this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2024
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[–] [email protected] 35 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (7 children)

I kind of fear what comes next after Trump (he is old and I can't imagine him serving a full term).

  1. Can Trump transfer his cult to a successor with a mere endorsement and forever continue a cycle of scrambling to vote for this "last" democrat.
  2. His cult fizzles out and the Republican party splits support over multiple candidates.
  3. A person like DeSantis (less of a narcisstic idiot and more a true representive of Republican hatred) takes over and is worse than Trump.
[–] [email protected] 44 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

He will never willingly let go of his control over his base. Trump doesn't give a single fuck about the MAGA movement beyond the fact that it is his own personal army of zombie sycophants.

His followers may be dogmatic about MAGA, but I can assure you that Trump himself is not. If he dropped dead tomorrow MAGA would instantaneously begin fizzling out, and it would fracture the Republican party.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The greatest gift trump could ever giver america is, when he loses the nomination in 2028, to run as a third party candidate. Hopefully he never lets go of his base.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

Hopefully before he dies he convinces his base to give themselves the Heavens Gate treatment so they can catch the golden limousine to hell right along with him.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Based on what my true-crime cult obsessed friend has said on the matter, option 2 is probably the most likely; though the party at large will always rally behind whoever the nominee is, because that's how Republicans operate.

DeSantis already tried to court the cult of Trump, and he failed because these cults of personality are entirely fixed around their leader. As my buddy described it, it's not like a hydra where you can cut the head off and the cult keeps going. Once the leader is gone, they fizzle out. Even in the case of endorsing a successor, I can't imagine the group having the same kind of following for the same reason - without Trump, the Flavor-Aid sours. There will be new leaders, but they'll have to work to sway the core voters in the way that Trump has. And the Flavor-Aid is a perfect metaphor, because Trump sounds exactly like Jim Jones according to my friend.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

This is the first time in the wild that I have seen someone correctly mention "Flavor-Aid" instead of "Kool-Aid" in reference to Jim Jones.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

I would forever shame my friend if I didn't get that one right.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

If anything, after Trump, he’ll be revered within the Republican party for years like Reagan was. WWTD “What Would Trump Do?” will become their new litmus test for whether a candidate is worthy or not. Republicans will try to show off their credentials of how aligned they were to “Trump’s values”.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

At least they can finally stop pretending that they are "the party of Lincoln"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That makes alot of sense. However, I'm worried the Republicans reliaze there are better candidates that represent "their morals". So maybe not DeSantis but someone closer. They also will have to vote for someone.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Vance is just as scary as DeSantis imo, and we haven't seen him in an executive position yet.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Cults of personality are never quite the same once the big personality passes. They tend to fragment, shrink, or otherwise fade away. Members may join other high control organizations, but they won't be united.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Depends... If he can successfully set up a family dynasty (would probably be Ivanka and Jared he passed it on to if we're being honest), and he stayed in office until he died before passing the torch (or perhaps even stepped back as an "elder statesman" for the last few years of his death so he can work on transitioning Donald Trump diehards into Trump diehards), I could see them making this work.

These people are in deep, and most of them will do anything he tells them to do.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago

Can Trump transfer his cult to a successor with a mere endorsement and forever continue a cycle of scrambling to vote for this "last" democrat.

Trump cares about not going to jail and Trump in approximately equal amounts. No way he lets someone else take the wheel. If he somehow became president again he'd start looking at repealing the 22nd before he'd endorse anyone else.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Trump has none of the admirable qualities of someone who's overcome a mental disability. He oozes neurotypical privilege.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

I know, I didn't let the media sway me into believing he was some genius charismatic dictator. I just think the man keeps failing upwards but his time is running out.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I mean... is extreme malignant narcissism considered neurotypical?

I kind of hope not.

He oozes wealth privilege (even if he doesn't have much left). Allows him to behave however he pleases.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

He doesn't have extreme narcissism. That's a social disability. Does Trump look like his social faculties are impaired to you? His cognitive faculties are because of his dementia, but he's as charismatic as anyone, much as I hate to admit it. He's neurotypical.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

I can't see Trump being the sort to try to build something beyond himself. I don't think he could see the point of trying to cultivate a successor; and even if he did, I think he would see them as potential competition - he'd likely try to sabotage them, if anything.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)
  1. If he passes it on to another shameless racist schoolyard bully con man, but really nobody matches up.
  2. If they were going to split, Donald should have been the limit. Actually, all Repubs will fall in line and vote for whomever their core voting base (far-right racists) wants. Their voting base just won't be as fired up.
  3. Desantis doesn't behave like a clown to get free airtime from all the networks. When he does get airtime, it's for backfiring stunts like giving immigrants free vacations to Martha's Vineyard with taxpayer money. IDK if that's a winning strategy.
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Yeah, the longest lasting fascist country was spain which collapsed into a republic with the death of Francisco Franco.