History Literature / FaceTheStorm

** Slightly worse example with LetsPlay/PewDiePie, who is mentioned in passing as having endorsed Q despite being largely apolitical and having sought to move away from edgier content since 2016.

** Celebrities such as James Woods, Joe Rogan, Roseanne Barr, Notch and Curt Schilling, and [=YouTube=] personalities LetsPlay/PewDiePie and Logan Paul openly endorse Q.

Unfortunately, this event leads many Republicans voters to feel betrayed. With Trump disgraced, former supporters engage in various acts of domestic terrorism and ultimately find a new figurehead in the form of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon Q]] (no, not [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration that one]] [[spoiler: though he does make an appearance in one installment]]); not [[Franchise/JamesBond that one]] either; [[RuleOfThree or]] [[VideoGame/StreetFighterIII that one]]). Q uses his increasing popularity to mount a bid for the presidency in 2024...and things only get worse from there.

Unfortunately, this event leads many Republicans voters to feel betrayed. With Trump disgraced, former supporters engage in various acts of domestic terrorism and ultimately find a new figurehead in the form of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon Q]] (no, not [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration that one]] [[spoiler: though he does make an appearance in one installment]]); not [[Franchise/JamesBond that one]] either; [[RuleOfThree or]] [[VideoGame/StreetFighterIII that one). Q uses his increasing popularity to mount a bid for the presidency in 2024...and things only get worse from there.

Unfortunately, this event leads many Republicans voters to feel betrayed. With Trump disgraced, former supporters engage in various acts of domestic terrorism and ultimately find a new figurehead in the form of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon Q]] (no, not [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration that one]] [[spoiler: though he does make an appearance in one installment]]); not [[Franchise/JamesBond that one]] either). Q uses his increasing popularity to mount a bid for the presidency in 2024...and things only get worse from there.

* MeaningfulName: Figures named John often seem to be opponents of Q. First there's [[spoiler: John Titor]] in the main timeline, than the abolitionist John Brown in the 1820's and finally John the Apostle in the world where Q forms the basis for Christianity instead of Jesus.

* NukeEm: [[spoiler:Q nukes out several large US cities and all of California to violently suppress any opposition to his rule. He even nukes out Canada and Mexico to prevent governments-in-exile from forming]].

** Trump is a combination of President Lunatic, Corrupt, and Jerkass, baselessly claiming Sanders won because of voter fraud. Additionally, he is the only former president to support Q in 2024. As in IRL, Trump is a confrontational person who hates compromise, while his tenure was highly contentious amid allegations of corruption.

** Q is a mix of Evil and Lunatic, remorselessly nuking major American cities ([[ForTheEvulz in one case just because it's a liberal city]]) and appointing the likes of Alex Jones to his cabinet.

** The third update quotes from [[Creator/RodSerling Rod Serling's]] monologue at the end of [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E106HesAlive He's Alive]], [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/Foundation The Mule]] and [[Creator/WilliamButlerYeats The Second Coming]].

** While not openly anti-Semitic, Q uses the alt-right triple-parenthesis used to denote Jews when discussing the pedophile conspiracy he claims is ruining the country. Sanders calls out tropes such as the blood libel and Jews controlling the world being rampant in Q's rants. Under the pretext of electoral fraud and security concerns, pro-Q thugs and cops attack polling sites to effectively disenfranchise minority voters, knowing they'll vote for Sanders.

** Trump purges his entire Cabinet when they discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to declare him mentally unfit.

** Even Q's most rabid supporters are in the dark on who he really is. They think it's a rotating identity passed around squabbling bureaucrats. Others think he's working for the Democrats or a psyop set up by the Russians (who themselves are unaware on who he is). The confusion has caused real people to be doxxed by trolls and Internet sleuths. Q refuses to reveal who he is, claiming that the "deep state" will kill him if he came out in the open. Even when he adopts different names in different timelines, Q masks his true identity.

* ApocalypseCult: [[spoiler:The global community sees Q and his regime as a death cult by 2040. Inspired by him, Qheads launch terror attacks worldwide, most notably bombing the Vatican when the Pope condemned Q's actions. In response, the world imposes draconian censorship policies to stop the rise of a Q-like demagogue]].

* BlatantLies: Q relies on these pretty heavily, but special mention must go to [[spoiler: Alex Jones' interview with Russia Today that serves as an epilogue to the timeline. Jones claims the nuclear weapons were used by the Deep State in a desperate attempt to hold power and that they were launched by Sanders, who he also claims is still alive. In addition to all of this being false, it is a clear case of fabrication by Jones rather than belief in the wrong thing as he was actually in the room when Q ordered the nuclear strikes on California, Chicago and Washington DC. This bit was explicitly inspired by the Syrian government's denials of chemical weapons usage in their civil war.]]

* DarkMessiah: Q literally serves as one in one portion of 'The Morning Will Come When the World is Mine', where he takes the place of Jesus. [[GodIsEvil The implications of that setting are troubling to say the least.]] [[spoiler:By 2040, the [=QAnon=] conspiracy has expanded worldwide, forcing governments to crack down on extremist content online]].

** The prominences of Liz Cheney and Matt Gaetz in 2024 in Face the Storm is something that can be contrasted with actual 2021 events in their careers-the former basically lost all political standing after voting to impeach Trump and the latter seems likely to be facing possible criminal charges for having sex with a minor.
** Andrew Cuomo is still the governor of New York in 2024, but IRL resigned in 2021 due to being accused of sexual harassment while in office.
** Cyrus Habib, Dan Patrick and Kelli Ward become governors of Washington State, Texas and Arizona respectively. IRL, Kelli Ward was the chairperson of the Arizona GOP until 2022, Cyrus Habib is out of political office, while Dan Patrick remains lieutenant governor of Texas as Greg Abbott remains the incumbent governor.

* HeelRealization: [[spoiler:Outgoing President Kevin [=McCarthy=] realizes just before his execution just how badly he screwed up by allowing Q's coup to go ahead and install him as president (as Q has just declared he will be nuking all of California, including [=McCarthy=]'s hometown of Bakersfield). Just before he's clipped, [=McCarthy=] begs for mercy.]]

* HopeSpot: Sanders manages to defeat Q in the presidential race and by a rather hefty margin in both the popular vote and electoral college. Unfortunately, Q refuses to concede and encourages his thugs to commit domestic terrorism so the Electoral College could make him president. Multiple Republican governors in states Sanders won attempt to declare Q the victor and accuse him of voter fraud (bolstered by a deepfake of Sanders admitting to rigging the election). Q's efforts ultimately fail and Sanders is certified as the winner. [[spoiler:And then members of the Secret Service assassinate both Sanders and Baldwin, making Republican Speaker of the House Kevin [=McCarthy=] president. Once they massacre Democrats in Congress, Q ends up elected Speaker of the House by the remaining Republicans and thus he is on track for the presidency. Q then goes on to purge anyone he deemed disloyal, including [=McCarthy=], who tacitly approved Q's putsch]].

** On the Electoral College certification in 2024, AOC urges Speaker Jefferies to beef up security outside the Capitol to prevent pro-Q thugs from stopping the proceedings, but Jefferies dismissed her claims. [[spoiler:Q's supporters and a rogue unit of Marines do end up killing all Democrats on January 3 as part of the plan to make Q president]].
** Downplayed with several Fox News employees, who think Q is unhinged and tacitly root for Sanders. On the flip side, they also fear a drop in TV ratings and possible death threats if they oppose Q. [[spoiler:Sure enough, Q does takes over via outright violence in 2025]].

* IRejectYourReality: On a society-wide scale. [=QAnon=] attracts a large chunk of the populace, using SatanicPanic to claim that a secret cabal of pedovores undermined Trump and worked to elect Sanders in 2020. This becomes a major problem as by 2040, [[spoiler:the global community imposes harsh censorship measures to ensure a Q-like DarkMessiah doesn't pop up elsewhere]].

** While not openly anti-Semitic, Q uses the alt-right triple-parenthesis used to denote Jews when discussing the pedophile conspiracy he claims is ruining the country. Sanders calls out tropes such as the blood libel and Jews controlling the world being rampant in Q's rants.
** Under the pretext of electoral fraud and security concerns, pro-Q thugs and cops attack polling sites to effectively disenfranchise minority voters, knowing they'll vote for Sanders.

** Once Q is inaugurated in 2025, he violently purges any potential threat to his regime. [[spoiler:Outgoing president [=McCarthy=] and the Joint Chiefs of Staff are executed to prevent a counter-coup. Several cities, and even Canada and Mexico are nuked to stop rival governments-in-exile from being set up]]. As the years passed, many of Q's original backers had their profiles removed from the White House webpage, implying that [[spoiler:they too were killed by Q]].
** Trump purges several of his Cabinet officials when they discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to declare him mentally unfit.

** Michael Flynn shows up as the ringleader of Q's putsch by recruiting pro-Q supporters in the US military.

** [[spoiler: The last point of contact between the US under Q and the rest of the world is a single man in a Geneva embassy as of 2040.]]

* RightWingMilitiaFanatic: These grow in number after Trump loses in 2020 and become a huge problem in 2024 with Q being their DarkMessiah. Despite Q's defeat in the election, they launch a full-scale insurrection with the Oathkeepers and rogue military personnel outright overthrowing various state governments and [[spoiler:massacring numerous Democratic members of Congress. They even go so far to kill potential enemies of the Q regime. The Oathkeeper leader Stewart Rhodes becomes Secretary of Homeland Security in Q's cabinet. By 2040, Qheads launch terrorist attacks worldwide, forcing the global community to adopt draconian measures so a Q-like demagogue doesn't pop up elsewhere]].
* SatanicPanic: [=QAnon=]'s central belief is that an elite cult of child-eating Satanists control the world and worked to undermine Trump while he was in office. It becomes a recurring theme in every timeline that Q crops up, as he attracts a cult-like following in a short amount of time.

** With Fox News employees, while many of them don't agree with Sanders's socialist policies, they tacitly root for him, feeling that Q is a dangerous loon.

* FallenStatesOfAmerica: [[spoiler:A news article posted by ''The Guardian'' states how America went from being the world's superpower to a pariah under Q in a short time. The use of authoritarian measures to control the public are documented by defectors. The sole link between America and the world is a lone man in the Geneva embassy as of 2040]].
* GreaterScopeVillain: Russia is implied to be this, as they support Twitter bots backing Q and help fabricate evidence against Sanders. However, it is never outright confirmed [[spoiler:and Q ultimately is demonstrated to be EvilerThanThou if that was the case.]]
* HeelRealization: [[spoiler:Outgoing President Kevin [=McCarthy=] realizes just before his execution just how badly he screwed up by allowing Q's coup to go ahead and install him as president (as Q has just declared he will be nuking all of California, including [=McCarthy=]'s hometown of Bakersfield). Just before he's clipped, [=McCarthy=] begs for mercy.]]
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: The update titled 'Soon Says a Whisper, Arise, Arise' features a lot of these due to being centered on an 1820's version of Q. Andrew Jackson, John C. Calhoun, Samuel Morse, Aaron Burr and John Quincy Adams are all relevant figures.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade:
** While George W. Bush is the only GOP ex-president to openly denounce [=QAnon=], many Republican politicians who have never embraced [=QAnon=] become Q's fervent backers during the 2024 election. It's implied there are other Republicans who have criticized [=QAnon=] in a similar fashion.
** Slightly worse example with LetsPlay/PewDiePie, who is mentioned in passing as having endorsed Q despite being largely apolitical and having sought to move away from edgier content since 2016.
* HistoryMarchesOn: The timeline was made in 2019, before the conclusion of the 2020 Democratic primary and depicts Bernie Sanders holding the White House after the 2020 election as well as widespread violence between the election and Inauguration Day. In real life, the presidency instead went to Joe Biden and while the transfer of power was not wholly peaceful (the US Capitol insurrection of January 6 stands out as evidence of the contrary for instance), it was not as deadly as the version depicted in Face the Storm.

** The Oathkeepers become one of the key far-right gangs who support Q and its leader Stewart Rhodes heads up the Department of Homeland Security. IRL, the Oathkeepers (along with other extremist groups like the Proud Boys[[note]]that their leader Enrique Tarrio was a former stoolie didn't help either, causing his cred go down the gutter[[/note]]) are facing internal turmoil and dissension among the ranks since the Capitol riots, as many have been arrested (and some have [[TheInformant even pulled a Joe Valachi]]). Stewart Rhodes himself was charged with sedition for his involvement in the Capitol riots.

*** Alex Jones is the Secretary of State in Face the Storm. IRL, he is facing financial ruin after he was ordered to pay ''$1.5 billion'' in punitive damages stemming from defamation suits the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims filed against him as he baselessly claimed it was a FalseFlagOperation designed to pass more stringent gun control laws and that the families were "crisis actors," which forced them to move several times just to avoid being harassed by {{Loony Fan}}s of Jones.

*** Alex Jones is the Secretary of State in Face the Storm. IRL, he is facing financial ruin after he was ordered to pay ''$1.5 billion'' in punitive damages stemming from defamation suits the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims filed against him as he baselessly claimed it was a FalseFlagOperation designed to drum up support for new gun control laws and that the families were "crisis actors," which forced them to move several times just to avoid being harassed by {{Loony Fan}}s of Alex Jones.

** Trump is largely a President Lunatic, baselessly claiming Sanders won because of voter fraud. Additionally, he is the only former president to support Q in 2024.

* CrapsackWorld: [[spoiler:By 2040, America becomes a fascist WretchedHive and international pariah under Q, whose identity remains unknown. Q's actions forced governments to crack down on fake news and extremism even more]].

* ThePardon: After he loses the 2020 election, [[SoreLoser Trump]] pardons himself and his cronies before he's removed from the White House. Trump doesn't pardon himself IRL despite pondering on the idea, probably because of the legal controversy surrounding self-pardons.

** While not openly anti-Semitic, Q uses the alt-right triple-parenthesis used to denote Jews when discussing the pedophile conspiracy he claims is ruining the country. Sanders calls out tropes such as the blood libel and Jews controlling the world being rampant in Q's Goebbels-esque claims.

** Downplayed with Fox News employees. While they hate their network's increasingly pro-Q content and don't agree with Sanders's socialist policies, they secretly root for Sanders, feeling that Q is a dangerous loon.

* FaceHeelTurn: [[LesserOfTwoEvils For a given value of 'Face,']] but Tom Cotton is the main opponent of Q in the primaries and picks up support from most Republicans opposed to the lunacy of his candidacy. However, when Q gains enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee, Cotton concedes defeat and declares he will do all he can to make Sanders a one-term president, endorsing Q by implication. Additionally, even before that, he began accusing Sanders of treason in an attempt to win support over Q from primary voters.

** Cyrus Habib, Dan Patrick and Kelli Ward become governors of Washington State, Texas and Arizona respectively. IRL, Kelli Ward is still the chairperson of the Arizona GOP, Cyrus Habib is out of political office, while Dan Patrick remains lieutenant governor of Texas as Greg Abbott remains the incumbent governor.

*** Alex Jones is the Secretary of State in Face the Storm. IRL, he is facing financial ruin after he was ordered to pay ''$1.5 billion'' in punitive damages stemming from defamation suits the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims filed against him as he baselessly claimed the shooting was a FalseFlagOperation designed to drum up support for new gun control laws and that the families were "crisis actors," which forced them to move several times just to avoid being stalked.

* EvilStatesOfAmerica: As time progresses, America becomes a dictatorial regime under Q, [[spoiler:who remains TheFaceless and cuts off trade with the outside world. His actions make Nazi Germany, North Korea, or Soviet Russia look tame. The government controls everything, while citizens are forcibly implanted with a microchip that brainwashes them to hear only Q's propaganda]].

* FiveManBand: The evil version.
** Q becomes the VillainProtagonist BigBad by making [=QAnon=] go mainstream with average Republicans.
** Q's [[CoDragons chief enforcers]] are Alex Jones, the notorious Infowars conspiracy theorist and far-right radio host who becomes Secretary of State and congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who becomes Vice President.
** Disgraced general Michael Flynn, who becomes Q's [[TheConsigliere consigliere]] and EvilGenius.
** Stewart Rhodes is TheBrute, becoming Secretary of Homeland Security. The Oathkeepers become Q's goon squad.
** Joy Villa is TheDarkChick by becoming Q's press secretary.
** Russia is implied to be the GreaterScopeVillain by amplifying [=QAnon=] Twitter bots and fabricating false info about Sanders.

** Trump keeps his Twitter account in Face the Storm, but IRL, he's been permabanned by all social media companies following the Capitol riots. He also [[ThePardon self-pardons himself]], but doesn't do so in IRL despite pondering on the idea[[note]]probably because its legality remains unsolved and would ignite a political firestorm, but then, Trump is notorious for breaking decorum such as refusing to concede and using BlatantLies to conjure controversy[[/note]].

* Alex Jones is the Secretary of State in Face the Storm. IRL, he is facing financial ruin after he was ordered to pay ''$1.5 billion'' in punitive damages stemming from a defamation suit the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims filed against him as he baselessly claimed the shooting was a FalseFlagOperation designed to drum up support for new gun control laws and that the families were "crisis actors," which forced them to move several times just to avoid being stalked.

** On the Electoral College certification in 2024, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urges Speaker Jefferies to beef up security outside the Capitol to prevent pro-Q thugs from stopping the proceedings, but Jefferies dismissed her claims. [[spoiler:Q's supporters and a rogue unit of Marines do end up killing all Democrats on January 3 as part of the plan to make Q president]].

** Clinton, Carter, Obama and Bush are President Personable, endorsing Sanders and calling out Q's lunacy. [[spoiler:They become President Target when Q nukes Chicago to prevent Obama from forming a government-in-exile. It's unknown what became of the other former presidents, but it's implied they too were on Q's hit list for calling him out]].

** Kevin [=McCarthy=] [[spoiler:has shades of being a PresidentEvil given his complicity in Q's coup, but overall is more of a President Focus Group and President Puppet who goes along with what his party wants (though the outcome is the same)]].

** While not openly anti-Semitic, Q uses the alt-right triple-parenthesis used to denote Jews when discussing the pedophile conspiracy he claims is ruining the country, which most Republicans openly embrace. Sanders calls out tropes such as the blood libel and Jews controlling the world being rampant in Q's Goebbels-esque claims.
** Under the pretext of voter fraud and security concerns, pro-Q thugs and cops attack polling sites to intimidate and effectively disenfranchise minority voters, knowing they'll vote for Sanders.

The timeline begins TwentyMinutesInTheFuture with the election of 2020, where Democrat Bernie Sanders ends up beating UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump by a rather big margin, but Trump proves to be no GracefulLoser and accuses Sanders of winning through fraud. Despite this, Sanders manages to take the presidency with even the Republican establishment accepting the outcome.

* KillEmAll: Q advocates for this towards the Democratic Party on the basis of false claims of pedophilia. [[spoiler:His supporters end up inflicting this on almost all Democrats in Congress on January 3 in order to secure Republican control in both chambers and make Q president. Q then goes on to wipe out cities and purge anyone he deemed disloyal with an iron fist]].

** Under the pretext of voter fraud and security concerns, pro-Q thugs and cops attack polling sites to disenfranchise minority voters, knowing they'll vote for Sanders.

* PropagandaMachine: Q's chief enablers use Goebbels-esque claims to paint their enemies as [[ChildEater child-eating]] [[SatanicPanic Satanists]].

** Once Q is inaugurated in 2025, he violently purges any potential threat to his regime. [[spoiler:Outgoing President [=McCarthy=] and the Joint Chiefs of Staff are executed to prevent a counter-coup, while several cities, and even Canada and Mexico are nuked to stop rival governments-in-exile from being set up]]. As the years passed, many of Q's original backers had their profiles removed from the White House webpage, implying that [[spoiler:they too were killed by Q]].

* Alex Jones is the Secretary of State in Face the Storm. IRL, he is facing financial ruin after he was ordered to pay ''$1.5 billion'' in punitive damages stemming from a defamation suit the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims filed against him as he baselessly claimed the shooting was a "gigantic hoax" and that the families were "crisis actors," which forced them to move several times just to avoid being stalked.