• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

MAGA after Trump - What happens after Trump is dead ?

carlosy

Graduate Poster
C
Joined
Jun 3, 2011
Messages
1,010
I mentioned it multiple times here, in my opinion, Trump is not a person anymore, it's an idea, a movement, a concept. Call it MAGA , call it Trump... doesn't matter. What has been set in motion (politics, judicial, media), will not stop when Trump is dead. What probably will stop, is the clownery. But to all of us who can't wait for the day, I don't think what comes after will be better or any kind of relief.

Keep in mind, Trump is old and weak. He can't focus, he needs lots of rest.
And he spends much of his time with
- watching TV
- reading and talking to his cult members
- persue his personal revenge tour

Sure, still enough time and evergy to make stupid decision and break things.

But imagine whoever follows him, that person will be younger. Way more energetic. Way more focused. And can concentrate on the less personal things.
 
I agree with most of what you said...Trump is really a symptom, not the disease itself. As it becomes obvious the western world (and human society in general) is past its peak and is on a long, slow decline, average people will increasingly gravitate toward strongmen leaders who offer simple, sound bite solutions to complex problems.

OTOH, the Trump phenomenon is a true personality cult (unlike say N Korea where the system looks like one but is maintained by brutal repression) and I don't see anyone on the horizon with the personality and the type of charisma that trump has with his followers. There are a lot of repubs trying to ape his affect but I don't see any of them that have the ability to motivate largely disengaged people to get out and vote. So unless he succeeds is shaping elections so the repubs will never lose again, or manages to eliminate true elections entirely, I suspect that MAGA will die down when Trump is gone.
 
Yeah, for pretty much those reasons, I hope he finishes his term OK. I'd rather see him at the top of that particular pecking order than some of the more motivated uhhh yeah sorry facist types that are hanging out under his broody feathers, and I'm still hoping those guys are substantially less likely to get at levers of power if they have to use their own charisma to do it.
 
I'm of two minds. I agree that Trump's ascendancy is symptomatic of a problem that's not going to go away with him, but at the same time the utter and flamboyant lunacy of his cult is his. It's true that younger and more energetic people would likely follow him, but they are already operating in his name and under the cloak of his insanity and his unfathomable charisma. One can hope that once the spell is broken people will begin again to think, at least a little, at least occasionally. I'm not very sanguine about the future, but one can hope the descent will be less fast and deep.
 
As others have pointed out, Trump is more of a symptom than a cause and IMO is part of a continuum which dates back to at least Reagan's courting of Christian fundamentalists (probably much earlier but I was too young and too far away to pay much attention), includes the Tea Party movement and which shows no sign of reaching a conclusion.

The intent seems to be to return the US to some rose tinted nostalgic patchwork of the past where "we" ruled the roost and "they" knew their place. Straight, white, "Christian" men need to be in charge, the government needs to largely butt out and there needs to be stability (i.e. anyone not happy with this needs to be subdued).

When Trump is out of the picture, the architects of this vision for America will find another person and/or group to help them deliver it.

Maybe it will be a Trump family member, maybe it will be a MAGA icon but equally it could be something completely different - say a reimagining of the KKK recreated for the modern day.
 
It really depends on how badly the Republican magats break things, how successfully they gerrymand and cheat, and how entrenched and normalized the militarized intimidation becomes. Also too, if Trump can pass his golden scepter to another charismatic fascist, the U.S. is destined for decades of this crap. Although if he croaks in office, given how mainstreamed conspiracies have become, his cult will elevate him to god-like status --if they haven't already-- it might be even worse.
 
dirtywick said:
perhaps the technocrats backing trump already have enough control over the government and media that it doesn't matter who the president is.
Click to expand...

This is exactly the plan. They know that Trump is old and feeble and they also know that no one else has his mojo. He has no heir apparent and as long as they take control of everything, it won’t matter.

We’re seeing this plan unfold in real time.
 
Did any of his current rabid worshippers give a damn about Trump before he ran for president (the second time, people seem to forget he ran years earlier and it never came to anything)? No, he was just a reality TV washup and perennially failing real estate guy. He became the focal point of the mad mob, and once he's dead they're not going to suddenly become sane and reasonable: they'll just refocus to a new idol. The various oligarchs and tech bros and fascist plotters probably each have candidates in mind, the best hope sanity has is that they don't agree on the same candidate and fall out with each other.
 
Skeptical Greg said:
None of them will be by actual supporters, but by haters who are obsessed with him.
Click to expand...
No, Trump supporters are busy obsessing with Trump hats and Trump shorts and Trump shoes and Trump shirts and Trump signs and Trump flags and Trump burgers and Trump coins and Trump watches and Trump coffee mugs and Trump slippers . . .
 
Last edited:
The MAGAs will a-keep on MAGAing. They might get a charismatic new leader, or just hold up some nominal schmuck who may as well be a blow-up doll. The only difference will be what happens in the halls of power. On the streets, it's the same people with the same bigotry, with a different name on their hats.
 
If you look at the fauna in his administration that compete with each other to be the best groveller, flatterer, and glorifier of everything and anything he says or does, you have to conclude that a) there is no designated successor, and b) the succession war is in full swing …
 
I think the personality cult is holding the whole thing together and without the Dear Leader to show loyalty to, it will quickly start to fragment. Too little coherence on what they want to achieve, when the movement principally only agrees on things they'd like to destroy.
 
Jack by the hedge said:
I think the personality cult is holding the whole thing together and without the Dear Leader to show loyalty to, it will quickly start to fragment. Too little coherence on what they want to achieve, when the movement principally only agrees on things they'd like to destroy.
Click to expand...

I think you're certainly right about the MAGA Trump cult but the Republican Party will still be there, pushed further to the right, the Overton Window shifted and authoritarian actions normalised and with the fascists who've been whispering in Trumps ear firmly embedded like ticks in a dog's back.
 
As Flo says and a few others Gump is the icon that gives wealth and power, they grovel to him. Without him in the top seat it's a ten way power struggle with the likes of musk and others that want to be king.

Each will get a share but none will be as weirdly unifying as the orange warmonger.
One that appeals to WS interests may lose a lot in other ideas he professes.

The secret of the cult of Gump is he promises everyone everything, lies about it all. Then only does what serves firstly himself, then his cronies. To hell with the rest after them.
And he does it shamelessly. That appeals to the Maga crowd somehow. Even if it's them getting screwed by his changes.

This is a cancer in society that can be cured by people seeing and understanding it's a cancer. The madness will slowly fade.
 
The GOP has been working for a far-right dictatorship for decades and the Democrats haven't done much to roll back their incremental steps towards that goal. I don't expect that will end with Dump dying, but if his incredibly strong cult of personality dies with him and liberals and that gives the moderates get a welcome morale boost, that'll be nice. You know the celebrations when he dies will dwarf the ones in 2020 when he lost. Street celebrations for someone dying sounds incredibly morbid, but for Dump they'll be well-deserved.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom