American elections with a continued cold war

[Agonized-Statism]

The latest possible POD would be Romanov becoming the Soviet leader in 1985. Grishin seems like too much of a hardliner and Reagan would probably push the button if they butted heads.

Assuming the Gulf War still happens like OTL, the only difference in 1992 would be Clinton (yes, still Clinton, neither Cuomo nor any of the other bigshots would run for the same reasons) getting fried way more on his lack of foreign policy experience. He probably still wins if his VP can shore that up, but it's closer. The Yugoslav Wars may be a proxy war, so that's something he could make or break.

The PNAC neocon clique wouldn't exist as we know it without the US' status as sole superpower (although it would be stronger and the Soviet Union would be somewhat diminished), so the Republicans look a little different by the end of the 1990s. Bush probably still gets the Republican nomination in 2000 as a popular scion, although he may not have Cheney. No 9/11, no War on Terror, some kind of dotcom crash would still happen, and 2004 is where things get unclear. Definitely no Obama or Trump, though, in any case.

The Soviets and China might reconcile in the 21st century and the post-Reagan detente would thaw. Any presidents elected in the 2010s will be way more hawkish than we've been used to.

[Agonized-Statism]

no dukakis

Why? And why wouldn't he pick Bentsen as his running mate? 1988 wouldn't look much different, no one knew the Soviet Union would be falling then either.

[Agonized-Statism]

eh, gorby was major de-escalating things by then. sure, the ussr wasn't visibly falling then but the cold war was in the process of severely de-escalating. remember, the russians were withdrawing from afghanistan then.

in this atl? no withdrawal and reagan's approach got well jack sh**t in resuilts

That's not why Dukakis got nominated, and a continuing Cold War certainly wouldn't make him pick Clinton as running mate. Saying "eh" doesn't make it true.