Donald Trump erupted at the United Kingdom Tuesday morning over its refusal to join the United States in its war against Iran, issuing the European nation a notice that the United States would no longer be offering it “help.”
“All of those countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you: Number 1, buy from the U.S., we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
There’s a lot of rot, but they’ve been depending on a cluster of personality. Those often collapse when the personality dies without a sucessor with popular support, which requires the cult leader to groom the public to their sucessor.
The thing with Trump is he has too much ego for that, and Vance doesn’t have the loyalty of the MAGA militant.
I’d expect this will escalate quickly once Vance takes power. He doesn’t have the car salesman personality Trump has, and I don’t think he’ll maintain the MAGA following but Peter Thiel put him there for a reason. Vance will have to speed it up.
Right, which is why they would kick it up a 100 noches. Once he’s gone, they’ll use everything in their power to remain in power, they won’t just go away silently.
Vance doesn’t have the loyalty, which is why Trump’s kids will rile them up on the idea of revenge, they won’t be fighting for cancer, they’ll be fighting for Trump “alongside” Vance.
Democrats will condemn the violence of the assassin, they’ll call for unity and give long eulogies for Trump, they’ll say it’s time to unite and denounce violence. Slowly, Vance will become the new figure head, or be replaced through a coup if unable, but the power won’t change. The coup won’t come from opposition, it’ll come from within.
History gives us plenty of cases where killing the strongman did not end the system. Caesar’s murder helped trigger civil war and an “avenge the leader” politics. https://www.history.com/articles/julius-caesar-assassination-fall-roman-republic
Park Chung-hee’s assassination opened a succession crisis that Chun Doo-hwan used for an internal coup under martial law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_South_Korean_coup_d'état
Trujillo’s killing did not kill the machine, his family and loyalists tried to preserve it amid chaos. Indira Gandhi’s assassination becme a pretext for mass revenge on a broader population. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v05mSupp/dr_d21
So yes, cult regimes are vulnerable when the central personality dies, but that vulnerability often shows up first as repression, martyrdom, and a fight inside the ruling group, not a clean collapse.