grace when it came to close votes. Although the Democrats had the majority, flipping only one Senator would cause a tie that would be broken by Vice President Christie. In the case of both Attorney General nominee Jefferson Sessions (R-AL) and Commerce Secretary nominee* Peter Thiel (R-AZ), Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) would allow Christie to do such a thing. While not the only moderate to be more open to Trump and his nominees, Manchin was the closest ally the Republican President could find in the congressional Democratic coalition.
"You know, Joe isn't half bad," Trump commented to White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, "I'd probably even offer a spot if he wasn't so valuable to us... well, and if he were willing to switch parties."

Trump pondered upon the words he had spoken, though Priebus was skeptical best and weakly rebuffing at the height of the conversation.

"Mr. President, he's up for re-election in two years, you won the state by forty points, he's practically a goner."

Trump stayed silent for a minute, only to rebuke his subordinate's statement "Well... maybe I should make a few phone calls then, Reince. I mean, if they can't keep Bernie down, who's to say they can hold anybody?"
*Wilbur Ross, initially announced as nominee for Secretary of Commerce, had been reshuffled during the confirmation process, now being nominated to head the Small Business Administration.