Republican Free for All. What will happen to the GOP if Trump just disappears?

I think the real show would be around midterms. Trump keeps a lot of the GOP in line by threatening to endorse rivals to replace people who won't pull for his agenda.

He has enough of a cult of personality with the Republican voters that he can just say someone needs to be replaced and they'll vote accordingly.

So being loyal to him makes their seats safer.

There's a lot of doubt that Vance could remotely rally the same kind of fiat with voters,

and scared politicians will start infighting like rats on a sinking ship to form power blocks

in Trump's absence.

Meanwhile, hardcore maggers in the House will likely start finding themselves

on the receiving end of backstabs by establishment conservatives who never liked having

to tolerate the crowd since the Tea Party days. There'd likely be a lot of establishment versus

outsider infighting, like what you see with the DNC undermining Mamdani in New York City.

I view it as more of a negative thing. It's not that Vance can

rally or not. It's just that all of these Republicans are scared to have Trump trash talk them,

because his base takes it as a literal command. I don't think Vance's rhetoric has any legs.

When he craps on someone, it's forgotten immediately and goes nowhere.

Historically, when a leader with a strong grip on their followers passes, if the leader

themselves hasn't decided and declared succession, there's a schism that forms as different

acolytes vie for his followers, and they all claim to be the one true heir.

In this case, you have a clear frontrunner in Vance, thanks to constitutional instruction.

The challenge here is that the passing of Trump

would open up grift opportunities, and Vance is a damp sock that made a wish to be a real little boy,

and he has the personality that's as charming as stepping and dog throw up with your bare feet. Don Jr.

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