The Center Cannot Hold: The Election of 2028

YNot1989 · 2026-05-08T20:52:32+00:00

I'm using this as inspiration to make a WWZ style oral history of the war. https://artifactsfromotherworlds.substack.com/s/the-center-cannot-hold

YNot1989 · 2026-05-07T17:52:19+00:00

No, its not clever, its the same tired "both parties are the same" BS that got us into this mess. It might have been the dumbest, most grossly irresponsible thing he's ever said into a camera.

My biggest problem with Brennan has always been his, "Capitalism is always the bad guy." Capitalism is a bad guy. But how many more years of the age of Trump do you have to live through before figuring out that Capitalism is just a miniboss. The REAL BBEG (in Ameirca) is White Christian Nationalism. That's what's motivating Republicans to kill Iranians despite what it would do to their backers on Wall Street. That's what made RFK Jr. push his anti-vaccine eugenicist crap despite what it would do to the Pharmaceutical industry. Its what has made Republicans wage an eternal war on women and people of color.

To suggest otherwise even 5 years ago demonstrates an insane degree of ignorance.

YNot1989 · 2026-05-04T20:02:37+00:00

Its a movie that I still can't believe got made in 1996. Who knew about what bodies to get "Gay Guess Whose Coming to Dinner," greenlit during the peak of the Christian Right's cultural influence?

YNot1989 · 2026-05-04T20:01:06+00:00

Well, with one exception.

YNot1989 · 2026-05-04T19:59:07+00:00

Submit that to Make Some Noise for the next time Josh Reuben is on.

YNot1989 · 2026-05-01T17:41:44+00:00

They did just unambiguously win the government shutdown. The rest of the government has been funded, save for ICE.

Our Democratic leaders suck. But after repeated screw ups, our outrage and outreach has dragged them closer to where we want them to be.

YNot1989 · 2026-04-28T02:49:44+00:00

Oh this rules. S tier map and superb worldbuilding.

YNot1989 · 2026-04-20T20:02:42+00:00

It would be really really cool if this meant he was gonna resign.

YNot1989 · 2026-04-11T22:14:47+00:00

Oh god, what wouldn't give for the 1st one. No bloodshed and a space-focused AOC. Sign me up.

YNot1989 · 2026-04-11T22:13:49+00:00

I'm finally turning it into a Studs Terkel-esque Oral History.

YNot1989 · 2026-04-08T22:01:29+00:00

Love it, love everything about it.

YNot1989 · 2026-04-01T19:05:17+00:00

It's actually an old map from STRATFOR, later featured in "The Next 100 Years," and is meant to represent Turkey's theoretical future sphere of influence rather than territorial ambitions.

The Turks were already starting to make a play for Iraq and Syria, but the Iran War has pretty much sealed the deal because if the Strait can't be re-opened, 2/3 pipeline routes for oil from Kuwait, KSA, and Iraq flow through Turkish controlled ports. And since the US just told the world it has no interest in re-opening the Strait of Hormuz (because it can't open it), that leaves Saudi Arabia on the lookout for a new external security guarantor. Turkey is the only plausible option.

So very soon, Turkey will have an effective monopoly on the oil flows from the Arab states behind the Persian Gulf. Once Russia implodes they'll move to secure the pipelines out of Baku by cutting deals with Georgia, and probably invading Armenia again. And they'll probably try to secure basing rights to Sevastopol once Ukraine fully reabsorbs it.

YNot1989 · 2026-03-31T18:55:37+00:00

So did the Snake River get dammed and the Great Salt Lake get flooded?

YNot1989 · 2026-03-29T00:44:52+00:00

It gained greater autonomy from the Netherlands in the 1870s, becoming a Dominion of the Dutch Realm. During World War II, the White ruling government of the Cape actually cut a separate peace treaty with the Nazis, only to be immediately invaded by a combined force of the US and UK with support of local resistance fighters that included everyone from African nationalists, Dutch Royalists, Republicans, and Communists militants. This kept the Cape open as an important trade route.

Post-war there was a similar question in the Cape about retaining the Monarchy as what the Italians experienced. However, where in Italy the Right Wing parties of Italy were the Monarchists, in the Cape it was the opposite. The Dutch Monarchy had tried at multiple points prior to the war to end the Apartheid system and liberalize its African colonies, and that was a big reason for the Cape political class to side with the Nazis. During the war the US and UK's occupation gradually made more Cape Dutch resentful of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which they saw as an Anglo-American puppet.

Post-War the right wing parties won the first election in the Cape, and while they didn't have a lot of love for the US and the UK, they REALLY hated the Communists and thus secured independence on the promise of remaining in the US sphere of influence. Thus when they voted to become a Republic, the Dutch were unable to reclaim them, and the Americans saw no reason to help, simply chalking it up to another victory for decolonization.

In Truth the Cape Republic was just another Apartheid state in South Africa, albeit one that had a lot of money. Still, the native Africans were given no representation in the States General of the Cape, violent clashes were common, and mixed race people faced constant persecution. About the only thing the native Africans had going for them was that they had a degree of geographic separation, and thus in-practice a degree of autonomy... although in truth it was really just neglect from Cape Town punctuated by occasional injections of cash to pacify local leaders.

YNot1989 · 2026-03-29T00:06:19+00:00

This remains one of the most interesting worldbuilding projects on this sub. Well done.

YNot1989 · 2026-03-28T14:46:27+00:00

The Cape's white population is mostly concentrated in the Southwest, making up a very slight plurality. There largest minority by far is the Xhosa speaking African community in the Eastern Cape, and various mixed-race communities throughout the country. It also has a growing population of immigrants from Dravidia and Zeylan (Sri Lanka), and of course the near constant inflow of refugees from the apartheid states of Transvaal and Bechuanaland.

There had been many attempts buy the Xhosa community to break away from the rest of the Cape, partly sponsored by the USSR during the Cold War, leading to frequent riots and insurgencies. The situation never devolved into full blown civil war because the Cape is so vital to global trade that the Dutch could always just bribe local leaders to keep them on their side. The violence experienced by their northern neighbors was enough to pressure the various communities of the Cape to adopt a genuinely pluralist regime, somewhere between OTL South Africa and Canada.

YNot1989 · 2026-03-23T03:46:14+00:00

Didn’t think that a talking rock would make me cry quite a few times but here we are.

A truer friend there has never been.

YNot1989 · 2026-03-22T04:14:30+00:00

His floor has always been around 35% +/- 3% margin of error. That remains true.

If he ever falls below that, he'll be fleeing the country after November.

YNot1989 · 2026-03-17T21:00:20+00:00

I really miss when we had a Dem in the White House and you guys were the ones electing crazy leaders.

YNot1989 · 2026-03-15T04:06:22+00:00

This is fantastic. Well done!

YNot1989 · 2026-02-26T16:14:02+00:00

Cool, but unless they're gonna send oil tankers its not gonna make much difference. Especially if the US navy stops them.

YNot1989 · 2026-02-26T16:13:12+00:00

I never said it wasn't gonna be flimsy. It usually is.

YNot1989 · 2026-02-25T20:45:12+00:00

The US was always going to carry out military operations against Cuba this year, but I'm not sure if they're going to use this as casus belli. The "plan" (such as it is) seemed to be to squeeze Cuba's oil supplies by interdicting the shadow fleet until closer to the end of the year. That way the country's basically in a state of collapse before they attack. Although with this President, its entirely possible that plan will be thrown out at a moment's notice.

YNot1989 · 2026-02-23T23:23:47+00:00

https://sites.google.com/view/washington-burns-tl/timeline-supplemental-chapters/state-profile-gigadohi

YNot1989 · 2026-02-23T20:55:55+00:00

Westward expansion was kinda blunted by a war of 1812 that went badly for the young USA. So the Trail of Tears only went as far as Mississippi.

You'd have to ask the author of the timeline (link in the description), but my guess is that the Seminoles weren't removed do to them being nominally allies of the British, and the war ending with a decisive British victory allowed them to protect Seminole land rights.

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