Trump needs for someone who is as loyal as possible to him and who is electable to be the next GOP nominee other than himself. The last thing he would want is for a Democrat to win, with the next-to-last thing he would want being an uncontrollable Republican.
While he lies much more than other politicians, even Republicans, IMHO he still tells the truth, sentence by sentence, most of the time. And Trump has repeatedly and effectively said that if it cannot be himself, he is for telling primary voters they can choose between Vance and Rubio, perhaps having them both on the ticket. See this from The Hill:
As to who Trump would want in order to sabotage the Republicans – AND HE DOES NOT WANT SABOTAGE – he would endorse the most-like-himself possibility. At least this year, that’s Candace Owens. Before saying I am insane to even mention her, please check out the focus group evidence regarding Owens. From The Bulwark:
As explained in other parts of my link, Owens probably lacks Donald’s ability to attract the conspiracy-focused crowd without alienating deep blue Republicans. So it would be sabotage if Trump endorsed her, and he will not.
P.S. Sure, this post has weaknesses. I haven’t considered Trump family members, Once out of the White House, Trump cannot trust anyone except family. But Trump would rightly see someone in his mold, like Candace Owens or Tucker Carlson, as even more likely to be disloyal than Vance and Rubio.
There is nothing remotely Conservative about Trump. He is Republican because that is where he can stir up the most support. He could just as easily have run as a Democrat and would have tailored his rhetoric to the fan base.
Ultimately, he does not care what happens to the Republican Party no matter how much lip service he gives it.
He is perfectly happty to destroy the Republican Party in exchange for further enrichment of himself and for more power.
Yes; as has been pointed out in the past Trump doesn’t really have an ideology; nor does he care about the fate of the Republicans. He’s a malignant narcissist who cares only about himself.
Ideology isn’t him. The Republicans aren’t him. Therefore they are unimportant to him, save as how they can be twisted to profit him.
That is his ideology. To the extent that he sabotages the Republicans in 2028, it won’t be out of an active desire to do so. It will be because his ideology of only caring about what’s best for himself comes into conflict with what is best for the Republican party. Most likely that would end up being in the form of endorsing / forcing the Republican party to nominate Candidate A, who is less likely to win the 2028 election but more likely to do favors for Trump should he win, than some other Candidate B who has a better chance in the general election but is less likely to do favors for Trump should he win. The example I’m most familiar with, as I’ve mentioned, is his endorsement of Ken Paxton for senate here in Texas, despite the fact that John Cornyn would have a better chance in the general election against James Talarico.
By the same token, Donald has far more advanced medical care in the 2020s than his parents had in the 80s and 90s.
It sucks, but sadly we may have another decade of this.
This exactly. Trump has narcissistic personality disorder. The term narcissist is overused, but its the clinical definition of what Donald Trump has. Deep inside he feels disgusting, worthless, inferior, vile, shameful and these feelings are so unbearable he has to suppress them out of his conscious mind, and he spends his entire life obsessing over fame, money and other sources of ‘winning’ and ego to hide from these feelings.
Donald Trump doesn’t care about the republican party. He doesn’t care about his kids, or the country, or anything. All he cares about is building his ego enough to avoid these unbearable feelings of being vile, shameful and worthless that he feels deep inside. Its why one snide comment about his hands bothers him decades later, because it forces him to confront those deep unconscious feelings of being disgusting, vile, shameful and inferior that he has consciously suppressed his entire life.
Which makes me think, if Trump can convince himself the GOP will completely fall apart without him, that would feed his ego more than promoting a successor to be the next GOP president. If anything, Trump finding a successor who can get more republican votes than him will be a massive blow to his ego. Trump needs to feel that no republican president can ever be more popular than him.
This underestimates his ability to dissemble to his own satisfaction.
He’ll find some unimportant measure by which his landslide was greater, or just totally lie about it.
Trump knows that the Democratic Party base will push a Democratic administration to have him arrested. So it is vital that he NOT sabotage the Republican Party’s 2028 presidential ticket.
Trump can afford a Democratic congress, since he mostly rules by decree. He can’t afford a 2028 Democratic presidential win, and so will not sabotage the Republican ticket. Rather than sabotage that ticket, he will work to have it win, more or less honestly if possible, or, if not, by cheating.
Assuming he makes it, he won’t give a shit about whether Republicans win or lose. But he does give a shit about making tons of money. He has total control over the dumbest (who ever knew that “dumb” contains a “b”?) 25% of the population. As has been shown recently, he can still make or break any Republican in any primary. He will monetize that- you want to get nominated for that Senate seat, you fly to Mar-A-Lardo and kiss the ring. But bring your checkbook. Or better yet, bitcoin. He’ll determine the 2029 presidential nomination by selling his endorsement to the highest bidder.
Let’s say Rubio wants the Don’s endorsement. Rubio says he’ll have his campaign hire DJT as a consultant and pay him whatever he has the nerve to ask for. Add to that steering government contracts to those companies that have donated to the DJT library. Add to that promises to issue pardons. If there’s a way to steer money to Donald, they will find it.
I totally disagree. Trump and republicans know democrats are pathetic and spineless. Biden didn’t use any of his powers to have Trump held accountable. Nobody is going to hold him accountable on the federal or state level, and Trump knows it.
Trump has gotten away with thousands of felonies his entire life. If he had been born poor, he would’ve ended up being sentenced to decades in prison by his 20s. But because he was born to a rich father, he has never faced consequences. Him being the ex-president and leader of a cult further insulates him from consequences more than his wealth does.
First, Trump is paranoid. I don’t know what parallel dimension this carefree Trump you’re describing dwells in, but it ain’t this one. The Trump we have is convinced that everyone is trying to poison him. He’s afraid all the time. When he talks about being persecuted, I’m pretty sure he really means it.
Secondly, he was facing serious legal consequences and knew it. He was convicted of multiple felonies. He was desperately running for office to avoid those consequences, and it worked. I agree that the Biden administration was pretty spineless, and was so afraid of being seen as biased against Trump that it made them heavily biased in his favor. But he was still embroiled in multiple serious indictments in multiple jurisdictions, and as I said was convicted and only avoided a sentence because he became president.
I don’t think Trump is ever going to face any kind of real legal justice. I do think he will weasel out. But the reason why he’s avoided those legal consequences is because he has made so many moves to make it happen. Putting a stubby thumb on the scale in the next presidential election would be exactly the sort of action he’d take to protect himself.
The evidence I made up in my head to maintain my delusions of omniscience does not agree with this.
My view is even if there are legal consequences they will all be settled with fines and not prison. Thats what happened to Trump during the Biden years, and I think thats what’ll happen after 2028. Assuming Trump does get arrested, he will be almost 83 by the time the 2028 president is sworn in. take into account trials, appeals, investigations, etc and he will die of old age w/o ever facing real consequences other than minor (to him) fines.
It would be nice if his underlings were prosecuted and faced real prison time. But for the most part they only got a few months in prison each from what I know.
