Timeline (Our Dear JEB)

The year is 2027...

As the second coming of the "roaring 20s" draws to a close, the world remains changed and reshaped in irrevocable ways. With 2 million dead from the international Coronavirus Plague in China alone, a fractured PRC collapsed in Summer 2024, splitting into four different states, the remaining communist holdouts from the old government retaining control of Beijing and the surrounding province. Calling themselves "China proper" but recognized globally as Hebei, this new state attempts to pick up the pieces of their once great empire.

With the Dragon of the East out of the picture, multiple developing nations have attempted to fill the power vacuum that now exists. The arguably most notable and successful of these nations is the fresh-faced superpower of the Nile River Union. Formed in 2025 and led by Egypt, the North African confederation was initially conceived as a way to unite allies against climate change, and to consolidate water in the drying Nile River. The NRU has been accused of imperialism and multiple violations of human rights. Finding few allies in the west, the ruling council of the NRU has instead built friendly relations with fellow rising powers in the Eurasian Union and fascist Australia.

Fairing better than many of their international colleagues, the United States has nevertheless seen their global influence wane due in part to chaos at the federal level. With President Elizabeth Warren under the scrutiny of congressional investigations declining to seek a second term, the presidency is set to change hands for the fourth time in twelve years, with Warren being the third one-term President since Barack Obama's popular administration.

In a world rocked by climate change and disease, it is clear to people of all ideologies that the planet will be shaped once more by humanity's next steps, for better or for worse.

2027

 * 9 April: Establishment favorite and Massachusetts Senator Joe Kennedy III enters the Democratic primary, quickly garnering frontrunner status over Vice President Julian Castro.
 * 11 June: 74 year old former Florida Governor John Ellis "JEB" Bush declares his candidacy for the presidency, becoming the first major candidate to enter the Republican primary. Bush immediately develops a cult following online and becomes the source of multiple internet memes.
 * 16 June: Donald Trump Jr., son of former President Donald Trump Sr., announces his campaign at Trump Towers. Like his father before him, he attacks main rival Bush with the insult "low-energy JEB".