1988: Trump vs Biden

[CadetCashBoi]

Since it's theoretically possible this could have happened. Say Biden avoids the Neil Kinnock scandal and manages to chart a dark horse path to the nomination while Trump manages to make a compelling case that as a fellow political outsider he'd do a better job of continuing Reagan's legacy then HW Bush. What does the map look like?

[Alben Barkley]

America wasn't ready for this level of stupid yet. And not polarized enough that the scandals that still would have come out about Trump at the time wouldn't have sunk him.

[Adjective-Statement]

Businessman Donald Trump (R-NY) / Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)
Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) / Governor James Blanchard (D-MI) ✓

The nomination of Trump is seen as a repudiation of incumbent Republicans while Biden is a better segue out of the New Dealer era than Dukakis. It's still close enough because the GOP had institutional strength at the time but Biden pulls it off. I don't know how well Trump, who I assume would be running more as a libertarian than a populist in 1988, would appeal to the religious right. If he made it through the primaries against a popular sitting vice president, then clearly there's some kind of powerful movement behind him.

This all hinges on Biden campaigning as tough on crime, which was the wedge issue of the day. I assume he would.

[H. Ross Peron]

Businessman Donald Trump (R-NY) / Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)
Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) / Governor James Blanchard (D-MI) ✓

The nomination of Trump is seen as a repudiation of incumbent Republicans while Biden is a better segue out of the New Dealer era than Dukakis. It's still close enough because the GOP had institutional strength at the time but Biden pulls it off. I don't know how well Trump, who I assume would be running more as a libertarian than a populist in 1988, would appeal to the religious right. If he made it through the primaries against a popular sitting vice president, then clearly there's some kind of powerful movement behind him.

This all hinges on Biden campaigning as tough on crime, which was the wedge issue of the day. I assume he would.

Even in the late 1980s, Trump took out ads complaining about the failure of US trade policy especially with Japan and American allies not paying for their fare share of defence spending. And, of course, Trump was always a hardliner on law and order.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:7rNIEGmhtt0J:https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1987-09-24-8703150543-story.html+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Trump's ego, however, may be a step beyond monumental. Consider the document featured in the campaign ad. It is an open letter "To the American People."

In it, Trump tells us that Japan and other nations are taking advantage of us. Stop the presses. He talks about the sneakiness of Japanese industry during the weak yen-strong dollar days that helped turn us into a debtor nation. But he doesn't say anything about the current weak dollar-strong yen that has helped make us a bigger debtor nation.

He demands that Japan, Saudi Arabia and other international parasites pay for their protection. Yawn. Then he closes with the exhortation, "Let's not let our great country be laughed at anymore."

[Fuzzy Bear]

Donald Trump wasn't Donald Trump back then.

[Senator Incitatus]

Donald Trump wasn't Donald Trump back then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acpmInqcuH4