It's gonna happen: at some point, President Toxic Shiteforbrains will no longer be Chief Executive. Somewhere between leaving with subdued, quiet dignity to reflect and begin work on his memoirs and Presidential Library (0.1% chance), or fleeing on a hijacked Air Force One to Russia to set up a Government-in-Exile, he will have entered into the ash heap of history.
Yep, the Mad King will be gone. It could be in 84 days, Inauguration Day! And then what? How will we fill our time? El Stupido is such a central fixture in our lives that his absence will be a bit jarring, even in a good way.
Of course, most Americans don't spend much time at all contemplating the state or course of the nation. And a significant portion that do are members of the GOP Zombie Party that is hooked into Fox/State News and Rush Limbaugh Hate Radio. That's a big part of the reason why we are in the pickle we are in. These folk are willing participants in the Trump/GOP death cult experiment. You can't reason with a zombie.
So when The Trump Administration is nothing more than a deeply horrible memory that triggers PTSD for up to 60% of Americans, who will fill the Awfulness Vacuum?
And when The Trump Administration is nothing more than a golden memory for up to 40% of Americans, who will fill the gaping hole of public conversation when Resentment based on Racism, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Bigotry, Willful Ignorance, Delusion and Dunning-Kruger thinking isn't being foisted on us by a President?
For the Trumpanzees, the question of who will manage the Fountain of Alternate Facts is easy to answer: whoever is best able to deliver the Middle Finger towards the majority of Americans.
It might continue to be Trump. Once out of office, he will need to distract himself from the coming barrage of indictments, fines, penalties, collapsing businesses and a wife filing for a divorce. He'll pull together some investors/suckers and start up his long-rumored Trump Media, complete with a cable channel, radio syndication, podcasts and, of course, non-stop Twitter, all featuring him! No doubt he will continue to broadcast his inimitable brand of BS 24/7, and his base will be there for him. Unless he's sent to prison, in which case it all goes into re-runs.
Speaking of prison, there are other Administration officials who won't be taking up the Mantle of Hate Rhetoric. I expect Jared Kushner will be spending most of his foreseeable time with lawyers, seeking to stay out of prison. His wife will probably end up leaving him and settling with the kids into a comfortable existence in a place like Montenegro, where there is no extradition treaty with the USA. From there, she'll cast a wide net and come up with a Dodi Fayed type of new rich husband to support her lifestyle whims.
For Tweedledum and Tweedledee, well... Don Jr. will be spending his time disengaging from his crazy soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend, and then will vanish from public view for a while. I see a big future in multiple 28-day rehab programs. Maybe he'll come out of it all as a Recovered Addict who goes on the self-help speaking circuit, addressing church groups and recovering QAnon gatherings.
Eric "Gums" Trump can't speak for 10 seconds without saying something ridiculous, so he's a good bet to be the next Voice of the Idiocracy. But he's also the titular head of the Trump Organization. I expect he'll have his hands full over the next several years, staving off one bankruptcy after another while trying to avoid criminal and civil charges.
Outside of the family, there aren't many figures poised to secure the demagogue's berth. Batshit media figures like Mark Levin and Dinesh D'Souza will benefit when Rush Limbaugh finally passes away to a worse place. The Force of Crazy is strong with these two. On the other hand, they present as extremely unlikable dour scumbags, so there's that.
Over at Fox, we have the always reliable array of meatheads that will tote whatever aligns with their owner's positions. There will some scrambling for who will hold the scepter of The White Power Hour - Laura? Tucker? Hannity? Why not everyone? This three-headed monster works pretty well right now, so it could just roll on... Unless Sean Hannity is caught up in the investigative web of his pal Trump's criminal investigations. Then it will be a two-headed monster.
From the fetid swamp world of GOP Politics, there are some real contenders.
It won't be Mitch McConnell, who probably will still be around, but won't be selected by his Republican Senator peers to lead them as Senate MINORITY leader.
The new leader of the GOP will spring forth from the batch of 2024 Presidential Hopefuls. Some will stumble early and possibly be indicted (Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell). Some will be perceived as not having enough projectable strength for a Macho party (Senators Marco Rubio, Ben Sasse and Rick Scott). Some will not be white enough (Senator Tim Scott). You'll even see Mitt Romney try to position himself, but he's too smarmy, is perceived as a loser, and doesn't enunciate Hate strongly enough.
But from this crop of hopefuls, there emerge a few real gems. Former governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. And South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. Any of these folk are capable of flinging a hefty bag of bile at a convenient target. And some are pretty good at framing their hate, evangelical fervor, and displays of willful ignorance in somewhat diplomatic language. They are all well-versed at presenting themselves for friendly media coverage.
That their ideology and partisanship are endemic causes of the disaster we are in will keep them in good stead with the 38%-ers. So until we get closer to 2024 and a front-runner emerges, expect a lot of media coverage on all of this cruddy crew.
Yes, there will be plenty of competitors ready to take over the Trumpian helm once he's gone. His followers will seek out a proper substitute. But he's a Sui Generis, a one-of-a-kind. When he's out, no one will be able to replace him for what he does with his base.
Instead, we'll see a fall-back while the voices of this contending class struggle to be heard above the rest. It will take a while for a single person to personify and manage the rank vitriol that animates Trump's base. Until then, we will witness the ongoing "try-outs" and get to flip our own middle fingers at them all while Biden and a Democratic Congress attempt to fix the enormous damage done over these last four years.
It won't be easy. But over time we'll get the country on a better course. And as the GOP continues to slide into irrelevance over the next ten years, the ideals of Progressivism will become the accepted and celebrated core values of our country. It's gonna happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment