My prediction is that when it's time for TSF to go (no matter how),

[no_hypocrisy]

initially, MAGA will have a collective meltdown and identity crisis. They will have lost their leader. Someone who speaks to them and for them.

Don't kid yourselves. J.D. Vance doesn't have the magnetism and charisma that Trump has over these people. Like going to bed without Viagra.

Their influence will fracture and weaken. They'll lose interest in the political and societal processes.

[lapfog_1]

1. VD Vance is like laying down on the couch without your viagra.

[DFW]

2. We had better hope that they don't become like Stan Lee's Hydra

Stan had invented a criminal/terrorist organization named after a monster of the same name from Greek mythology.

Their motto was, “Hail Hydra! Immortal Hydra! We shall never be destroyed! Cut off a limb and two more shall take its place! Hail Hyrda!"

[no_hypocrisy]

3. I don't sense/discern they have that kind of dedication to a cause.

Last edited Sat Aug 30, 2025, 07:13 AM - Edit history (1)

Their dedication is to one man. Take away that man and they have nothing.

Think about it: Nazis in Germany still exist in that country, but their numbers and influence have waned because not only is Hitler dead, but he killed himself. Their leader diminished himself with a selfish, cowardly surrender and lost his status by that act alone.

Same thing with Joe McCarthy. Once he was censured and later died of alcoholism (cirrhosis of the liver), his "crusade against Communism" essentially died. Same thing with his lackey/toady, Roy Cohn, but we all know that Roy had nine lives.

[Irish_Dem]

29. Yes but Germany was bombed to hell and back.

And the people were destitute and facing US GI's pointing guns at them.

They had no choice but to surrender.

MAGAs are in a very different situation.
Trump is empowering them, giving them permission, and they will be very well funded.
They are very susceptible to propaganda and can be easily swayed.

[rubbersole]

30. Mark Burnett (Apprentice) and Rupert Murdoch will invent his replacement.

tsf is as flawed a person as it gets. Americans bought it. Twice. Optics and tv. The only saving grace is it won't be desantis.

[Irish_Dem]

34. I agree. The replacement has already been identified by them.

[Seinan Sensei]

31. MAGAt will always have "hate of selected others" to unite them

TSF personified and crystallized that hate.
There is no heir-apparent to that.
However, the mega-rich will always be in the shadows, lurking.
There’s always a Billionaire willing to invest in the next-big-thing to help them deregulate, privatize, and abolish any oversight

[JI7]

4. I can even see them blaming Vance

and starting some conspiracy about how Vance killed him.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. At the time, start it for them. But they will probably form the circular firing squad themselves. . . nt

[Scrivener7]

11. Oh, wow. Yes!

[mwmisses4289]

20. And some of them will start the ct that

it really isn't dead, it has joined Elvis somewhere and is just waiting for the right moment to come back and save them from "them evil libtards".

[Dulcinea]

22. Well, the Pope died after talking to VD Jance...

just sayin'

[johnnyfins]

6. If he kicks the bucket while in office

and JD becomes president, you are going to see a whole lot of repubs turning on JD because everyone will be angling for 2028. They will be wanting to rebrand themselves to escape the fallout when maga fails. And it will fail when Donold takes the dirtnap.

[Trueblue1968]

18. I want a time machine to go back in time and destroy Rump

[Polybius]

44. Doubt it

If Vance becomes the sitting President, he won't get any major challenges. Last two times a sitting President was challenged by a major challenger was 1976 (Reagan) and 1980 (Kennedy). I guess you can count 1992, but Buchanan didn't even win a primary.

[cachukis]

7. They do represent a force that has always been there.

Periodically, it surfaces as a pusy boil. Don't think we can eradicate the racism or misogyny with embarrassment, but maybe some of it will crawl back under some rocks.

[LatteLady]

8. Don't underestimate the authoritarian follower's need for an authoritarian leader.

I agree JDV is not the one the cult members will rally around. But he is Peter Theil’s choice right now.

Hegseth has what they want, “alpha male”, white Christian nationalist, racism, misogyny, desire to impose theocracy. He is already picturing himself in that MAGA “artwork”.

The cult will not just dissipate. They will look for a new strong man to tell them what to “think” and do.

[Cosmocat]

10. Correct

They now have the total authitarian power they have craved and worked toward for many decades.

They won't give it up.

[kkmarie]

13. I agree that it won't be vance

and it won't be maga mike.

I think you are absolutely right that it will be piss drunk Pete who will emerge as the maga leader. He has all those qualities /s you stated and we know that magas adore.

RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW

[no_hypocrisy]

14. Beg to differ respectfully.

The American Public is fickle and won't necessarily "change brands" at the drop of a hat.

They may be sheeple, but they are unduly loyal to a brand, not a concept. Neither Don, Jr. nor Eric can't supplant their father. (Until she retired to Florida, I thought that Ivanka had aspirations of replacing her father.)

Exhibit One: Sarah Palin. Nobody stepped up to replace her. She's yesterday's news. Even TSF didn't tap her to return to public life.

[lonely bird]

17. Hmmm

Doubtful. Hegseth is a caricature. He has no depth beyond his machismo. He also wasn’t the “successful businessman”. Of course, neither was Trump but that image was fashioned for him by The Apprentice. Personally, I would love to see the producers of that abomination tarred and feathered.

[paleotn]

19. An interesting alternative.

But perhaps Whisky Pete doesn't have the chutzpah. He has all the superficial crap you listed, sure, but he's still as much an empty suit as Jethro. In essence, he's a follower and an unaccomplished one at that.

Maybe it's Donnie's fear of being upstaged by a follower that he surrounds himself with empty yes people. They do what they're told mindlessly and pose little threat to his power, unlike many of his first term appointments. By being mindless yes people, they can't hope to ever fill his shoes. They can't fill their own damn shoes.

[Old Crank]

9. We should push the rumour

In all our socials disgrace accounts that JD is actively pushing Trump to the sidelines.

[Scrivener7]

12. You and Bernard de la Paz have outlined a pretty kick-ass plan

in this thread.

[paleotn]

25. Absolutely!

[sop]

15. Trump is a generational demagogue, he will not be easily replaced by Republicans.

I'll be the first to admit I find Trump's appeal totally inexplicable, but the man managed to tap into a rich vein of racial and cultural hatred in America at just the right moment. There's no one out there at the moment who can feed bloody red meat to the MAGA faithful as effectively as Trump.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

16. For this thread

Link to tweet

[Chasstev365]

21. THE SPELL WILL BE BROKEN!

[Buckeyeblue]

23. We will see a lot of Trump 2.0 attempts but they will fizzle out

If we really understood the "it" factor for public appeal we could repeat it. But what/who gets popular or when or why is difficult to pinpoint. I think the Trump appeal is that he is unashamedly rude. It's harder to do than you think. And I can't quite explain how it us he does it so that it appeals to so many people. Others that try fall flat.

[Phentex]

36. yes you have worded this well in a way that is hard to explain

I don't think many others can be as rude, as pompous, as ignorant, as narcissistic as he is. Too many other people care what others think or feel. I don't think many can do what he does either.

[paleotn]

24. Agreed. A cult leader's greatest fear is being upstaged or usurped.

It's that fear that keeps movements like this from ever having serious heirs apparent. Anyone who exhibits those traits is quickly cowed or marginalized to the point the cult will never follow them. One of the reasons this time around Donnie has surrounded himself with the most unaccomplished group of empty suits ever to serve an American administration. None have any hope of commanding the loyalty or wielding whatever evil Donnie is able to wield. And all do exactly what they're told.

And that's why cults die when the leader dies. They can't function as multilateral coalitions. They wouldn't be cults of personality if they did.

And all the hopes and dreams of the billionaire class, the floundering evilgelical movement, etc. dies with it.

[Diamond_Dog]

26. It can't happen too soon for me.

[OC375]

27. Nature Abhors A Vacuum

Someone will step down to the appropriate level, I’m sure.

[IroningBored]

28. Vance's Past is Littered with Negative Comments about trump

If trump dies in office, I think Vance will have many problems with the MAGA cult. His past is littered with negative comments about trump. Given the paranoid conspiracy theories that abound in the MAGA universe, Vance will have trouble controlling the narrative.
Read this item on Raw Story:
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-is-dying-vance-wilson/
Watch the video "Snake" that was produced by The Lincoln Project.

[Doodley]

32. If Trump passes, I fear that there'll be a wave of sympathy, and forever what MAGA view as the greatest president ever

will become a permanent belief imprinted in the mind of nearly half of America. His approval would rise after death as the media pay respect by not criticizing him and his legacy in the way they should. The GOP and media will say Trump died for America, hounded to death by his adversaries who wanted him to fail.

JD Vance would be in a position to say that he is building on Trump's work, but would actually change course on the most divisive policies, such as using the court judgements to water down tariffs, saving the nation from a recession that would have damaged Republicans in the mid-terms. He would atttact more moderate voters, as his language is less inflammatory, and the MAGA base will have nowhere else to go. No, he wouldn't have the same following or the charisma (that they see) but he would be Trump's successor who claims he will continue and build on Trump's so-called accomplishments, and that may be enough to keep the MAGA movement in control.

[no_hypocrisy]

33. Dunno. George H.W. Bush didn't exactly ride the coattails of Ronald Reagan.

[Doodley]

35. Good point!

[WestMichRad]

37. I'm picking the "under" on this

… whatever that means. Perhaps it’s that I expect the Repukes will underperform even the scantest expectations that they return to occasionally doing the right things, even without “a charismatic leader.”
(Pardon me a moment as I try to recover from a wave of nausea after having typed that.)

As an example to support my contention, even after the exit of Reagan from the presidency, his “philosophy” (shudder) of painting the picture of government as “the problem”, and all of the shit that flowed downstream from that, persisted in the Repuke movement for a long time (and of course has only worsened).

What the quote from the late Lily Tomlinson? Oh yeah: “No matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up.”

[republianmushroom]

38. Believe there will be one hell of a power

struggle in the republican party. It will be interesting. donald is not grooming a successor, because that would be having to giving up some me, me .

[Tree Lady]

40. Reminds me of that huge primary

And how Trump wiped them all out. With him gone they will flounder. Look how they ended up with Bush dumb as a rock. I guess they will pick another dumb puppet.

[lostnfound]

39. The purpose of ICE salaries -- to keep their interest?

I agree with what you said. On the other hand, funneling cash to the deplorables is a way to keep their loyalty. Could be a lot of confusion; guard troops in DC, Vance backed by billionaires waiting in the wings.
Wild ride.
Especially if any cataclysms are coming.

[bluestarone]

41. Oh, i agree 100%. BUT will it be a permament? (i hope so)

Or will they pick another CHOSEN ONE?

[RazorbackExpat]

42. Just remember, there were the Dixiecrats of the 40s to the 60s

They morphed into the Nixon Democrats in the 70s, and the boll weevils/Southern Republicans/Reagan Democrats of the 80s. The Reagan Democrats et al morphed into the Dittoheads, who morphed into the Teabaggers, who morphed into the MAGAts. The MAGAts will morph into something worse.

[LeftInTX]

43. If all things go "as planned". He leaves office in 2029. He still holds rallies.

Hopefully, we have a Democratic president by then.

He will still be on TV all the time, influencing maga.
Over time, he will get less press coverage.
Someone else will start getting all the attention.
He will be forgotten about it.
Bye,.....

[Brainfodder]

45. I look forward to getting sick of the couch molesting, eyeliner, and actual name jokes!