Shanghaied - 2ACW

8 – Born to run

President Walsh confirmed the worst-kept secret in Washington during July 2027. He wouldn’t be running once more for the Democratic nomination. Walsh intended to serve out his term, until the following January, and then retire from active politics. Everyone knew this already. When he’d been blackmailed by the party leadership in the aftermath of the Taiwan Conflict into giving up any dreams of a second term, that news had leaked within minutes of the meeting. Between then and his announcement, the questions posed by journalists about that had been ones he and his spokespeople had refused to answer. Now it was all out in the open. The race to succeed him, one that had started a long time ago, was officially open for fellow Democrats. The Republicans were already out ahead with their own candidates making waves: their competitors were playing catch-up.

There was a thirteen month period between that announcement and the Democratic Convention in 2028. During that time, a total of twenty-six ‘major’ candidates would make an effort to gain the nomination. These were those who held or had previously held political office, or had enough of a public profile for the media to declare them to be major candidates: there were many more no-hopers also officially in the race. The twenty-six would enter at various periods with some lasting some time and others quickly dropping out… without seemingly anyone noticing. Attention was on four top-tier candidates though. Angela Duke, the Mayor of New York City, was an early frontrunner. An African-American candidate from the nation’s biggest city, Duke attracted plentiful coverage and a good following, much of that beyond the Big Apple too. Then there was New Jersey’s junior Senator Oliver Kirk. He was a big deal in the party with plenty of establishment favouring. He contrasted sharply with Duke’s activist populism and was very much so a neo-Liberal. The Hollywood movie star Riley Smith toyed with a run to the White House. He was a pretty boy money-machine for the movie studios yet with a career interspaced with his own political activism. Never a registered Democrat, he had spoken out in support of party candidates throughout his career and drew the media towards him. However, Riley Smith was his stage name: his birth name was John Borewood. He’d have to run on that name legally, limiting recognition. In the late summer of ’27, he had a sudden breakup with his girlfriend with the media all over it. The negative press which this relationship split attracted ended his campaign and he returned to acting.

Then there was Maria Arreola Rodriguez.

MAR was ‘born to run’. Her wife made this remark in a supposedly private conversation with a thought-to-be friend who released it to the media as park of a betrayal and publicity stunt. It was true though. For a very long time, MAR had been preparing for this. She wanted to be president and there were a great number of people who would stand behind her. Detractors said that over the years – she’d been in the public eye for almost ten years –, the California congresswoman had lost her touch. She no longer had any ‘street cred’. She was too in love with big tech and Silicon Valley; no longer was she the activist upstart she once had been. As per usual, MAR laughed that off. She announced her candidacy on Twitter, where she was one of the most popular posters, and mocked those who were writing her off before she began her campaign. Wrong she would prove them, she said. All the wrongs in the country would be fixed too.

Following on from the mess which was the Democratic Primaries in 2020, the party had attempted to change the whole process for the election of ’24. That hadn’t been something that had gotten off the drawing board due to internal opposition within the Democratic Party establishment. Walsh had used the traditional system of ‘Iowa first, New Hampshire next & then Super Tuesday’ to his advantage in ’24. He’d established himself as the front-runner by securing victories in what were many Red states. Other candidates had dropped out before hardly any Blue states had voted. That was not how it was to be for the ’28 primaries. Tradition was thrown out of the window. Ten states (plus Democrats Abroad) would vote simultaneously in the first primary contest with another four of those a month / six weeks apart through the beginning of ’28. In that first batch of contests, seven Blue states would be contested along with two (of the only four) Purple states. There would be no complicated delegate system – and no superdelegates at the convention too – but instead every vote from every voter would count for one. This was a popular vote contest.

MAR was extremely confident she could win. Duke and Kirk wouldn’t stand a chance.


Governor Allen’s running made for the Republican campaign which they lost in 2024 had been Sarah Taylor. Still a serving senator in Missouri, Taylor had been considered a leading contender for the ’28 election once that previous contest was over with. She’d done very well alongside Allen and had long been talked of as the ideal candidate to run at the top of the Republican ticket to go up against Walsh or, after it became clear he wouldn’t run, whomever the Democrats picked. Yet, Taylor would never enter the Republican’s presidential race which too started during the latter half of ’27. Back in her home state, one of the Reddest in the nation, a financial scandal erupted around her. It was to do with her career in banking before she entered frontline politics. As the economy crashed, the details came out of extensive financial impropriety. Taylor’s opinion poll rating sunk dramatically. She and her supporters claimed it was a Democratic stitch-up, especially since the story dominated the left-wing media, but it was clear she was guilty. The revelations kept on coming. Taylor herself worried about her own Senate seat. She was up for re-election the next November – aiming to fight that while also going after the White House – and there were already fellow Republicans in Missouri who were opponents of hers who could primary her. Missourians weren’t impressed with what she was accused of and nor were Republican voters nationwide when surveyed. In the end Taylor didn’t enter the national race. It was for the best. There was more to come out that was being held back for the following October by certain Democrat-aligned figures and that all would have done the gravest of damage.

Daniel Canabrini was another potential candidate who never made it out of the race’s starting blocks. He was a decorated war veteran and vocal campaigner who also had a big television career. The Tennessee native had previously declined approaches from the Republicans to run for office for them yet was a big supporter who helped with the party’s base. Popular media figures nationwide generally gravitated towards the Democrats but Canabrini was one of the exceptions. He began exploring a national run during the summer of 2027 though when persuaded he might have had the magic. Initial toe-tipping looked good for him, yet once he moved to really get started, Canabrini was turned off. The hostility he found he was subject to was frightening. A tough guy he was yet the open death threats – by people who could back up their words with bullets – were against not just him but his family too. The political environment out there was too much of a risk for his loved ones. Out of the contest be would bow.

Without Taylor and Canabrini in the race, as things began to really get moving in the chase for the Republican nomination, once 2027 entered its final months, two strong Republican candidates emerged among the pack of more than a dozen who were making the effort. None of those others had the standing which Jerimiah ‘Jerry’ Stokes and Edward Roberts did. The two senators, the former from South Carolina & Texas being home for the latter, were fast out ahead of all the others trying to play catch up. They represented different ideas of what their party was all about. Stokes was labelled by critics as an ‘America First’ candidate. He’d openly spoke beforehand of restoring American’s place in the world by getting revenge against China for what had happened earlier in the year in the Western Pacific. Though he didn’t openly say it, everyone knew he meant military action. Then there was his long history of full support for right-wing militias operating across the nation. Stokes had defended them time and time again. South Carolina was spared the violence which other states weren’t and he ruffled too many feathers among figures elsewhere in the nation party by his inflammatory comments backed up by smugness about how things were where he called home. Roberts was one of those who considered his fellow Republican to be a straight up fascist. A product of the Lincoln Project to create a ‘new’ Republican Party, a sensible one which won extensive minority votes, Roberts was still part of a system that used gerrymandering, voter disenfranchisement and every bit of cheating in the book to get where he was. While no angel himself, the African-American candidate gained significant party support once his campaign got going in opposition to Stokes. There were some who said he was born to run too. He attracted many law-and-order supporters who feared what Stokes might do should he make it to the White House. Economic conservatives liked him and so too did big business. There was still racism which Roberts would have to face, a lot of it, and he wasn’t on the best of terms with the party kingmaker-in-chief Senate Majority Leader Green. Such challenges would be met.

Stokes and Roberts were going to fight it out in 2028. The Republicans would follow the traditional primary system which the Democrats had just abandoned. Getting the Democrats out of the White House was wanted by all and they would do whatever that would take.


While the opening moves among the two parties were made for the next year’s election, the American economy continued its downward spiral in late 2027. More people were out of work and there was a growing homelessness issue. MAR spoke of taking foreclosed homes away from the property of the banks – who had extensive property holdings – and giving them back to the people. Called a socialist by Stokes, she corrected him: she was a democratic socialist. Kirk and Roberts both pointed to the struggles those who had a job and a home were facing. Each spoke of what they would do to correct the nation’s economic situation should they win the presidency to help these people first. Roberts faced the ‘Uncle Tom’ taunt when on the early campaign trail. He had been called that name before and responded like a grown up. MAR faced racism, sexism and homophobia. A few commentators thought they were funny and spelt her maternal surname without one of the two letter Rs: areola was supposed to be witty to those who pretended they were making a simple spelling snafu. She turned things around against those against her and declared that all personal attacks made her stronger as well as reminding her supporters of what they were all fighting for.

When Walsh, with Senate support, made the military deployment to the Baltic States and Poland late in 2027, Roberts voted for that move to defend NATO allies like his fellow Republicans did. Kirk also did so, one of the minority of Democrats giving their support to the president’s action. Each man major misgivings about doing so but kept those to themselves. Duke, MAR and Stokes all opposed it. They did so for different reasons and used their primary opponent’s support against them. Voters were split on this issue, not on the usual Red state vs. Blue state divide. After the humiliation inflicted by China earlier in the year, the United States was now facing off against Russia in Eastern Europe. This was an unexpected campaign issue within both the Democrats and the Republicans with candidates forced to take sides.

Extensive personal security surrounded these five principles candidates. There was more given to those outsiders also in still in the race as well. Assassination fears went beyond the candidates to their families and colleagues. Duke and MAR were not in favour of being surrounded by bodyguards but they needed them. They couldn’t campaign without protection from those seeking to do them harm. There were plenty aiming to do that. Despite all that was being tried, after bi-partisan agreement to properly act, domestic political violence continued in America during late 2027 and into the following year.

Campaign 2028 up next.

Oh Boy this is going to be good Bloody

11 – Black swans

‘RF-187’ was the codename given to a biological agent which the United States believed was a secret Russian germ agent. They had samples of this and they were kept, alongside others, at Fort Detrick in Maryland. RF-187 had been studied extensively so that if it showed up once more, used in a hostile manner, the Americans would know what they were dealing with. In a major security breech, samples of this agent were stolen from Fort Detrick in early September 2028. This incident was classified top secret. An investigation was underway to find out who was responsible with the fears that Moscow had managed to get access to Fort Detrick and steal them back. Such was what President Walsh was first told once the theft was discovered. However, later in the month, he and his top people were given another classified briefing on the matter. It wasn’t any longer thought that the Russians were involved. Someone else swiped those germs. It looked increasingly likely that those responsible were domestic terrorists.

Military investigators, working with members of multiple agencies within the US Intelligence Community, had identified three people in a conspiracy to steal RF-187 samples. They detained them and had enough evidence to convict should the case go to federal court. Yet, the biological samples were still gone. There were leads which were urgently being tracked down as to where possession of the stolen biological agents where and all of those lead to the little-known American Insurgent Army. The AIA had been active for a number of years. Written off as a joke some time ago, this was a right-wing militia group like no other. They stayed off the radar and acted under the disguise of others. Former military members but also retired figures from the Intelligence Community were involved. These people were preparing for the end-of-days and in the meantime wanted to fight the establishment while following a very warped and scary ideology. That gate guard at Fort Detrick, the man who got the germ samples out of there, was a member. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security were all over seemingly everyone he’d ever met. Arrests were made of suspected AIA members and covert searches made on properties belonging to others. The missing RF-187 couldn’t be tracked down though, despite all effort thrown into the hunt.

The Omaha Bombing occurred on September 30th. The explosion targeting the Democrats’ vice presidential candidate and gathered supporters was initially not linked to that theft several weeks beforehand. There was no reason for any connection. However, with a day, FBI investigators tied the AIA to the attack. There were also reports coming out of Nebraska – and over the river in Iowa too where some wounded had been taken to hospitals in that state – that many victims were showing unexplained symptoms concerning eye irritation and stomach sickness. That could have been related to the fuel oil which was part of the explosive device. Walsh and his national security team were briefed that it seemed impossible that such small quantities of the stolen germs could be responsible for all of those suspected cases. RF-187 was a poison used for targeted assassinations. It didn’t seem likely that it would have been used in a bomb. But… Walsh decided that this needed properly checking out. The implications of being wrong, of delaying action and people dying due to inaction, were terrifying. Specialist government and military investigators went to Omaha. The fears would turn out to be unfounded. Those ill weren’t so because of a biological attack. Before that could be confirmed though, the news leaked out of Washington about the theft of RF-187 from Fort Detrick (Russia called the whole thing a Big Lie with Walsh apparently seeking an excuse for war to stay in office), the president’s fears and the on-the-ground investigation. Panic and political drama ensued. In the meantime, the US Government was still looking for those germ samples too.

DaJuan Anderson survived the blast. The truck driven into the crowd exploded as he was being pushed down by Secret Service agents and covered with their bodies. Brave men and women did all that they could to save his. Yet, he was badly injured – and several USSS agents killed – when that huge bomb went off. It was a fuel-air bomb and its effects were devastating. One hundred and eight deaths would occur from the blast with hundreds more wounded. Not since 9/11 more than twenty-seven years beforehand had a terror attack on American soil killed so many. The type of attack made, where a terrorist gave his own life to make it work, was just so un-American that at first it was incomprehensible. It happened though. The AIA had others like him among their ranks: those willing to die like their comrade lost in Omaha did. As to Anderson, he was air-lifted to a rapidly-filling hospital in Omaha. Trauma surgeons stopped the bleeding from multiple shrapnel wounds but the New Yorker was in a coma afterwards. A nation was invited by his mother to pray for him. Walsh, MAR and Roberts all made headlining statements condemning the attack and urging his recovery. He stayed on the Democratic ticket too. If he’d been killed, it would have been a different matter. MAR battled party officials who wanted to see him replaced because of his condition but she refused to allow for that. She believed he would recover. Some time that may take, but she expected him to be her vice president when she won the White House. To remove him was viewed by her as giving the terrorists what they wanted too. She wouldn’t budge on the matter.

How would it look if she dropped him!?


The morning after that terror attack, as federal and state authorities afterwards sought AIA suspects – that bomb was hardly the work of a ‘lone wolf’ –, a right-wing internet blogger posted an extensive piece on her website concerning presidential candidate Maria Arreola Rodriguez. It was initially not taken as wider notice of by the mainstream media as it normally would have been had that bombing in Omaha not occurred. The blogger was Maddie Chen, a Taiwanese-American who had a big following especially among the Twenties ‘alternative media’. There was plenty of talk among them about conspiracies surrounding the assassination attempt against Anderson, but Chen’s piece got traction too. Unable to go back to her home country because the Chinese occupied it, and would certainly imprison her for political crimes, Chen was angry. She’d been angry for many years. Socialists like MAR made her angry. Yet, conversely, so did Republicans like Edward Roberts. Despite his white nationalism, Chen had given her support to the failed campaign of Senator Stokes earlier in the year… even after his unguarded comments about ‘yellow pr*cks’ when talking of Asians came to light. She did so because he had spoken plainly of getting even with China concerning the Taiwan Conflict. With MAR, the hatred from Chen was long-term. She’d openly mocked the assassination of MAR’s father through the years and regularly made reference to the California congresswoman’s wife as a ‘lesbot’. Chen wasn’t a nice young woman.

This online piece in question concerned the birthplace of MAR. It was public record that she was adopted aged five months by two California college professors in a certified legal manner. An orphan born an unmarried Mexican immigrant mother, MAR herself had spoken many times about the parent she never knew and the kind people who adopted her. It was a well-known story. Her birth had been registered in the California city of Bakersfield and MAR had long ago released into the public arena copies of her birth certificate. It had been alleged by opponents that she was Mexican, not American, and she had countered that with full disclosure. Americans had had previous experience with ‘Birtherism’ when it came to their 44th President: claims against MAR’s citizenship were generally dismissed. Few believed that she had been born in Mexico and there was widespread agreement that that was just a conspiracy theory. Chen’s blog contained new allegations though, dissimilar from past ones. A different mother was given as that of MAR and the birthplace – still over in Mexico though – wasn’t the same. Moreover, Chen alleged that she had evidence. Attached to the blog piece were copied documents. For all that she was, Chen was no conspiracy theorist. She was distasteful but never went down those roads when others did. These allegations of hers were serious and the presented evidence which she had wasn’t something to be scoffed at.

Infuriating for Chen, it took a few days for serious notice to be taken. She was served with cease-and-desist letters from a big San Francisco law firm (coming from the MAR campaign) and the internet service provider hosting her blog was hit with a major cyber attack (not authorised by that campaign). MAR was questioned about it all by friendly journalists. She called it all yet another conspiracy theory. Her mother had given birth to her in California and her adopted parents would never have been part of a lie to device her or anyone else about where she was born. More people were now seeing the documents about that birth of a child in Mexico in April 1990… and not one the same month at the previously-mentioned location in California. The Republicans picked up the story and began to use it. MAR wasn’t even a citizen and couldn’t be president! Roberts was naturally interested when he first heard of all of this. However, he didn’t believe that it was true. These allegations had been made before and had all be proved to be false. He tried to slow the attack lines coming out with the fear that it would all backfire on his campaign. Democrats were already on the counterattack, claiming that Roberts was trying to avert a defeat at the polls by spreading lies. MAR stopped answering questions about the matter after a week. It was ridiculous, she said, and her campaign focus was on the important matters affecting the American people. That was all well and good until, later in October 2020, with election day less than a fortnight away, her campaign manager made an off-hand, angry comment to a reporter who wouldn’t let the story go. The quoted remark reported in the Boston Globe was ‘even if she was Mexican, it wouldn’t matter’. It was a stupid, stupid thing to say: of course it mattered. That comment went nationwide and was twisted where needed by opponents. The senior-most staffer on MAR’s campaign stepped down at her request to try and dampen the story but it gave the whole issue more attention. The majority of the American people still didn’t believe it all… but the numbers who did were growing.


Teyo was shot in West Palm Beach on October 16th.

Real name Malik Sanchez, the singer and influential supporter of MAR was gunned down outside his recording studio on the Florida shore. He was rushed to hospital yet died in the ambulance on the way. Global headlines were made and there was worldwide mourning. Teyo invented Swagg, the most popular genre of popular music in the late-Twenties. His Swagg was ‘clean’ and thus not full of obscenities nor other vulgarities like certain other singers used in theirs. Bisexual, and open about it, Teyo was someone everyone knew because of the drama around that among those who hated on him due to his sexuality and his politics too. A democratic socialist who lived what he preached, Teyo was always at the centre of attention. He came from West Palm Beach and was the child of an African-American father & a Hispanic mother. Born into poverty – the city wasn’t all a millionaire’s playground –, he’d made it big. He lived a simple life though (no mansions, no private jets, no Bling) where he gave all his money away to the needy. Teyo was attached to no record label and had never produced himself any physical copies of his music: everything was all digital with plenty of it released free too. What money had had made had been poured back into the community from where he had come. Republicans and conservatives nationwide had long found offense at his politics while he had been welcomed greatly as a campaign surrogate by MAR as she ran for the White House. Days before his death, on one of those Friday Nights With MAR webcasts, he’d once more sung improv with her kids. They and their mothers were distraught at his death. So were the millions upon millions of fans he had. His latest song Dreamz at once broke all records in terms of downloads & streams.

At once, it was widely-believed that Teyo was murdered because of politics. The gunman who had avoided his security was caught by the local police. The Red state which was Florida was unfriendly to his politics, but this was a murder. There was no way that the local authorities were going to ignore this, not to someone like Teyo. That arrested suspect was Caucasian. It was said in selected sections of the media that he’d killed Teyo because he was a white supremist and wanted to hurt the Democrats’ chances of victory the next month. That wasn’t the case though. This was something else, to do with affairs of the heart. The truth, what would usually be an excellent story for the tabloid feeding frenzy, was lost when politics come into play. General views nationwide, among fans and those who despised him, was that Teyo was killed in another incident of political violence. That was either a good thing or a bad thing depending upon the partisan divide. But it was really about a twisted idea of what love meant.


The Omaha bombing, the allegations of MAR’s birth and the murder of Teyo were what commentators called Black Swan Events. They were unpredictable, late-stage campaign shocks. October was in the past often the month where sudden shocks happened – October Surprises were legendary in American presidential races – but they were generally more about politics than these were. Scandals would erupt. This time it was violence and unfounded but serious allegations about a candidate’s legitimacy to assume the office which they were running for. Neither campaign welcomed them. MAR didn’t and Roberts wasn’t happy either. October was when the two of them wanted to finish up winning over voters. They wanted to convince those so far undecided, the nation’s swing voters, especially in the Purple states, to back them over the other. The news was supposed to be about politics, not these events. How could Roberts welcome someone trying to kill his opponent’s running mate in a terrorist attack, the spreading of what seemed like baseless lies about her birth (recalling past Republican behaviour in the minds of voters) and the shocking murder of one of her most popular public supporters? MAR didn’t want to lose Anderson’s active participation in the race, have those lies spread about her and see a close family friend slain.

As the days ticked away to November 7th, there were less-dramatic campaign developments. Opinion polling numbers came in to cause worry and gaffes were made. This was usual, what was expected of a presidential race. MAR took a day off campaigning to go to the funeral service for Teyo and Roberts suspended campaigning that day too despite the anger of others in his party. The health of Anderson didn’t improve. He remained in his coma. It was too late for MAR to replace him now, even if she wanted to… which she didn’t. The FBI was still seeking those who had those stolen germ samples with false alerts about their possible use frightening people. Immense amounts of cash were spent on electioneering. There were Senate, House, State and local elections all taking place alongside the presidential race. Several instances of political violence were seen including the stabbing (he survived) of a Congressional candidate in Ohio and the shooting of a state assemblywoman in New Mexico (she died). Voter intimidation and fake news ran rampant. Passions were high. The watching world outside America waited to see who would win.

The campaign teams for MAR and Roberts each had mapped out how their candidate could win. The Republicans had more paths to victory than the Democrats did. Each could count on their base of support in deep Red and strong Blue states though they did have to be on their guard in vulnerable states. There were the purple states too, which everyone agreed would decide the election. If their base held up, maybe even if they only lost one Red state, the Republicans could gain the White House if they took at least two of the Purple states. If the numbers went their way with the few states which split their votes for the Electoral College, and they held on in all Red states, Roberts may only need one of the four – Pennsylvania – to win. His campaign wanted all of them in the Red column come the morning of November 8th though. The Democrats needed at least three of those Purple states and they also needed to strongly defend their own base: certain Blue states like Maine were perceived to be under threat. There was the chance that they could flip several red states and lessen the need of the Purple ones, though that was going to be difficult. The decision five years ago made in Washington state to split the votes for presidential elections there had hurt the Democrats in 2024 and that was feared for ’28 as well. MAR made a visit to the Pacific North-West and did state-targeted online events to go after Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Polling was promising in the first two states but there were bad omens in the latter two. MAR kept her spirits up yet there were other Democrats who thought she was going to lose this and give the White House to the Republicans.

Election day then came around.

Excellent work. Thank you very much.
Can I suggest a change to the wording though?
'After defeat against China and domestic unrest, America faces another civil war: a fictional tale.' 

Red, Blue and Purple states in the USA in 2028.
The state totals are assumptions based upon the aftermath of the 2020 census.

Blue states: Arizona (12), California (54), Colorado (10), Connecticut (7), Delaware (3), Hawaii (4), Illinois (19), Maine (4 *), Maryland (10), Massachusetts (11), Nevada (6), New Jersey (14), New Mexico (5), New York (28), Oregon (8), Rhode Island (3), Vermont (3), Virginia (13), Washington (12 *) plus District of Columbia (3).
Total: 229

Red states: Alabama (9), Alaska (3), Arkansas (6), Florida (31), Georgia (16), Idaho (4), Indiana (11), Iowa (6), Kansas (6), Kentucky (8), Louisiana (8), Mississippi (6), Missouri (10), Montana (3), Nebraska (5 *), New Hampshire (4), North Dakota (3), Ohio (17), Oklahoma (7), South Carolina (9), South Dakota (3), Tennessee (11), Texas (41), Utah (6), West Virginia (4), Wisconsin (10), Wyoming (3).
Total: 250

Purple states: Michigan (15), Minnesota (9), North Carolina (16), Pennsylvania (19).
Total: 59

* These three states split their votes for president & vice president: Maine, Nebraska & Washington.

(click on image to enlarge)