"Joe Biden fanfic" may very well be true for its origin, not least becauses George Mullen has a dead son whose death he's still traumatized by and that - and only that - is the reason why he stepped back and was a one term President. (I.e. it does the fanfic thing where canon stuff is used but in a way that makes the central woobie look better. :)

It's also telling that the evil Mr. Speaker is a traditionally evil right winger, who could have shown up in "The West Wing". The show doesn't touch the actual craziness of current day GOP politics with a tent pole. And of course, the fact that the black female VP became President alone proves it's a far better timeline...