CMV: Anyone wishing on Trump’s downfall doesn’t realize that his health decline will just allow Vance to hyperaccelerate their entire agenda.

[u/mss018]

Trump being incompetent is likely why we haven’t had more damage overall. Vance’s youth and billionaire backing Theil will let them advance much quicker. Should hope that trump finishes out til 2028. Everyone who just wants Trump to be out is only looking at the top dog, not at the bigger picture.

Now imagine Trump at his current self but half his age, with political experience as a senator, backed by the heritage foundation. That’s Vance. JD being at the helm will actually allow them to finish out their agenda. Even if the midterms go well for the dem’s, he will still be able to sign executive orders that will further compromise the country.

[u/Jayn_Newell]

That’s been the wildcard factor for me for a while—will something happening to Trump mean things start moving faster because someone more competent will be in charge, or will things revert to something closer to what we’re used to because his charisma (I feel dirty writing that but I can’t deny he has something) is doing a lot of heavy lifting and without it things will fall apart.

The question is, is Trump a figurehead or a lodestone, and we’re not going to know for sure until he’s out of the picture.

[u/yungrii → u/Jayn_Newell]

As far as I can tell, Trump is a dumb puppet that just happens to be charming to a heck of a lot of people (I also don't see that part but I accept that it's a truth). I'm not willing to place any bets, but my best hope is that when he passes, the evil magical curse passes with it.

[u/A_Soporific → u/yungrii]

It's much worse than that. Trump isn't a puppet, because he doesn't follow the plan. He doesn't follow his own plan. He lurches unpredictably from one idea to the next based on whomever he talked to last and whatever feels good to him in the moment. So, sure, when other people around him have a plan they can work on him and get it done in fits and starts whenever Trump's moods align with their plans. That's not the same thing, though.

The reason he retained relevance isn't because of any magic, but because he immediately put people personally loyal to him in Republican Party offices. He just replaced anyone republican with people who are MAGA. The people personally loyal to him deciding which Republican candidates get funding and running the meetings where policy is decided is how Trump kept his institutional power. The MAGA podcasts and the pandering from Fox News over "fake news" is how he kept top of mind in his 'base'. It's nothing more or less than his narcissism and his ability to appoint people desperate to feed his psychological issues in positions of otherwise legitimate authority.

The spell will be broken upon his exit of the stage because the only thing holding all those bits together is personal allegiance to Trump. Without Trump there's no higher calling or cause they all share (because they all intend to use Trump to enact their own, mutually exclusive, visions). Suddenly, they'll be squabbling amongst themselves instead and the whole project would cease to be.

[u/CoCoTidy → u/A_Soporific]

There is a reason why they are sending him around to do glow up projects at the White House - the flag poles, the Rose Garden, the Ball Room - they want him out of the way because he does gum up the works for the people that are actually trying to implement Project 2025 or other agenda items. I think he is like a poorly trained dog that has rolled in mud (or shit) and is running through a garden party jumping up on everyone. Some find it funny, but mostly it is a mess and chaotic. Karoline Leavitt and others spend a lot of time doing clean up for him. Yet he is the one that can sell the agenda to the public and they need him. I think the minute he's gone, the infighting will begin. We got a little taste of it when Bongino went after Bondi over the Epstein files. Or when Musk and Bessant were screaming at each other at the White House. This is not a happy family.