Continuing the discussion from Are There Any Strong MAGA Politicians?.
This didn’t get any response elsewhere, and I’d really like to know what y’all think.
Will they just accept the party’s choice to run in 2028, whether it’s Vance or, dog forbid, trump? They must have someone in mind.
It’s an interesting thing to speculate about. Possibly most would agree that neither Bannon nor Miller has a chance to be anointed President themselves. Too much of a “revulsion factor” to grab those necessary independents.
But I haven’t noticed either one of them giving a platform to anyone else. Of course that could be because I actively avoid listening to or reading any material produced by either of them. Maybe Bannon has a protégé featured on his, what, Internet podcast? Miller doesn’t even have a podcast that I’m aware of.
I do think you’re quite correct that neither of these swamp creatures will be content to slither off when Donald is called home by Satan. Surely they have some kind of …plans.
I suspect that what evil creatures like this want most of all is someone most likely to win the next presidential election and continue to pursue their evil agenda. They don’t care who it is. Vance actually seems like a natural choice for regressive imbeciles because despite his previous disparagement of Trump, he’s now an established Trump fixture and he does fully reflect their Paleolithic values.
Plus, Vance gets to preside over the formal process on January 6, 2029, so he is uniquely well positioned to steal the election with a legislative coup in event he loses in November 2028. I’m not saying Vance would succeed, just that he would be in a reasonable position to try.
Miller and Bannon are poorly situated to take over the government on their own. The most common kind of coup is military, so they would need a few compliant generals. That’s a problem for them.
Another kind of coup is judicial. And Miller and Bannon are going to have a hard time convincing John Roberts to put in as president whomever Miller/Bannon say.
The decentralized nature of our presidential nomination process would also be a problem for them.
Some think Trump won’t complete his current term, but then Vance gets to appoint a new VP (with congressional approval).
Miller and Bannon seem to me not all that powerful in national leadership transition scenarios.
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Vance seems easily led, so probably a good choice.
Nope. That loophole was closed in 2022. The vice president’s role is now purely ministerial and he has zero authority to do anything other than read what’s on the paper given to him.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/4573/text
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the role of the President of the Senate while presiding over the joint meeting shall be limited to performing solely ministerial duties.
“(2) POWERS EXPLICITLY DENIED.—The President of the Senate shall have no power to solely determine, accept, reject, or otherwise adjudicate or resolve disputes over the proper list of electors, the validity of electors, or the votes of electors.
This is my whole point. They need another puppet to step into the harness they have been using to pull Trump’s strings. I don’t see Vance doing that.
I think Vance kids himself that he can actually seize leadership of the party. Ha, dream on!
Easily led?
I wonder if Jang Song-thaek thought that of his nephew, Kim Jun Un, right up until Kim had him shot.
I think there are a bunch of other historical examples where successors to the top job in a dictatorship, or hybrid regime, were thought to be easily led and turned out to be anything but. Check out Khrushchev, Sadat and Putin.
As for the thread, no idea.
As for the thread title, I read it as Barney Miller, which is an interesting thought exercise…
Interesting pronoun choice too…their.
Who cares who their choice is? Trump is the only one with any semblance of control over the hard core MAGA voters. And even his control is limited. I don’t know what the specific type of personality/charisma alchemy Trump has over them (my suspicion is a combination of mean spirited, bullying humor, carnival barker charisma and attention-getting, and top-notch used car salesman slickness - but all in as genuine a form as they come), but ISTM that Republicans have been trying and failing to recreate it in someone else nearly since Trump was first elected 9 years ago.
I don’t think it can be faked. Trump is a genuine and unique kind of asshole. His kids don’t have it. Vance doesn’t have it. In fact, if anyone had it, Trump would see them as a threat and try and take them down. I think Trump will be happy to set the house of cards collapse without him - that will just prove to him how special, unique, and vitally necessary he, personally, was.
The Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 was excellent legislation. It may save us.
As for “the paper given to him,” one issue is what happens if there are competing elector slates. As I understand it, the Act prevents this because they are supposed to ignore lists unless sent by the governor. Very good for Pennsylvania – so long a Josh Shapiro is reelected next year. Not so good where there is a GOP governor.
The other issue would be if, by some outside chance, the vice-president isn’t law-abiding. Somehow, I do not think Pam Bondi would have Vance arrested if he violated that law.
But maybe I’m too pessimistic. AFAIK the only purple state liable to have an outrageously MAGA governor in 2028 is Georgia. That state is unlikely to be the winning margin.
When there’s a cult of personality, you only have the cult for one supremo at a time.
Vance’s polling numbers show he is the anointed one. That could change. Kim Jun Un seems to be switching the anointed one from a sister to a daughter. Trump could try switching his from Vance to one of his kids, but I see no indication at present.
The Senate Parliamentarian is the one who would intervene, AIUI, and they’re not easily overruled or subject to partisan influence. If there are going to be electoral shenanigans in 2029, they’re not gonna be able to reuse the same roadmap from 2021 - they’d have to come up with something new.
And we’ve already seen that Georgia Republicans have no interest in undermining a presidential election.
Or, on the other side of the coin, check out King Juan Carlos I.
I don’t follow.
The old gang who thought they could control him failed. He lasted 39 years.
But there’s a good chance I’m wrong about Georgia. Are you predicting that Trumper Burt Jones will lose? I guess he would be weak in November.
Re the Senate parliamentarian, maybe, but this seems to me a slender reed to depend on to keep a country from descending into full dictatorship.
Franco hand-picked Juan Carlos to be his successor as the totalitarian ruler of fascist Spain. Instead he reestablished democracy and put down a pro-Francoist coup that aimed to restore him to personal rule.
I’m not saying that a hypothetical President Vance would turn into a progressive leftist overnight, but the man clearly doesn’t have any real beliefs or principles of his own. He’s a Stendhalian nihilist. He converted to a different religion purely for political advantage. He went from calling Trump “America’s Hitler” to spewing unadulterated Klan rhetoric. If he thought denouncing MAGA would get him more power and fame for himself, he’d do it.
I believe that one or both of them will choose the 2028 nominee.
I agree 100%. But Trump can’t last forever (thank dog). And Vance can’t fill his shoes even though the party is already committed to him. I believe the Evil Twins are hard at work finding the next Republican president.
But how will they have any influence? Why would their choice be successful?
Bannon and Miller know all too well that no other Republican politician can replace Trump. If they’re scheming for 2028 rather than planning on leaving the country, they’re closely watching the infighting among Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, and Megan Kelly. If anyone wins - and odds are good they’ll take each other down as a group - that person is the only chance the party has.
How did they both rise to the extraordinarily influential positions they currently hold?
@Exapno_Mapcase Thanks for that thoughtful reply. When the Steves see who is emerging, they will likely slither into position…
Honestly, I think 2028 might be Mitt Romney’s year.