we forget how tenuous the republican leadership really is (this doesnt mean it isnt still dangerous) - the 2016 gop primaries was a 17 candidate shitshow where ted cruz & marc rubio were prime contenders. dxt (who years earlier wanted the democrat nomination) united the far-right fringe
this isnt to say the gop scrapyard wouldnt still be a threat to democracy... fox news & past republican favorites like cruz & rubio have the most to gain with any debilitating trump illness.
![Trump registered as a Republican in Manhattan, New York City, in 1987; since that time, he has changed his party affiliation five times. In 1999, he changed his party affiliation to the Reform Party and the Independence Party of New York (affiliated with the Reform Party) and had even considered running a presidential campaign in 2000 as a Reformist before ultimately withdrawing from the race.[19] In August 2001, Trump changed his party affiliation to Democratic. In September 2009, he changed his party affiliation back to the Republican Party. In December 2011, Trump changed to](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yk73yccoyregpa5a4l4ij35t/bafkreidsl73m3m3h6joblaxhhlzsy7ygwa2vkcetelw7mji7xvbc2krehu@jpeg)
for the record, i had SEVERAL server errors that kept this from posting... it wasnt until i removed the word "lethal" (describing the philosophy of the rightwing) and changed a certain monogram from "j" to "x" that this finally processed and cleared.
im sure this was all coincidental... or maybe bsky's algorithmic ai had deduced something sinister in my post - which is how it still seems. altho ive seen some folks post some (beautifully) wild shit about the wellbeing of dictators... and i am here for it!