Paul Ryan. He's laying low right now but in 20204 he'll be back with a message of "hey rich people, remember I brought you tax cuts?"
I think Paul Ryan isn't horrible enough. Probably Jerry Falwell (junior or the third).
I'm thinking Ben Sasse thinks it's him, but he's very wrong.
The fact that he's named Tom Cotton is so on-the-nose that if it were a script, it'd be lazy writing.
"Flem Snopes" might have been slightly more on the nose, but not much.
Came here to say 5. He's got that populist dictator pizzazz.
Three names? There have to be more.
Jerry Falwell Jr. seems unlikely. He's more like one of Trump's sons than a political genius. And Trey Falwell is just a failson.
If I have to name someone else... enh. Dan Crenshaw, I guess.
Eyepatch? Seriously? I guess that's the one to watch.
He's an outside pick, but I think he could play the Trumpist card smartly. As opposed to, say, Matt Gaetz.
My underlying bias is a--and this is not the right word--hope that whoever out-Trumps Trump is going to be someone who is actually smart and has respect for expertise, at least to the extent that it empowers them. It'd be so disappointing if we fell for idiots twice in a row.
Donald Trump, Jr. He's been traipsing aroudn speaking to right wing audiences for a couple of years now. He looks like his father, except young and healthy, and is just as dumb. His speaking voice is stronger. On policy he's to the right of his dad. And unlike his father, he does real man stuff like shoot elephants.
Ivanka is daddy's favorite but she's too, uh, cosmopolitan, incompletely right wing, and may be insufficiently stupid for the role.
Salvini was never prime minister. What did you mean by that in the OP?
Presumably Salvini isn't down for the count yet?
I've described this--possibly stolen from someone here--as: who is Trump the John the Baptist for? Who has Trump opened up the way to do what he did but more so, and more competently? If Trump is Sulla (yes, unfair to Sulla), who is Caesar?
The question is, who are the competent, professional, fascists who are and will be emerging now Trump's incompetent amateur fascism has reset all the norms.
I can't really parse that. Anyway, if you're fascist I think dal is closest, so he can punch you.
Sometimes I feel I've got to run away.
I made a pilgrimage to save this humans race. You should see why.
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I am at a Yu-gi-oh tournament/game night with Pokey. I am just lurking in the background, of course. This kid of maybe 14-15 is just being the sweetest mentor possible to Pokey - helping him cull his deck of banned cards, making sure Pokey's self-taught rules are correct, etc. It's just one of those unexpectedly lovely details of a bunch of people doing a hobby for the sheer joy and it's giving me the feels.
I hated that cartoon. "Now I play my Wild-Eyed Magician because I'm from a double income household filing singly and have student loan interest paid of less than $250."
Should I have seen this cartoon myself?
In addition to Tom Cotton, I've seen Josh Hawley mentioned a lot as positioning himself for this role.
It's going to be Ted Cruz, because America doesn't deserve things that aren't shit.
I guess Peter Thiel isn't a natural born citizen, so probably not him
Fascists are welcome at all levels of government, Spike.
Hawley's got quite the smirk. Someone in greater DC should go punch him.
I just had a cheering thought. Bolton's got to have a book (because that will earn him money, which can be exchanged for goods and services) and it's got to come out before the election (because that's when it would sell most) and it's got to attack Trump's foreign policy (because Trump didn't start a single war and is clearly a not at all willing to check Russian expansion). That's got to hurt at least a little bit. Are there 10,000 Russian hawks who voted Trump in Pennsylvania in 2016 and might read a review of a book by Bolton?
I'M AN AMERICAN HAWK
Are there 10,000 Russian hawks who voted Trump in Pennsylvania in 2016 and might read a review of a book
Let me stop you right there.
Looks like Paul Ryan's got a long knife out so I'm standing by my prediction in comment 1.
Though I would amend my prediction to say that perhaps Paul Ryan has his eye on 2020, not 2024.
The link in 42 was the first thing that made me think that something could actually happen. As long as Trump has Fox News and Mitch McConnell in his corner, he's immune from all consequences for anything, but the moment he loses either of them who knows.
If the Republicans want out, I think the most painless (for them) is agreeing to go along with the 25th Amendment option in return for halting the investigation.
At this point I think 25th Amendment would be too easy on them. Pence is in it up to his neck and we need investigations to uncover that.
Pence is in it up to his neck
?
Not that I specifically know otherwise, but apparently the NSC for instance is essentially not even meeting anymore. Trump only trusts his NY mafia and Pence isn't that.
E.g. making his own calls to Ukraine about "corruption". I'm sure there's much more; remember his original helping to cover up Flynn's crimes.
46, 47: I didn't get the details, but I recently read that Trump implicated Pence in the Ukraine thing himself. I figured it was either more lunacy, or Trump making it clear to Republicans that they're stuck with him. "Impeach me," he'd be saying, "and you don't get President Pence, you get that woman." Really though, lunacy seems more likely.
Trump probably had that motivation, but we don't need to take his word for it: there's an extensive public record on his backing up Trump's message to Zelensky.
50: Ages ago, before the 2018 midterms, I mentioned a stupid fantasy that both Trump and Pence could be impeached and removed from office, leaving Pelosi president. It's still not going to happen, but it's slightly less absurd these days.
I assume they would make sure Pence went out first after Trump picked somebody else or that Trump went out enough before Pence that Pence would have time to pick a new VP. Assuming they aren't both on the pee tape.
What is the drill for picking a new VP? Do they need confirming or something or is it left up to the president?
Could you take Johnson? He should be available pretty soon.
Majority of both Houses of Congress has to approve.
55: I see he was born in the United States, so maybe?
Honestly, "White man in late middle age who has held positions of power but who nobody is really enthused about putting in charge of more things" is pretty much everybody we've ever had.
Surely it would be the other order, since no one could trust Trump to not do something crazy in the mean time, but Pence could be trusted to pick someone reasonable in exchange for a pardon.
The new VP just needs to be nominated and confirmed by the Senate. This actually happened in slow-motion with two separate scandals when Nixon-Agnew were elected and Agnew resigned due to one scandal, was replaced by Ford, and then Nixon resigned and Ford became president.
62. Wow. no exclamation mark, I'm long past being surprised or shocked by anything to do with politics in the Anglosphere.