this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2026
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It must surely be imminent. He's not in the best health if the reports about him eating mcdonalds all the time are true. He's 79 which isn't that old but I dont see many fat, stressed 90 year olds on a mcdonalds diet.

Say he had a heart attack next week.. then what? Presumably Vance would take over as actual president, but I can't imagine anyone being as bad as him. Would the maga movement continue with a different cult leader? Do you think things would meaningfully change?

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[–] Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 112 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

Trump is the disposable useful idiot to be the fall guy if the fascist coup fails. Everyone will pretend to sober up with their "it wasn't us, it was him and we tried to fight it from the inside, but he was just too powerful." story. These lines are well rehearsed.

The fascist party is still fully present and accounted for, and are learning to exercise their newfound powers with alarming speed. Trump dying fixes nothing. They lose a figurehead, and the idiot fallguy. Their plans don't stop. If anything they accelerate and intensify because their big escape clause just disapeared and the cost of failure goes up.

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 47 points 2 weeks ago

Trump dying fixes nothing.

Well, it could potentially fracture their party between different figures vying to be the next Trump. That's the only thing it could fix.

[–] RunJun@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

The fascists will still be there, you’re absolutely right. However, do not undercut the cult of personality. People not under the spell, can’t/won't see it but all of this is built off his “charisma”. Their momentum will absolutely falter when he’s no longer around.

Once it happens, we cannot allow for elected members to talk about “coming together” and “moving forward”. These ghouls must be held accountable.

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[–] BestBouclettes@jlai.lu 18 points 2 weeks ago

The plans won't stop, but the cult of personality definitely will

[–] MerryJaneDoe@lemmy.world 73 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

At this point, it should be clear to everyone that Trump is a symptom, he is not the disease.

[–] CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zone 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Agreed, but that doesn't mean I won't celebrate it.

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[–] IronBird@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

the cope is strong, would be a lot funnier seeing everyone finally being forced to come to terms with reality if i wasnt stuck in the US when it goes down

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[–] Zephorah@discuss.online 70 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Vance (and Peter Theil by proxy) become president.

[–] trashcroissant@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

It'd probably be best if Pete Thiel just died also. That would be pretty cool.

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[–] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

we'll have a theilocracy

[–] Steve@communick.news 38 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (7 children)

It's extremely rare for a cult to survive the death of its leader.
The only one I know of is Scientology.

Vance would become POTUS, but he won't be able to keep MAGA united. Remember, Rump is miraculously keeping both pro Israel Zionists and anti-Semitic Neo-Nazis together on the same team. As well as others who would be natural enemies. MAGA will collapse. Vance'll almost certainly loose in '28.

[–] fizzle@quokk.au 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This is my take.

Trump's death won't change the shitty people who have elected and continue to support him, but those people will no longer have a focal point.

Among all his shitty traits, he does have the uncanny ability to engender support from shitty people in a way that no one else can emulate.

Vance will be POTUS. He will reverse course on Trump's dumbassery... withdraw from Iran, hose down Hormuz, water down the tariffs et cetera. He will try to win support from the great unwashed and the oligarchy but will ultimately fail.

[–] backalleycoyote@lemmy.today 6 points 2 weeks ago

I think Vance’s response depends greatly on if he takes direction from his handlers in Heritage Foundation or if he gains an ego and believes he’s the new cult leader. They learned their lesson with Pence who, with the obligatory “fuck Mike Pence”, still wasn’t invested enough to commit treason.

Vance just doesn’t have the twisted charisma Trump has to be the cult guy. Heritage knows it, but they knew he had a shelf-life and only needed to get in and secure their position. The Third Reich didn’t survive Hitler but he wouldn’t let go (and they couldn’t get rid of him) until it was too late. The Soviet Union survived the death of Stalin because nobody after him tried to recreate his larger than life image, they maintained the control that was established under his reign.

If Vance does what he’s told he doesn’t need to be Trump, and if the regime continues to disregard democracy, the courts, and even declining public opinion among conservatives that rode the wave but are now leopard fodder, they don’t need another Trump, just an institution to defend. These fuckers are embedded and will be difficult to remove.

[–] Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 weeks ago

I think Scientology outlasted Hubbard because the basis of the cult is to constantly collect blackmail on the members through assessments which makes it hard to leave without your dirty secrets getting released and every person in your life cutting you off.

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[–] kmartburrito@lemmy.world 35 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm throwing a big friggin party

[–] SeductiveTortoise@piefed.social 12 points 2 weeks ago

I'm going to be so drunk

[–] zxqwas@lemmy.world 26 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The maga movement does not seem to do well without Trump.

[–] homes@piefed.world 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I heard something very fascinating on pod save America this morning: the Maga cultists don’t follow Trump because they worship Trump the person, they follow Trump because they believe the same things that Trump believes. If some other leader spewed the exact same things, they would follow that person, too. that’s not JD Vance. That’s not anyone right now. Everyone in the Trump administration is very much after their own interests and only kiss Trump‘s ass because they’re afraid of the consequences if they don’t.

Really, this is a huge problem for the Republican Party, as, post-Trump, all of the Maga cultists would probably break away from the Republican Party and possibly dissolve into a disorganized slurry of right wing crazy. This would leave the Republican Party massively weekend as a result, and most of the independents that voted for Trump in the last election would likely defect to the Democrats.

[–] fizzle@quokk.au 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Trump has built a "broad tent" with support from a lot of different demographics.

I suppose I agree that MAGA cultists support him because they believe the same things. I think it's more apt to describe it as Trump gives them permission to indulge their shitty beliefs, but I guess that's the same.

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[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 24 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

No, things would not change. Republicans would still control the Supreme Court. Over the last couple of years they learned that they can get away with anything: breaking any laws they want, straight out stealing money, building concentration camps, sending gestapo to murder people... They will not stop doing this only because Trump is dead.

Who exactly will take over after Trump is impossible to tell. Watch The Death of Stalin by Iannucci. This is exactly what will happen. A lot of infighting and backstabbing until new king of MAGA is crowned.

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[–] SirMaple__@lemmy.ca 24 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Vance would accuse Democrats of assassination and impletement martial law and arrest Democrats

It doesn't matter even if it's a heart attack

[–] Natanael@slrpnk.net 13 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

He needs to end in a humiliating self inflicted way. Falling off the stairs or something.

[–] grranibal@lemmy.zip 12 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)
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[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

For legal reasons: I want to be clear I do not wish death upon anyone...

But I do wonder what it would look like if a politician choked on a burger and died...

Like imagine how absurd it would be if it happened on live tv

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago

For moral reasons, I want to be clear. I DO wish death upon trump.

I'm not going to be the guy that causes it, but I will happily celebrate that day HARD!

[–] mech@feddit.org 9 points 2 weeks ago

The next day, 30% of Americans would be convinced woke trans people poisoned him by injecting the burger with estrogen.

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[–] Sunsofold@lemmings.world 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

One of the interesting things to consider is the timing. He's been bleeding popularity the whole time but death has a way of buffing up your reputation. If enough people turn against him before he dies, he becomes broadly a villain. If he dies tomorrow, there's still a huge number of people who will think of him as a martyred saint.

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[–] Naich@piefed.world 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The rest of the world will have a party to celebrate.

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[–] FatVegan@leminal.space 18 points 2 weeks ago

Americans will find a new rapist murderer.

[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Parties. Celebration. But things won't really improve in the short term. Medium term, maybe the cult fractures, but fascism is much bigger than this one fuckhead.

Still, parties.

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[–] Wilco@lemmy.zip 16 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

What is likely to happen? Lots of people pissing on his grave.

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[–] SaraTonin@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Vance is smarter than Trump, less driven by his own impulses, and more directly under the control of Thiel

He doesn’t have the cult of personality Trump does, but if/when you’ve rigged the elections so you’ll always win, what does that matter?

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[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 15 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

MAGA is a classic Cult of Personality, and Trump's death will be the end. Like all Dictators, he won't name a successor because he doesn't want to give any power to anyone else, so he'll let Rubio and Vance fight it out for his own entertainment.

Meanwhile there are a bunch of MAGA losers entertaining the fantasy of taking over MAGA when Trump dies. Guys like Don Jr. You don't think he feels like he's ENTITLED to succeed his father to the throne? Or Hegseth? Or Lindsey Graham? Or DeSantis? Or Abbot? Or Tucker Carlson?

When Trump assumes room temperature, the knives are going to come out, and the backstabbing will begin. It will be glorious.

Dems should know this is coming upon Trump's inevitable death, and understand that it will be a unique golden moment for them. They better be ready to take full advantage of that opportunity with a plan in place to deploy when it happens.

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[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago

We get couch fucker who is a Peter “I can see the Antichrist “ Theil bitch boy.

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

There is a long list of politicians who have tried to do the Trump thing ever since the stupid escalator. Florida Governor DeSantis made a tiny little bit of headway that ultimately collapsed around him, Marge Greene has been setting herself up as the post-Maga maga leader, and Ted Cruz of Texas has been trying for the longest time to position himself as heir apparent of the current GOP, but there hasn't been anyone who has been able to capture the same spectrum of blind devotion to grudging acceptance that Donald Trump has somehow managed to unite into the Maga movement.

JD Vance certainly isn't it, and while he'll certainly get the Oval Office when Trump dies before completing his term, I think his presidency will be fairly unremarkable and rather short, and afterwards he'll move into private equity consulting or some such and never be seen in politics again.

But without Joe Rogan and Charlie Kirk, and with a ton of the other influencers either jumping ship or losing face, I don't think we'll see the same focus on a single candidate again. Since 2016, we've had a historical alignment of domestic influence and foreign interference that focused on Trump specifically, and he has used that (as he always does) to build the Trump brand and only the Trump brand. Nobody else can use it; not even Don Jr., who has tried dipping his toes in and mostly been ignored.

So I think the answer is, the maga cult sputters and dies. Maybe it sticks around long enough to poison the waters for a couple more election cycles, but it won't elect another president. The best case scenario, in my mind, would be maga breaking away from the GOP and trying to field candidates for a few years that become spoilers.

Either way, the Republicans will eventually put the mask back on and try to pretend like nothing ever happened (though I can't possibly predict whether that'll work. My gut says yes, but maybe that's just me being cynical).

[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

Maybe it sticks around long enough to poison the waters for a couple more election cycles

This is kind of my best case scenario for the cult. Stick around and try their own thing, which results in siphoning votes from the Republican party.

the Republicans will eventually put the mask back on and try to pretend like nothing ever happened (though I can’t possibly predict whether that’ll work)

Oh it'll work. After Bush Jr. Republicans pulled a "Who? Oh I didn't know him that well". Then they got a fascist elected. Their base has hamster brains. This whole ordeal should have buried the Republican party in a deep unmarked grave. But it won't.

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[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

I for one. Will take a few days off work to celebrate like I've never celebrated before, and will make whatever day that is a personal holiday for myself and make sure to take paid vacation every year on that day.

[–] rossman@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 weeks ago

Politicians will use his death for X agenda. vance is primed for it and Erika Kirk is a good case study.

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

Many people will party, others will mourn. Some will fake what they are feeling for favours. The same as when any head of state dies.

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 weeks ago

Peter Thiel, the puppeteer of Shady Vance, will enact the final phase of his forced "rapture".

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

Most likely a mad struggle for power among those in his circle alongside a struggle to be seen as the heir. Vance has an advantage here, but you can see other players making their moves including Greene. Had Kirk been alive he honestly might've been my dark horse bet. But if nobody wins a sufficient coalition then everyone loses. Some of the ideas will remain, but mostly the energized masses return to how they were before him or they'll split into their feuding factions where the San Francisco technofascists and the Midwesterners who hate change and the southerners who just hate everyone different from them are all back at each other's throats and all are disgusted with Nick Fuentes

[–] notsosure@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Vance would become president and at the next election in three years, people would vote again. Vance is an opportunist, he would probably continue trumps policies, tweak them here, cancel some there and try to get reelected; perhaps without daily tweets and erratic behavior… but similarly dangerous; ever since his speech at the MSC, I don’t trust the lil fella with the backpfeifengesicht.

[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I see Vance as much worse than trump. He is very heavy on religion and pro force religion on to people

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[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I'll go into the nearest pub and buy everyone a round.

Things are likely to stay pretty shitty as Trump is a symptom rather than an underlying cause, but we've had precious little to celebrate.

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[–] pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 weeks ago

I will celebrate so hard

[–] becausechemistry@piefed.social 6 points 2 weeks ago

I’m gonna get scolded for how much of a raging party throw

[–] Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 6 points 2 weeks ago

Vance would get his chance to meet Putin personally (and finally learn to kneel before him).

[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

We'd get Vance, who is arguably worse. Seriously. Look into the guy. He's a freakshow, but more subtle than Trump. Still very stupid though, so we'd still be led by a stupid extremist.

The cult as we know it would end though. Vance isn't going to be able to take over as cult leader. He doesn't have the flamboyant bigotry that Trump does, which is what draws low IQ conservatives to him like he's some idol.

Doesn't matter. I've witnessed conservatives all my life. With Trump gone, they'll absolutely vote for the next shitstain racist/fascist/bigot/moron the Republican party hands them. Because they will never, under any circumstances, vote blue. And they'll never vote 3rd party cuz they won't want to risk baby eating Democrats gaining power. So they'll bite their tongues and vote for whatever Republican is on the menu. And now that Trump has opened Pandora's Box, we're just going to see worse and worse candidates from Republicans because they watched and saw what Trump was able to get away with, so they'll take advantage, because why wouldn't they? They'll want their turn to grift the presidency to create their own dynasty.

I don't want to make a Monday even shittier than it already is, but realistically, things are probably going to get worse, not better, even with Trump gone. But hey, at least we won't have to hear his fucking voice anymore or wake up wondering what monumentally stupid thing he's said or done every fucking day.

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