Fear, Loathing and Gumbo on the Campaign Trail '72/YMMV

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• Complete Monster: The Lesser Mao
• Magnificent Bastard: Dear Lord, George Corley Wallace. As mentioned above, the story hinges on Wallace hanging on to his paltry nine electoral votes to either force the Democrats and Republicans to make a "corrupt bargain" to get around his roadblock, or fail and cause one of the two hapless running-mates to ascend to the Presidency instead; either way setting the stage for him to make a comeback in '76. He succeeds in both plans, as bi-partisan scheming first allows Spiro Agnew to become President, then, after he proves to be an utter disaster, forces the Congress to awkwardly remove him and replace him with a retired General, ultimately leaving both parties discredited -- exactly as planned. Wallace meanwhile quietly makes peace with the Alabama NAACP and slides away from his segregationalist past. (This happened in OTL.) He runs for President again in 1976, becoming the front-runner after baiting Spiro Agnew into attacking him on his handicap, which he parlays into a dramatic speech about feeling the pain of the common man. Wallace ends up winning the Democratic nomination after allying with Ron Dellums, of all people, and chooses the very man who stood against him in the "Stand at the Schoolhouse Door", Nick Katzenbach, as his running mate. As of the last update, he wins. Yes, pretty much all of the chaos of the past four years in this story is the old bastard's plan working.
• Moral Event Horizon: Reached in a big way by the Lesser Mao (Chairman Mao's nephew). After spending several years turning China into what is, effectively, post-Cold War North Korea meets Khmer Rouge-era Cambodia, as well as getting involved in a war in Southeast Asia and turning the PRC into the world's leading exporter of heroin, he officially crosses the line when he supresses a military rebellion by nuking the rebel-controlled city of Kwangsi, making it the first time nuclear weapons have been used in anger since Nagasaki.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: George Wallace, at least to some extent. He remains a flawed man and President but rather spectacularly redeems himself for his pro-segregation past by bringing more black lawmakers into the cabinet than ever before.