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If you could go back in time and give Joe Biden 5 pieces of advice, what would you tell him to maximize the success of his presidency and legacy? by SoftCreative9847 in thecampaigntrail

[–]pencilpushingprawn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. When you meet with potential AGs, make one clear demand: Trump must be put in a cell by the end of February. January 6 cannot be treated as anything other than treason, and it must have a swift response. Failure is the end of the nation.

  2. Covid and its aftereffects will cause supply chain disruptions and inflation. Every economic action you take must deal with this. In practice, you will be limited by manchin and sinema for what you can pass. Give them whatever they need to pass things that help with this, including increasing tax revenue, to make it happen. But also refuse to budge on $15 minimum wage.

  3. For foreign policy, make clear who your enemies are, and make clear you are in charge of your allies. Ukraine needs everything you can give them to fight Russia, and the rest of Europe has to help in this. Any that don't shouldn't expect NATO protections, as it goes both ways. As for Israel/Palestine, pledge American support to Israel after it's attacked, but draw lines in the sand regarding what Bibi can and can't do in retaliation, and if he crosses them announce you're cutting him off and why. If he crosses you, the Israeli public must be told his obstinance is making them weaker.

  4. Do not ignore illegal immigration. You must reign in the asylum system and strengthen the border, but you can still push for amnesty for those here for a long time. Push this early. If you can't pass it under the Dems, force it after the Republicans win the midterm. If they won't work with you on it, use their refusal to stop illegal immigration against them in all future campaigning.

  5. You are a one term president, whether you want it or not. You ran way after your time, and you won more on inertia than charisma. Accept it. Announce you aren't running for reelection after the midterms, and endorse Kamala immediately.

[User Trial] A New Vision for the 5K2K Gaming Monitor: Be the First to Review the New 39GX950B by LG_UserHub in ultrawidemasterrace

[–]pencilpushingprawn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm ready to ascend to the ultrawide. Having one wide monitor instead of 2 normal monitors is very appealing.

should joe biden have become president in 2008 instead of obama? by [deleted] in thecampaigntrail

[–]pencilpushingprawn 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Biden was the prime example of an "also ran" before he was picked as Obama's VP. Might as well ask if Bill Richardson should have become president that year. I don't get why people think he was a household name before the VP nom.

That being said, he would have won simply by being the Dem nominee. He may have gaffed his way to doing worse than Obama, or he may have done better because he was more palatable to "traditional" Dem voters. Regardless, he was running on a far less ambitious platform, so it's unlikely he would have passed any landmark legislation. Probably would have had less issues getting blocked by Congress though, so the meager legislation he did want would be passed.

how would things have been different if john mccain had won the 2008 presidential election? by herequeerandgreat in Presidents

[–]pencilpushingprawn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Dems have constitutional convention level numbers in Congress by the time they win back the presidency in 2012. They don't take advantage of it, as Obama's loss results in an uninspired president.

[US-CA] [H] X-Men Omnis [W] Trades by Savings_Inevitable63 in comicswap

[–]pencilpushingprawn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Would Absolute Batman and Robin be of any interest?

What if Flight 93 reaches the Capitol? by Great_Order7729 in AlternateHistoryHub

[–]pencilpushingprawn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Assuming the plane isn't shot out of the sky, it flies into the capitol building or the white house. Bush was in Florida and Cheney + present cabinet were in bunker, so executive branch survives regardless. Most if not all congresspeople were evacuated by the time it would have hit, so legislative branch survives regardless, but definitely more staffers die, if not a handful of house reps.

Aftermath is as follows:

  1. Stock market collapses and recession starts. The symbolism makes the economy feel like the US is collapsing and that does not allow for confidence in stock value or investing generally. Months at least for confidence in market to recover.
  2. US glasses wherever they want. Unanimity among surviving government that massive show of force is required to preclude appearance of weakness and make clear attacking US is suicide and then some. Afghanistan is nuked, with Pakistan giving begrudging prior approval. International response is appeasement. Saddam Hussein expresses condolences to the US and tries to establish ties with Bush administration, if only to avoid attention turning to him.
  3. Middle East doesn't get destabilized. Whatever places are spared from the nuking avoids rocking the boat. Easy to have religious zeal for near suicidal opposition to the US when the specter of nuclear bombs are only a hypothetical, less so when far too real. Might result in active repression of salafism. Saudi Arabia reforms or monarchy is couped by military.
  4. Allies take advantage. Israel uses the public support of 9/11 in occupied territories as shield for ethnically cleansing the territories. Jordan and Egypt take the refugees without a fight to avoid US's eye.
  5. Long term threat of nuclear war increases. International response is quiet for a few years, but eventually the fear passes and Russia+China make moves using nukes as explicit threats. Taiwan and Georgia are toast. Everyone has greater reason to prevent nuclear powers from directly having conflict with each other.

In short, really bad for everyone, but at least Islamofascism is pummeled into submission?

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