Line #50 Literature/FaceTheStorm


1	''Face the Storm: [=QAnon=] and the Presidential Election of 2024'' is an AlternateHistory.com timeline written by Ulysses Orbis. Members of the site can read it [[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/face-the-storm-qanon-and-the-presidential-election-of-2024.472124/ here]]. It is also available on Fiction Press [[https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3348885/1/Face-the-Storm-QAnon-and-the-Presidential-Election-of-2024/ here]].
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3	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 a very SoreLoser and accuses Sanders of winning through fraud. Despite this, Sanders manages to take the presidency with even the Republican establishment accepting the outcome.
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5	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.
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7	The timeline originally began as a trilogy in a thread of mock wikiboxes, with an added epilogue covering the aftermath of the final installment. An update titled 'Soon Says a Whisper, Arise, Arise' was added in September 2019 featuring an 1820's version of Q known as Quintilianus gaining traction.
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9	----
10	!!''Face the Storm'' contains the following tropes:
11	* AintTooProudToBeg: [[HeelRealization Realizing]] Q is a dangerous lunatic, [[spoiler:[=McCarthy=] begs him to spare Bakersfield from being nuked, but his pleas are ignored and he is gunned down]].
12	* TheAntiChrist: Implied to be Q's true identity. [[spoiler:He has his followers get a tattoo clearly intended to be the Mark of the Beast, brings about an apocalyptic scenario, and rules over the ashes. It's also implied that he has some connection to [[Series/AmericanHorrorStory Michael Langdon]], with one person in-universe even claiming Langdon to be Q himself, though WordOfGod says he's just connected.]]
13	* ApocalypseCult: [[spoiler:The global community sees Q and his regime as a death cult by 2040. Inspired by him, Qheads launch terror attacks worldwide, notably bombing the Vatican when the Pope condemned Q's actions. In response, the world imposes harsh censorship policies to stop the rise of a Q-like demagogue]].
14	* ApocalypseHow: [[spoiler:Q inflicts a Class 0 by the end by nuking Chicago, Washington DC, Boston and all of California to quell rebellion against his rule. Escalates to a Class 1 by the end, as Q continues to inspire global terrorism worldwide, the economy is in shambles and Q uses more nukes on both US cities and on the neighboring nations of Canada and Mexico.]]
15	* BlackAndGreyMorality: [[spoiler:While Q has established a totalitarian regime over America by 2040, the rest of the world isn't that different. They impose stricter measures to ensure a Q-like figure does not rise to power elsewhere]].
16	* 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.]]
17	** [[spoiler:Mitch [=McConnell=] outright blames the massacre of Democrats in Congress on radical Islam, even claiming that people heard the attackers shout 'Allahu Akbar!'. This is just an attempt to push back on claims of the Republicans enabling domestic terrorism.]]
18	** To disenfranchise minority voters, [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain pro-Q thugs and cops]] use bogus terrorist threats and voter fraud claims to attack Democratic voting precincts.
19	* CoDragons: Q's chief enforcers are Alex Jones, the notorious conspiracy theorist and far-right radio host who becomes Secretary of State and congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who becomes Vice President. [[spoiler:By 2030, Q purged his entire cabinet so they won't become [[DragonWithAnAgenda potential threats]]]].
20	* TheConsigliere: Disgraced general Michael Flynn, who becomes Q's most rabid supporter and EvilGenius.
21	* CompositeCharacter: One of the Q's in "The Morning Will Come When The World Is Mine" is apparently a part of [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration the Q Continuum]] and counts both the canon Q and the Borg as his servants.
22	* ChildEater: A key belief of Q and his followers is that the Democrats are [[SatanicPanic devil-worshipping]] "pedovores."
23	* ChurchMilitant: Q's supporters are often very fundamentalist. 'My Friend the Witch Doctor' depicts the Q regime blaming a pandemic on witches who are summarily execution on the basis of consorting with demons. Stella Immanuel becomes the Q's chief witch hunter.
24	* ConspiracyTheorist: Q and his supporters think a secret cabal of child-eating Satanists control the world and undermined Trump while he was president.
25	* CrapsackWorld: [[spoiler:By 2040, America becomes a fascist WretchedHive under Q, whose identity remains unknown. Q's actions forced governments to crack down on fake news and extremism even more]].
26	* {{Cult}}: [[DarkMessiah Q attracts a cultlike following]] among disgruntled Republican voters very quickly by [[SatanicPanic claiming that a secret cabal of pedovores]] undermined Trump and worked to elect Sanders in 2020. [[spoiler:By 2040, [=QAnon=] has expanded worldwide]].
27	* 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, [=QAnon=] has expanded worldwide, forcing governments to crack down on extremist content online]].
28	* DaysOfFuturePast: 'My Friend the Witch Doctor' shows Q's America has brought back literal witch hunts.
29	* EmergencyAuthority: Q establishes a dictatorship after nuking out anyone who opposed his regime in 2025. [[spoiler:By 2040, the Constitution was essentially suspended so Q can run unopposed in every election]].
30	* EvilIsPetty: In one instance, Q nukes Boston out of pettiness for being a liberal city.
31	* 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, the Soviet Union look tame. The government controls everything, while citizens are forcibly implanted with a microchip that brainwashes them to hear only Q's propaganda]].
32	* FaceHeelTurn: Downplayed. [[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.
33	* TheFaceless: We never learn Q's true identity. His appearances at debates and rallies is done via laptop and voice modulator. His RNC speech adds a hologram in the shape of Q to this. [[spoiler:Even after ruling with an iron fist for over a decade, nobody knows who he really is.]]
34	* FailedFutureForecast: 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.
35	** While Trump purges several of his Cabinet officials when they discussed invoking the 25th Amendment in this timeline, several actually resigned ''en masse'' after the Capitol riots in shame.
36	** 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]].
37	** The timeline was also made before the release of the HBO documentary ''Q: Into the Storm'', which [[https://in.mashable.com/culture/21402/ron-watkins-seems-to-admit-hes-q-in-the-dumbest-possible-ending-to-qanon seems to have revealed the identity of Q]]. Needless to say, Face the Storm's Q is most likely ''not'' Ron Watkins.
38	** 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 beating accusations of pedophilia.
39	** Andrew Cuomo is still the governor of New York in 2024, but IRL resigned in 2021 due to sexual harassment accusations.
40	** Cyrus Habib, Dan Patrick and Kelli Ward become governors of Washington, 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 the lieutenant governor of Texas as of this writing.
41	** Rush Limbaugh is alive in Face the Storm, but IRL he died of lung cancer in 2021.
42	** 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 and received an 18-year prison sentence for his involvement in the Capitol riots.
43	** In Face the Storm, Trump is forcibly removed from the White House on his last day in office. IRL, he was a no-show at Biden's inauguration as he left for Florida earlier that day due to his [[SoreLoser lingering bitterness]] on losing the 2020 election.
44	** Lou Dobbs is still a Fox News host in Face the Storm, but IRL he's been fired after the Capitol riots.
45	** Jerry Falwell Jr. is still the chancellor for Liberty University in Face the Storm, but in IRL, he resigned in 2020 as he allowed his wife to have an extramarital affair with a pool attendant they met in 2012. Not only that, Falwell also published a now-deleted photograph of himself drunk with jeans unzipped and his hand around the waist of a young woman while on a yacht, something which violated the Liberty University's code of conduct.
46	** 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.
47	* 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]].
48	* 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.]]
49	* 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). His pleas for mercy are ignored just as he's gunned down.]]
50	* 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.
51	* HistoricalVillainUpgrade:
52	** 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.
53	** Slightly worse example with WebVideo/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.
54	* HopeSpot: Sanders manages to defeat Q in a LandslideElection. 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]].
55	* IgnoredExpert:
56	** 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 ignores her. [[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]].
57	** Downplayed with several Fox News employees, who think Q is crazy and tacitly root for Sanders. On the flip side, they also fear a drop in TV ratings and death threats if they oppose Q. [[spoiler:Sure enough, Q does takes over via outright violence in 2025]].
58	* IntercontinuityCrossover: [[Series/AmericanHorrorStory Michael Langdon]] is apparently a real person in this timeline and is accused of being Q by one CNN guest. [[spoiler: He isn't per WordOfGod, but a quote from him in the timeline implies he knows what Q is going to do.]]
59	** [[spoiler: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor John Titor]] is also a real person in this universe.]]
60	** "The Morning Will Come When the World Is Mine" takes this to its peak, as versions of Q overtake [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Middle Earth]], [[Franchise/StarTrek the Enterprise]] and allow [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Jadis to destroy Charn]]. The last part features [[WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty Rick Sanchez]] destroy a world overtaken by Q and explain that Q appears and overtakes many universes, as well as the Citadel of Ricks' (losing) war with Q.
61	** The Dixie Games post merges a southern victory world, Literature/TheHungerGames and Face the Storm.
62	* InvincibleVillain: Q seemingly cannot be defeated. There is no world established where Q appears that doesn't at least take power over a major part of the world and it often seems that Q is on the cusp of total victory.
63	* 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 draconian censorship measures to ensure a Q-like DarkMessiah doesn't pop up elsewhere]].
64	* KangarooCourt: Under Q, the courts are overseen by police commissioners who are free to railroad defendants on a whim. Criminal charges also now include things like [[WitchHunt consorting with demons]] thanks to Surgeon General/Witchfinder General Stella Immanuel.
65	* LoopholeAbuse: [[spoiler:The Republicans in Congress, after the Democrats are massacred, actually certify Sanders and Baldwin as the legitimate victors of the 2024 presidential election despite claiming up until now that they won only via fraud, citing 'the spirit of bipartisanship.' However, the fact that they are both dead means the Speaker of the House will become president, and since the Speaker doesn't have to be a Congressperson, the House Republicans nominate Q as the speaker, securing the same outcome as if they had just declared him president.]]
66	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane:
67	** [[spoiler:While it's easy to read Q as being TheAntiChrist, nothing outright supernatural occurs in the story or precludes Q from merely being a very, very batshit insane DarkMessiah.]]
68	** [[spoiler: "The Morning Will Come When the World Is Mine" seemingly confirms Q as a supernatural being as he claims numerous other worlds in a myriad of eras and is explicitly identified as inevitable.]]
69	* 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.
70	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: In the 'Dixie Games' post (set in world mashing up Literature/TheHungerGames, a southern victory in the Civil War and Face the Storm, several characters thinly-veiled counterparts to real-world individuals whose identities were changed.
71	** Katniss Lawrence is meant to be an alternate version of Jennifer Lawrence with some of Katniss' background, but by position and reputation is akin to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (albeit targeted by more vicious attacks).
72	** Romulus Crenshaw is a clear stand-in for Dan Crenshaw.
73	** Meghan Domenech is meant to be Meghan [=McCain=].
74	* NukeEm: [[spoiler:Q nukes several large US cities and all of California to brutally suppress any opposition to his rule and ForTheEvulz. He even wipes out Canada and Mexico to prevent governments-in-exile from forming]].
75	* OppressiveStatesOfAmerica: America becomes one once Q becomes president after a violent putsch in 2025.
76	* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: Several cases.
77	** 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 and embrace of loony conspiracy theories.
78	** Clinton, Carter, Obama and Bush are President Personable, endorsing Sanders and calling out Q's lunacy. [[spoiler:Obama becomes President Target when Q nukes Chicago to prevent him from forming a government-in-exile. It's unknown what became of the other former presidents, but it's implied they too became as such since they were on Q's hit list for calling him out]].
79	** Sanders is a President Iron as he continues to steadfastly support his progressive policy agenda and firmly oppose the radical fascist ideology embraced by Q.
80	** 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 Puppet who goes along with what his party wants (though the outcome is the same)]].
81	** Q is a mix of Evil, Jerkass, 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 and Michael Flynn to his cabinet.
82	* ThePardon: After he loses the 2020 election, [[SoreLoser Trump]] pardons himself and his cronies before he's removed from the White House. Despite pondering on the idea IRL, he doesn't go ahead with it because of the legal controversy.
83	* PresidentForLife: Q declares himself as one by 2040.
84	* PaedoHunt: Q uses this to orchestrate his rise to power, claiming that a "deep state" cabal of pedophilic Satanists controls the world.
85	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain:
86	** 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.
87	** Q also makes similar diatribes against other racial minorities. Under the pretext of electoral fraud and security concerns, pro-Q thugs and cops attack polling sites to effectively disenfranchise them, knowing they'll vote for Sanders.
88	** This is even more prevalent with Quintilianus, Q's 1820's counterpart who is more blatantly anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic and racist. He claims the conspiracy running the country is run by Pharisee bankers and accuses John C. Calhoun (an infamous proponent of slavery) of enabling slave revolts that will upend the social order by rejecting his claims.
89	* PropagandaMachine: Q's chief enablers use BlatantLies to paint their enemies as [[ChildEater child-eating]] [[SatanicPanic Satanists]].
90	* ThePurge: It becomes a general theme within the Republican Party itself: criticize Q and you are considered a pariah.
91	** 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 popping up]]. As time passed, many of Q's original backers had their profiles scrubbed, implying that [[spoiler:they too were killed by Q]].
92	** Trump fires his entire Cabinet when they discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to declare him mentally unfit.
93	* RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman: A future edition, but still present.
94	** Bernie Sanders is president with Tammy Baldwin as vice president.
95	** Kevin [=McCarthy=] becomes the Speaker of the House and later becomes president when Sanders is assassinated. Hakeem Jefferies is [=McCarthy=]'s immediate predecessor.
96	** Mitch [=McConnell=] and Chuck Schumer are the Senate Majority and Minority Leaders respectively.
97	** Q's main rivals for the Republican nomination are Tom Cotton, Liz Cheney and Nikki Haley.
98	** Q's campaign team is managed by conspiracy theorist Lionel Lebron, who also volunteers to be a ballot placeholder if Q is disqualified. Joy Villa (a singer best known for wearing a Make America Great Again dress to the Emmys) is Q's press secretary and Rep. Matt Gaetz is his running mate. [[spoiler:After he wins, he appoints Alex Jones as Secretary of State with Kaitlin Bennett (the Kent State open carry advocate) as his deputy, Michael Flynn as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Stella Immanuel (a surgeon behind unproven COVID-19 cure claims) as Surgeon General, and Stewart Rhodes as Secretary of Homeland Security.]]
99	** Michael Flynn shows up as the ringleader of Q's putsch by recruiting [=QAnon=] supporters in the military.
100	** Celebrities such as James Woods, Joe Rogan, Roseanne Barr, Notch and Curt Schilling, and [=YouTube=] personalities WebVideo/PewDiePie and Logan Paul openly endorse Q.
101	** Dan Patrick and Kelli Ward become governors of Texas and Arizona respectively.
102	** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Miscavige David Miscavige]] is alluded to in passing-[[spoiler:Joy Villa (a Scientologist both in real life and the timeline) tells him to evacuate before Q nukes California.]]
103	** The man behind the dril Twitter account of all people also is relevant to the timeline, [[spoiler:as he ends up being Q's opponent in the 2028 presidential election. He loses and it's pretty much said that Q had no legal opposition in every election afterwards.]]
104	** This is even more omnipresent in 'Soon Says a Whisper, Arise, Arise' due to being set in the 1820's.
105	*** Andrew Jackson dies of pneumonia shortly after losing in 1824 to John Quincy Adams. His death and claims Adams had him murdered is key to Quintilianus (the 1820's Q) gaining popularity.
106	*** Aaron Burr and Samuel Morse both become key promoters of Quintilianus' writings and claims.
107	*** John C. Calhoun attempts to challenge John Quincy Adams without embracing 1820's!Q, denouncing him as a dangerous demagogue who will discredit opposition to Adams.
108	*** The death of William Morgan which helped launch the real-life Anti-Masonic Party is here used to boost Quintilianus, to the dismay of historical Anti-Mason Thurlow Weed.
109	*** James Wilkinson, a general later discovered to have been a Spanish spy in real life, embraces Quintilianus and becomes his running mate in 1828.
110	* TheRemnant: After [=McCarthy=] becomes president and fires Sanders' cabinet, members of that cabinet declare Secretary of State Jake Sullivan to be the acting president on the basis that [=McCarthy=]'s decision to fire them was unconstitutional as his complicity in the attack on Congress made him unfit for the job. His claim is backed by the states of California and New York at minimum. When Sullivan is assassinated, the role passes on to Attorney General Larry Krasner, who flees to California. He retains these states' support and also is supported by every former US president still alive except for Trump. [[spoiler:When California is wiped off the map, Veterans' Affairs Secretary Jason Kander sets up shop in Canada, which is wiped out when Q nukes that country. Chicago had been nuked by Q to prevent Barack Obama from doing the same. Q then kills off outgoing president [=McCarthy=] and the Joint Chiefs of Staff from doing the same as well, with [=McCarthy=] even [[AintTooProudToBeg begging Q to spare his hometown of Bakersfield from being nuked]] just before Q's thugs kill him off]].
111	** [[spoiler:The last point of contact between the US under Q and the rest of the world is a single man in the Geneva embassy as of 2040.]]
112	** The man behind the dril Twitter account [[spoiler:ends up being the nominee of the remaining Democrats in the 2028 election. He loses and it's pretty much said that Q had no legal opposition in every election afterwards.]]
113	* 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 crack down on extremist content]].
114	* 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 appears, as he attracts a cult-like following very quickly.
115	* ShoutOut: Quite a few.
116	** Excerpts from [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Theatre/Cabaret Tomorrow Belongs to Me]] serve as the opening to each main update of the timeline. The title also paraphrased from the lyrics.
117	** The third update quotes from [[Creator/RodSerling Rod Serling's]] monologue at the end of [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S4E4HesAlive He's Alive]], [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/Foundation The Mule]] and [[Creator/WilliamButlerYeats The Second Coming]].
118	** As mentioned, [[Series/AmericanHorrorStory Michael Langdon]] is a real person in the timeline, [[spoiler: as is John Titor.]]
119	* SkewedPriorities: Maryland Governor Larry Hogan identifies the biggest concern affecting the country in 2024 as...the federal budget deficit in a cycle where increasing numbers of Republicans are embracing far-right conspiracy theories.
120	* StableTimeLoop: WordOfGod is that John Titor [[spoiler:is in something similar to one, as his efforts to prevent Q from coming to power are doomed to failure, but he can alter exactly when it happens.]]
121	* SoreLoser: Trump is much worse than IRL, as not only does he accuse Sanders of gaming the 2020 election, he also self-pardons himself (something he pondered upon IRL but never did so), fires his entire Cabinet when they discussed invoking the 25th Amendment, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking holes himself up in the White House on his last day in office]] (though he's forcibly escorted out).
122	* TokenGoodTeammate:
123	** The only named Republican who explicitly denounces Q as his coup unfolds is former President George W. Bush. It's implied there are other Republicans who called out Q, but most have embraced [=QAnon=] and/or are too afraid to stand up to Q.
124	*** It becomes a general theme within the GOP as those who call Q out quickly get shelved (forced into early retirement). The GOP itself tried blocking his candidacy for 2024, but relented when threatened by pro-Q thugs.
125	** Implied with Chief Justice John Roberts, who was a no-show at Q's inauguration by calling in sick due to his lingering doubts on Q's legitimacy.
126	** While many Fox News employees don't agree with Sanders's socialist policies, they tacitly root for him, feeling that Q is a dangerous loon.
127	** 'The Morning Will Come When the World is Mine' features a Q (known as Koppa) who replaces Jesus in the New Testament. The apostle who betrays him is not Judas, but instead John, who ends up becoming the Wandering Jew and seeks to aid China in holding back the followers of Koppa.
128	* TheUnreveal:
129	** Even Q's most rabid supporters don't know 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.
130	** [[spoiler:As with Q, John Titor is actually the pseudonym of a man who tries to stonewall Q's efforts to come into power to no avail, but can alter exactly when it happens]].
131	* YouAreNumberSix: As described by refugees who escaped America, its citizens receive only numbers and must be tattooed with the Triple Q on their forehead, eerily similar to how North Korea controls its population so they won't rebel.

Context Literature / FaceTheStorm