Chapter 1

A belated welcome to 2025

Things have change drastically in the last five years. President Joe Biden died in 2023 and was of course succeed by Vice President Harris. Covid and related variants have circled the globe with devastating results.

The Republican Party has been hit hard with the total ruin of former President Trump. Full details have been exposed of the early days of the Covid problem and how his actions led to the pandemic. Then, in late 2021, suspected Chinese hackers hit his PACS, stealing almost 100%, leaving him functionally broke. His properties were already leveraged (or as we mere mortals say, mortgaged) to the max. Seeing the writing on the wall and fighting their own battles, his moneyed friends deserted him. As soon as the money was gone, his lawyers ran out the door so fast their tail wind created a paper storm. As his lawyers exited, all the various lawsuits proceeded at full speed. The states are still proceeding with their investigations. Trump actually spent a couple of weeks as an (involuntary) guest of the State of New York. Poor man, without his spray tan and fancy comb over, he looks just like an old man. Most likely the state charges will be subordinate to Federal charges related to the January 6th insurrection, collusion with Russia and incidents of fraud.

The Republican Party was also hurt by the loss of many members who swore off face masks, social distancing and vaccines. They have about as much strength as the Libertarian party. The liberals are split between the moderate Democrats the Socialist Democrats headed by AOC. Of course they team up against the conservatives. They campaign for each other if they don’t have a strong candidate of their own.

The Republican candidate for president did not fare at all well in the election, drawing just under 30% of the vote. No Republican candidate did much better in any election. The house already had Democrat majority and picked up another 35 seats. The Senate, formerly 50/50 split, wound up with 75 Democrats to 25 Republican. With a few exceptions, most states followed similar trends. As you probably expect, states like Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Wyoming, and North Dakota held on to their Republican roots. Former Georgia Governor Brian Kemp lost to former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Although it turned mostly blue, a few Georgia rural districts held on to their Republican state representatives.