Vance doesn't have to leave it as wishes, he has lots of ways of getting that ball rolling.

He did disappear for 3 days. bsky.app/profile/pale...

Donald can’t fire the VP, just ask Mike Pence.

Amazing, with the irregular sleep schedule, high stress, and general age of the occupants, that no president has died of natural causes in office in 80 years. Would be nice to know what that’s like.

Donald Trump is a demon who will live forever

I do think the language here is quite revealing: www.usatoday.com/story/news/p... He seems to be setting himself up for it

He needs to set himself up for it, though, that's just how it works when the president dies

Yeah, Harris said similar things to all the "Do you realize that Biden is Old?" questions.

Yep, this piece really gave me a start when I read it. I had to check to make sure the quotes from JD were real.

honestly more than anything it makes me think HE's wishcasting based on the same shit we're seeing, which is at least...interesting. Especially if he DOESN'T *know* & presumably Trump will at some point see this article, doesn't Vance know? Because...that's not real bright, dude.

and Vance stepping on a rake this big is another reminder that, Thiel Schmiel, this guy is an *assclown* and NO ONE really likes him. He may refriend Musk (gag), who's expressed an interest; they have a lot in common actually. and Heritage, and his edgelord fans. but that's really it.

Maybe or maybe the whispers in certain circles are breaking containment.

Lol at the "conservative political consultant" who is the sole source for this article being Rick Wilson of The Lincoln Project. There is absolutely nobody who actually works at the White House or actually knows anything about Trump's health who is talking to that guy.

Like, yes, he's obviously getting some kind of regular IV treatment that is causing bruising, and he's obviously lying about it. But there are MANY mostly-benign reasons an almost-80-year-old would be getting IV treatment, and he lies about everything, so it could be serious, or it could be nothing.

We know he's not all there mentally and getting worse. Unfortunately he has infinite resources for medical care and weirdo life extension therapies, such as daily infusions of albumin or virgin blood or whatever. My guess is it will be a long decline and he'll rule from his deathbed if necessary.

I predict the guy's got 8 more years (based on actuarial tables).

💯

People really underestimate the ability of decrepit bodies to cling to life for long periods of time. Especially when they have access to the best medical care.

I think it’s dawning on a lot of people on the right that Trump is probably not making it through the term, more than any evidence he’s extremely ill right now

bigtime evidently according to some source (not Wilson. i don't think), actually they're nearly as delusional about Glorious Leader's immortality as he is, which surprised me. But then, it IS a cult. Even if you start off as a cynic, it's hard not to imbibe what you're soaking in.

it's genuinely difficult to tell what's going on with it. ive spoken with a friend of mine who's a physician about the hand thing everyone is obsessed about and it's apparently not really determinative of any serious health issues (but obviously doesnt rule out any serious health issues either!)

That’s similar to what my wife, a RN, says. It’s not good, but many of the things it’s indicative of can run on for more years than he has left in this term. Same with the swollen ankles

the fact that they are so secretive with any trump health information makes doing kremlinology and speculation impossible to avoid. he's 79 and a lot of guys that age encounter serious health problems, its not really sensible to assume he's in good health as a baseline absent other evidence

Health stuff is also like one of the only things hes managed to always keep a very tight lid on

I think things are not Gucci for him but hey ive been lots before wrong before so not going to be super confident about that

That and his actual net worth.

When it took days to come up with medical reports of his injury after he’d been shot kinda suggested there might be some underlying health issues beyond his weight he hadn’t been open about.

The guy flat out says I love McDonald's and drinks diet coke like water in addition to being 79. People have died much younger and in much better shape for absolutely no reason. Gotta start to wonder what conversations are being had.

a lot of the lifestyle stuff is but otoh gotta spot him some health points for never smoking or drinking though

Donald has never been seen with alcohol or tobacco in public but I’m not sure I’d trust the word that he’s avoided every drug.

Well, his mental health is clearly declining, although that merely makes everything worse for the rest of us and seems to leave his followers undeterred. His utility to J.D. and others would seem to determine how long he remains in power.

His family history suggests he'll be around for a while.

I figure if he's still golfing, he's still relatively healthy.

He's a dyed in the wool golf-cart guy. Probably takes 200 steps on 18 holes. He gets zero health benefit from golfing.

Maybe, but my mom only made it to 58 and her mom made it to 96. Was Fred the McDonalds addict Donnie is?

Yeah a combo of genes and president medicine made me think he was gonna keep trucking well into his 90s (as a vegetable), but on the other hand he seems to think he’s gonna die soon? Could just be the hypochondriac in him talking though

i cant genuinely believe he would accept the fact he would die soon even if he received a terminal diagnosis. "power of positive thinking" philosophy absolutely doesn't allow for that

He was freaking out about dying when he had COVID so we know this is something he is capable of seriously contemplating

It will be deeply funny to me if Biden outlives Trump

he might FEEL terrible physically, too, which could be part of it

I think people underrate that being president (even half-assing it like Trump does) is kind of exhausting. Lots of travel, lots of meeting people, lots of being on camera.

Fred Trump was not a well man for like the last decade of his life. Just a few years older than Trump and he couldn't remember his birthdate or age. Around perhaps, but the chances that Trump is non-functional within a year are not small.

crossing my fingers that he's burning the candle at both ends by sleeping three hours a night and spending every waking moment in a state of confused rage

Also very likely that he's been on uppers for several years now and still looks and sounds this bad.

his mental state is also worse than ever, with every day bringing a new level of nonsense I didn't think was possible to exceed the day before I'd consider that more of a sign than anything else Imagine what he blathers when the cameras are off....

The people I know who have a medical background think the swollen legs and general dazedness are more concerning than the bruises, but those can also be explained by the fact that he’s an old man who eats hamburgers and stays up all night raging about TV shows

i think the mental decline is really evident - guy's always been a dipshit but the contrast to how he spoke in 2015 is really striking. to me the most medically concerning thing was when he zonked out on stage and swayed to music for 40 minutes in the 2024 campaign!

How was that not the end of his campaign right there?

Yeah the Ave Maria Sessions were, to borrow a line from a former president, some really weird shit

i’d throw in repeatedly falling asleep during his criminal trial

I think about "let's make it a music" at least once a week

just the total normal shit that a guy not suffering a series of mini-strokes would say

The furtiveness is a bigger flag to me than the bruises. But Trump's conception of strength might also insist that even a mostly benign health issue needed to be concealed, so who knows.

Also he fucking froze on stage for 30 minutes last year something is very obviously wrong with him. Plus his family history of dementia. And you know the constant bragging about acing the dementia screener, which means he's constantly being given the dementia screener, which...

And they're bragging about how healthy he is, and their track record is only denying the stuff that's true, so...

Oh yeah how could I forget all the sudden talk about getting into heaven, surely not any kind of tell at all from the senile guy with absolutely zero filter.

Even if you assume that's an IV because he's had to get a line put in, there's like a million downstream possibilities that could imply between days & decades to live.

The non-paranoid take is that is if he is getting an IV for something, they could have done it in several places that aren’t so obvious. The reality is old people bruise easily and it can take them a long time to heal. Older people have thinner skin usually.

Collagen breaks down fast past 70

I wouldn’t otherwise be giving any of the physical ‘tells’ much credence, but he has also been talking like a guy who thinks he’s maybe about to die.

To me it says he’s getting regular IV fluids. Beyond that who knows

Yeah, I suspect this is the case, but it doesn't mean it's something critical. At the same time, them revealing that he has venous insufficiency is almost certainly underselling the extent of what he does have.

Old people love to bruise! Sometimes it’s nothing and Trump, a tremendously vain man, is going to try to hide it.

I’m actually somewhat of an expert on this, as I once got a bruise on my own hand and died almost immediately.

A buddy of mine is a doctor and is convinced the CVI is not stand-alone and he’s probably had at least mini-strokes. Even if he has congestive heart failure, it’s very hard to predict. He could die tomorrow, or he could live another 5-7 years.

a lot of old guy shit is like that. you don't decline steadily over time, you can go downhill very rapidly in a single incident or over a few days/weeks or plateau for years and be basically fine. as you say, hard to predict.

If he ever takes a real tumble, he could be gone in a day.

attrition rate for heavy guys is not great in the 80s not only because of heart stuff but because you take one bad fall and your hip/knee can be gone in a second

Let him golf.

Trump diminished might work as well for us as Trump dead. Will it happen? Who the hell knows. He could putter on like this for a decade, or he could stroke out tomorrow. He definitely looks like shit though, and I feel like we should draw people's attention to that.

The media insisted that it was important to speculate wildly about Hillary and Biden's health, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

The health stuff is turning into its own Ah well, nevertheless

all the evil old rich guys who eat nothing but creamed noodles and blackened steak and haven’t exercised ever live to be 100

Maybe not within a day but weeks/months. Look at his buddy Hulk Hogan.

I think the thing to look for is less golf and jet travel. Even with a cart, an afternoon on the links is hard for someone with advanced CHF. Same with air travel. The unsteady gait when he met Putin along with the puffy ankles could be fluid buildup/diuretics relief, more of tell than bruises.

per Hemingway, Slowly and then All At Once

yeah, congestive heart failure seems like the most likely thing imo. my grandfather had it for at least a decade...and that's not even what eventually killed him. mini strokes also seem highly likely, but again, nothing that would signal anything imminent

My wife’s grandfather was diagnosed with CHF and was gone like 8 months later. Of course he was 90 when he got diagnosed. If he had CHF and it’s in the early stages, he’ll be in decline and they won’t be able to prop him up for the public-facing part of the job anymore in 2-3 years.

As someone who's spent a lot of time caring for a couple of seniors, spontaneous bleeding is not in the least bit uncommon and really shouldn't be taken as necessarily indicative of serious health issues

those thicc ankles tho 😍

Edema is also something old people love to spontaneously develop. Not a great sign but not an indicator of impending doom either.

Yeah. Even if he actually has something like congestive heart failure, he has he best medical care in the world. He could go on like this for years.

Old people bruise really easily is just a thing that’s true.

The giant hole I see in this plan is that JD suffers the same “nobody likes this guy” syndrome as Ted Cruz. It makes it hard to surround yourself with loyal people.

Trump is like a cockroach, he's gunna live to 120.

Yeah we've never gotten a break during this entire hell period so I don't see why we would now

I went doubled checked the batteries in my bullhorn, just in case, anyway. #beprepared

the sole source for this is rick fucking wilson? this is just the lincoln project trying to get under trump's skin (which tbf, is very easy to do as it's covered in venous ulcers and gunshot wounds that won't heal properly)

It is wishcasting but we should still do it because Trump knowing everybody is excited about his death is just great for his health.

i know we all want It to happen but if life has taught me anything it’s that evil rich people live to 100

I think him talking about “getting into heaven” is more interesting than an IV bruise. He also seems like kind of egotistic who gets anything worse than a sniffle and spirals about how he’s dying.

as is that JD Vance interview today. which, assuming Trump does live to see tomorrow, I REALLY hope gets to read it because I don't imagine he'll be utterly delighted, somehow. and THAT is a good thing.

Yeah - they're gonna "Weekend at Bernie's" him for as long as possible.

lincoln project guy? c'mon

Can't blame folks for dreaming...

Yeah. I think he’s just old. There doesn’t appear to be any imminent event & even in cases where people are gravely ill it can take a very long time to die. So folks should plan for politics that incudes him.

I certainly don't think it's happening near term, but would not be surprised if Vance is actually making moves under a foolish impression that Donnie has minutes left.

Not for nothing, but there was a slew of similar stories about Putin back when Russia first invaded Ukraine.

Rumors of Putin’s death or incapacity date to 2005, often fueled by long stretches of no public appearances.

Right. It can be true while not ultimately leading anywhere. It explains some motivations though.

Putin's about 10 years younger, no? Not that that has to mean anything obviously. also he's not, I think, as uh exercise averse or addicted to fast food and we don't know if there's dementia in his family.

when that one goes, though, WOW is that gonna send shock waves. Russia's already hanging by a thread, and there's no successor primed. best news for Ukraine obviously, but I wonder how much the rest of the world gets a break from the hyper nationalism from that death alone. 🤷‍♀️

Which, you know... totally believable that both apparently deeply unhappy men are also ailing physically 🤷‍♂️

it is until it isn’t, right

Best case scenario is he starts visibly slipping but genuine cult members brush it off as eccentricity and something that must be protected, creating fissures in the party and effectively stalling out new horrors while they visibly infight over 25th Amendment stuff.

The most useful part about this scenario is it's also the likeliest scenario. Even sick people die slow but have obvious bad days. The Death of Stalin shit will be visible and intense and hopefully tear things apart until they get to consensus to drag him out.

yeah, it’s also very damaging to a personalist regime to spend time in that stage

We're already seeing consequences just in the form of Vance and Rubio getting questions about whether they're ready to step into the presidency. Trump isn't dying, but this has made his circle *think* about Trump dying, which is trouble in its own way.

also clearly something trump really, really, really doesn't like thinking about so god knows what that dynamic is

I think it's less that he doesn't like thinking about it, and more that he knows damn well we, the public, can't be thinking about it. The whole point of a personalist dictatorship is that the personalist dictator has to look invincible. Pol Pot can't have bruised hands.

So I guess we talk about the Epstein Files instead?

a thing to keep in mind: his inner circle has better info than we do, not just because they see him more often but also because they can smell him

I generally thought the health stuff was overblown until he started talking about heaven all of a sudden. When he got COVID all the reports said he got pretty existential when it was looking hairy (Stan Chera!), then he was right back to being a piece of shit when it cleared up.

Apparently his pulse ox got to some really low number (in the 80s IIRC). It's only that he got the absolute best care that he survived. And remember Long COVID is terrible for the circulatory system. Look at his pained breaths: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQYE...

I read the "heaven" line as more of the self-worshipping messianic talk that he's been sinking into ever since the assassination attempt. I kind of don't think he personally fears death because he believes that he's functionally immortal.

oh man I think he’s terrified of it

Trump reminds me of my dad in so many ways including this.

It's possible that he is, and it's also possible that he's so densely immune to introspection that he doesn't know he is

The COVID thing scared the hell out of him.

Oh yeah, I think it's very clear that Trump is very, very afraid of dying

It could end up being very consequential whether he keels over before or after 1/3/27, since it's unlikely that they could confirm a new VP with a Democratic House (or Senate) and that means they lose their tiebreaker for the duration

I think the right dose of psilocybin in his mashed potatoes would cause him to hallucinate three ghosts and then cancel all his executive orders.

One of my favorite memes that loses relevance by the day…what was that twitter handle that would post someone in heaven with him? Peak niche comedy

I'm convinced that first bout of COVID would have done it were he not POTUS at that time, dude was HEAVING when he did that photo op on the balcony after he got back from Walter Reid

It's also a big range like...he could have a bad diagnosis but the doctors think it won't KO him until after his term.

or at least, 1-2 years out if not actually 2029. Like my uncle's had terminal esophogeal cancer for 2+ years now. It's not getting better but it's also lasted a long time, during which he's limited but like, lucid.

All I know is that I want Elizabeth Gilbert to start hanging out with him all the time.

I gagged a little bit reading that.

The origin of this report at least is Rick Wilson who I don't really trust to have sources in this admin

No, I'm sure this specific story is pure BS Kremlinology, but the visible facts are facts

I’d guess it’s no worse than secondhand for him, but also I don’t have the sense that he’s especially averse to inflating a story

There probably isn’t a ton of merit to this beyond “he looks like shit”, which is true. But I don’t think we should be above reckless gossip

"He looks like shit" is literally the reason America tossed out its most recent president, so don't sell it short

hold on, let him cook (the president and current administration)

that is a good point and also I am immediately putting it OUT of my mind thank you

Yeah, I regret reading it while eating.

the occams razor reason for why all these summits get planned like a week ahead of time is because this admin is logistically incompetent. but... the danger of planning something that's far out when youre in questionable health, especially if you want to hide it, is inherent.

There is a greater than zero chance they try to trick us with an AI Trump at some point.

I don't think the 25th amendment happens unless he is too incapacitated to do revenge. His cabinet are weasels who will only knife him in the back when they know he can't respond. He would literally have to be near catatonic for them to do it.

I think JD is a true careerist and striver who would lose to RFK in a primary, since the party is just that nuts. I agree it would have to be very visible sickness or decline, though.

Feels like he's already rotting in public if you look closely enough [ew]

They're definitely brushing it off. They think we're overreacting. The only thing they trust is trump; they think he's everlasting.

What do people think about the bruises on the back of his hands? Is he getting some RFK crazy infusions? Why not put an IV somewhere the bruise wouldn't show?

I have no idea what it is, but he always gets the Real Shit healthcare and seems to understand RFK's bit is a ruse for his base that he has an uneasy alliance with. He was saved by traditional medicine when he got COVID. I don't think he fucks around with the fake stuff. I agree it's likely an IV.

Yeah, the man’s known to be a germaphobe. Now way he’s messing with the woo bullshit.

Hey did he block you immediately after you posted or am I a special boy?

I think you are a special boy, far as I know Cooper and I are good

Good for me lol. Literally just followed to agree and got blocked instantly, it was whiplash.

Yeah, and there's really no way to know. This kind of ghoulish speculation is itself a good argument for having age limits--if you can't be president before 35, no reason not to specify you also can't past 75.

I mean it could happen today, but anyone with elderly relatives can tell you that decline can also be very slow

To slightly alter a quote from a farce I did for community theatre: "He could linger. Old people do that. They linger out of spite."

Everyone needs a plan to emergency celebrate when it happens. But yeah, put something in the fridge and forget it.

Kissinger made it to 100 looking like a plastic bag full of cottage cheese the evil ones live forever

he does seem to be accelerating though...? but I will 100% cop to trying to manifest the shit out of this

It goes slow until it sometimes doesn’t, the difference between the aging Biden and the aging Trump is there are a bunch of load bearing lies around Trump’s health. The whole Signalgate thing made clear Trump was checked out.

"Even your closest allies want you dead" has to get through to Trump, though. Just make sure he knows

Yeah. I keep thinking about ECMO machines and how advanced life support has gotten just in the last five years. They might not be able to keep him cogent or mobile or press appearance ready but he can stay alive for a long time.

oh jesus it's almost worth wishing Trump into an ECMO machine, that's nightmare material

On one hand, it's cathartic and he definitely deserves that and more. On the other hand, it'd enable of the factions to win and wield power Weekend at Bernie's style, instead of all the factions entering a visible civil war and fragmenting their support base. On the whole, I'd rather the latter :)

Er, I mean, I'd rather have a civil war among the fascists, it would weaken the fuckers instead of having any single faction consolidate power.

I’m not taking hope from Rick Wilson, but I’ll consider it from Vance talking about it and from Trump’s visible deterioration. Then again, Kissinger looked like death for decades before he died. Longevity and health alas have nothing to do with virtue.

I indeed got my hopes up last night when reading this stuff

I just hope that Trump hears these stories. I'd love to have him destroying Vance with his base.

There was a guy on X who was obsessed with “Trump is mainly gone” - but he’s been posting about Trump’s health for a decade, and how his collapse is just around the corner. It sounds like all the NESARA/iraqi dinar/med bed people - except Trump will eventually die.

Maybe we can meme it into existence

God has a bad habit of not solving our problems for us, so I’m not gonna get my hopes up generally.

yeah, but sometimes the Great Screenwriters like to throw in something that's blackly hilarious and this has so much potential

Can't get clicks if you don't write about bait.

My take after seeing Trump’s cabinet picks was that he was aware of a potential 25th Amendment play from Theil’s minions & made sure to stack the cabinet with loyalists.

Yup. While I recognize my inner Fox Mulder that wants to believe, I’m self aware enough to know that wishes aren’t horses.

“Conservative political consultant Rick Wilson says…” Ah. Ok. Lol.

🎯

Wishcasting, but also, I mean, he's not well. Maybe he's not dying, but he's not well. Any story that undermines Trump is one worth hammering, I think, if only for the political capital of it. Besides, a Democratic President would be getting the same treatment but worse, and we all know that.

would be? They had Biden ready for the gluemaker because he fluffed a debate ffs