Spoiled son of a New York slumlord. Grandson of a pimp.

But when you think about it, autocrats and tyrants tend to be very mediocre men with enormous flaws. They are good at bamboozling people, often just by giving them permission to shed moral restraints.

[embarrassed-marge.JPG]

Dictators for Dummies™️

Everyone is going to deny it in 5 years

you don't need a personality to have a cult of personality

Honestly, I always thought you did, but… apparently you do not!

I sell the things you need to be I'm the smiling face on your TV Oh, I'm the cult of personality I exploit you, still you love me I tell you one and one makes three Oh, I'm the cult of personality Like Joseph Stalin and Gandhi

I actually hope they keep doing this because it will just further radicalize DC and we need those guys and gals to do reconstruction II

They think he's big brother but these banners are Goldstein-maxxing

They're never beating the masochism charges. No one has hated Republican voters more than Republicans and that definitely includes maybe more self-directed hate than other-directed, which had seemed impossible

It's tactically moronic too. Hirohito was 29 years old when Hamaguchi Osachi was blown away and the IJA functionally seized control of Imperial Japan. Mussolini was 39 when he marched on Rome. Trump nearly 80, is approaching the end of his shelf life, and can barely speak a coherent sentence.

I stand by this assessment of the present moment bsky.app/profile/zach...

If you're *smart,* you aim to be Deng, Lee Teng-Hui, Juan Carlos, Gorbachev, or (if exceptionally ambitious) Khrushchev. Most are not smart. They end up Dönitz, if they're lucky.

They're all counting on being able to successfully Weekend at Bernies Trump through 2028, but I don't know if that works out for them. His saving grace is that, like Hitler, he pits all his subordinates against each other. A more competent, less venal group of people would have ousted him by now.

And MAGA is loyal

I do think that if you magically put the pre-November 2020 Trump cabinet in power right now they'd 25th Amendment him and use the National Guard deployment to make it stick.

It's optimistic fantasy to think Trump is actually ill right now. His health is fine, but he's still 78, and the over-under on American fascism is 12 years.

I think that his people (with the exception of Vance) count on him being alive but borderline non compos mentis though the end of his term. I think he's sicker than he lets on and that the best move for people opposed to Trump is to keep up the pressure and subject him to as much stress as possible.

I would not be shocked if he survives through 2029 and I would not be shocked if he keeled over tomorrow, is what I'm saying.

The only two mysteries I'm curious about are "will he be alive when my US passport comes up for renewal," and "will he beat Hitler's total-day record"

#soygpcr

This also seems consistent with my “this is a GPCR eqse fight between a deteriorating dictator and everyone who wants to replace him”

He’s also the right age for that, not actively dying but weakening physically and mentally

Yeah, I agree with this. I'm not part of the "Trump is clearly dying" crowd, but there's a 0% chance he gets more physically and mentally vigorous with each passing month

i assume they'll use his image after he dies, tbh he's more useful to the stephen miller + jd vance types as an image than as an actual man. he's like their jesus; useful as a picture on the wall

Hitler was like 43 in 1933 . Genuinely confusing how an old guy like Trump has become their god.

Cult of personality is not enough. They should do giant gold statues and compel people to pray to them when the music starts playing

They're just using the ideology to further their own interests. Only a fraction are "true believers".

If i had stupid money I’d make a golden statue of DJT just to film people worshipping it.

It’s a cult for fucking loser ass dorks and they see themselves in him (being the biggest dipshit in any room at any given time)