this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2025
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[–] EtAl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 66 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (8 children)

Some folks here believe once Trump is dead, his empire will pass onto someone else. I couldn't disagree more. Every time someone tries to do what Trump does, it's a big flop. It will all unravel with him gone. It's called a cult for a reason.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 23 points 3 days ago (3 children)

MAGA is a Cult of Personality, and there is no #2. Plenty of people feel like they are the obvious successor, but NONE of the MAGA followers believe that. They worship Trump, and Trump alone. When he dies, MAGA dies with him.

When he assumes room temperature, the knives are coming out, and the backstabbing will be glorious. All the Dems have to do is stay out of the way.

[–] Colonel_Panic_@eviltoast.org 14 points 3 days ago (2 children)

It absolutely is a cult of personality. The part that breaks my brain is that his personality is abysmal. Just gross, horrible, mean, rude, hateful, lying, cheating, hurtful. Not even objectively attractive or well spoken. Just babbling hateful drivel. I do not understand how it ever got this big except that he represents all the worst parts of humanity and he gave all the worst people the permission to be the worst version of themselves and that is more appealing than being smart or kind.

And when he does die the cult WILL implode. It already has fractured, but it will shatter into factions and infighting and it will be a big mess and lots of collateral damage. But maybe it will all be finally over. A decade of hearing his bullshit will finally end and maybe his cultists will start to snap out of the trance and be reasonable again.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

He got that big because you not only described him, you described the bulk of his followers. A lot of people are just Pigs, and they're proud of it, they think it's a virtue.

[–] Colonel_Panic_@eviltoast.org 4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Yeah. I don't know which was better. Having millions of closeted racist hateful people pretending to be nice or outwardly venom spewing racists.

At least now we can tell who the bad guys are because they broadcast it everywhere they go, and we can cut them out of our lives and try to stay away from their toxicity.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 days ago

I want them out in the open so that we all know what they are.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 2 points 3 days ago

No, they should remain under their rocks, with the full knowledge that decent, moral people think they are disgusting stupid pedophile traitors.

[–] slag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Trump is a narcissist who learned to play social media. At his core he’s a grifting and attention seeking slimeball. Everything else is sausage thumbs posting to social media and gauging what gets the best reactions.

There’s no cynical intelligence to this, but something worse: chasing the worst of mankind who revel in his boorishness. The very act of remaking himself every second to seek that attention is what makes him who he is, and it’s why he’s so hard to replicate.

Don’t believe it? Pay attention to his speeches when he’s talking about others. You can see him testing nicknames for opponents, watching the crowd to see how strong the reaction is. Watch for the satisfaction on his face when he finds the one that gets the reaction he’s looking for.

[–] nomy@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

All the Dems have to do is stay out of the way.

Well, fuck.

[–] FrostyTheDoo@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Never underestimate the Democrats' ability to get in their own way

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 3 points 3 days ago

Oh yeah, their reputation of "Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory" is well-earned.

[–] TWeaK@lemmy.today 19 points 4 days ago

It's less about this being a cult, more about it being a cult of personality. Regular cults can continue on, a cult of personality dies when the personality dies.

[–] Zink@programming.dev 2 points 2 days ago

You may be 100% correct, but I would still fear that the corruption soaked deep into our institutions by this bonkers insane second term would enable the fascist train to keep rolling and take us on the rest of the ride we've already started. Everybody around him is appear running the administration.

Maybe if the timing of the passing of the empire is favorable we might have some elections that seem valid maybe?

[–] FuckFascism@lemmy.world 15 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Best to prepare for the worst outcome.

[–] D_C@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It would also be good to prepare to take his cronies and enablers out. Legally if possible, though other ways are acceptable.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Starting with Stephen "PeeWee Himmler" Miller. He needs to be dragged behind a car past cheering crowds.

[–] arc99@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

The worst outcome is he is seen walking and talking. If he dropped dead I doubt anybody else would feel emboldened to act the way he did.

Exactly. Trump's control over his base is unique. This is why they wanted him on top so much. We a bit fortunate that he is such an old and unhealthy fuck instead of being someone younger. Trump was always this egotistical and delusional. Can you imagine how much worse it would be if he was just 50?

[–] eskimofry@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I hope it does unravel without dragging the whole world into another war. But i fear the seed of hate has already taken root. Unless the entire system is purged of hate I don't have confidence it will be as simple as the Don kicking the bucket.

[–] NutWrench@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 days ago

Yup. Vance is never going to get the built-in MAGA fan base. Vance and Miller have none of that aggressive, ferocious stupidity that makes Trump so relatable to his base.

[–] krooklochurm@lemmy.ca 6 points 4 days ago

Theee morons are eating their own already even with the dear leader alive.