Donald Trump is clearly not healthy — the rapid cognitive decline, his terrible appearance, I can believe he’s going to be dead in the next few years, or so incapable of doing his job that he’ll have to be declared incompetent and replaced. I wouldn’t be as certain as Rick Wilson (who I don’t trust anyway), but we may see an abrupt change of leadership before his term in office is over.
“Trump is dying” and “Vance knows,” according to conservative strategist Rick Wilson.
Conservative anti-Trump activist Rick Wilson, who co-founded the Lincoln Project and hosts the group’s podcast, has written extensively about Donald Trump. On Friday, the strategist declared that the president is indeed dying.
“Slow or fast, he’s headed down,” Wilson wrote, adding that there are “rumors” about what comes next. “Rumors from the Trumpverse are that the circle who knows what’s up is very, very small and very, very paranoid.”
It’s a possibility and a scary one.
Who has seen The Death of Stalin? If you haven’t, check it out: it portrays the mad scramble for power among a gang of selfish, incompetent boobs when the Great Leader suddenly died. That may be the United States in the near future.
JD Vance has made an announcement.
Vice President JD Vance has now made an unexpected statement regarding President Donald Trump’s health, stating he is ready to take over at any time.
On August 27, 2025, Vice President JD Vance declared himself prepared to step into the role of president should President Donald Trump’s health falter, a statement that has reignited speculation about Trump’s physical condition and the future of his administration.
Vance, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, confidently stated, “I’m ready to step up if, God forbid, anything happens to the president,” addressing concerns raised by Trump’s recent diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) and ongoing controversies surrounding his leadership.
I wonder how Trump is reacting to his lackeys’ publicly salivating at the prospect of his demise.
Normally, I would eagerly look forward to reading that obituary, but waiting in the wings is JD Vance. He’s said some batty things, so I doubt he’d be an improvement. But, who knows? It’s hard to imagine anyone worse than Trump.
But we do know, at least superficially. We’re going to get JD Vance, a charmless, clueless, ignorant hillbilly as Kommander and Cheef. A complete dolt and know nothing. A new dummy for ventriloquist Stephen Miller to continue his ethnic cleansing. A replacement plastic Jesus for the Heritage Foundation to drain the Treasury into their greedy, bottomless pockets. Worse times ahead.
Aux armes, citoyens, formez
Vos bataillons
Marchons, oui, marchons
I’m expecting a flurry of horrific violence, sadly.
The one blessing is that Trump is the leader of a cult of personality. Absent him, I don’t think the fascist coalition can hold together. They’re not going to line up behind Vance; to the contrary, I fully expect a lot of the MAGA faithful to claim that Vance assassinated Trump, with Hillary Clinton’s assistance. I think the resulting chaos will make the Death of Stalin (both the film and the reality) look like a sober and well-planned change of power.
At the risk of sounding like an accelerationist, I think everything will get much worse in the immediate aftermath- but that will create the circumstances for things to get better. We’ve already got fascism, and I simply don’t think there’s a non-violent ending to that story. But if the majority of the violence is fash-on-fash, well… let’s hope we can contain it to that.
Prediction: If DJT dies before 2 years in his term, SCOTUS won’t swear in JD until he is eligible for 10 years in office. ELSE DJT is 25th amendmented day of JD being eligible for 10 years of office and is sworn in then.
I mean, I get there are other things there and details I am missing, but whatever gets JD a potential 10 years, that’s what’s gonna happen.
Doc Bill@2 I disagree. I see no reason to believe that Vance will do Miller\s bidding. Vance is Peter Thiel’s lacky.
It isn’t even clear right now how much of what comes out of the White House are his ideas and decisions.
Trump is a meat puppet, being operated by the people around him.
I’m sure there is a lot of competition to be the ones operating the strings.
I suppose the question is, “how long can they keep the meat puppet up and pretending to be the president of the USA?”
We are going to find that out the hard way.
2026 Clue:
“Trump, in the Oval, with a Hamberder”
Help us, Ronald McDonald, you’re our only hope.
The christofascist Fascists are already making plans to use the US military to stay in power.
It is obvious.
.1. They have purged the senior generals and leadership in the military and replaced them with Trump lackeys. The civilian leadership of the Department of Defense is the same, being run by Fox NoNews.
.2. They have brought in US army troops to occupy Washington DC for no given reasons. It has nothing to do with controlling crime. They are standing around, picking up trash, and landscaping.
.3. They are planning to do the same to the other Blue cities.
Which has nothing to do with crime either.
The murders and crimes are way higher in Red states.
Their first method of keeping power is to try and rig the voting procedures so they don’t lose too many elections.
If that doesn’t work, it is very likely they will attempt to use the military to seize power.
What if his mental decline becomes undeniable before his body keels over? What would it take for his chosen-for-loyalty cabinet to fulfill their duty as outlined in
the 25th Amendment?
@tim #6
I agree with you against my own words! My fantasy (not involving Taylor Swift) is that Pres Hillbilly rips off his mask to reveal Tom Cruise and sets about cleaning house – chucking out Miller, the Federalist Society and Heritage and all the lunatics, psychopaths, nut jobs and sick-o-phants. He could do it, except that more likely Jay Dee is truly a corn-fed hick from Hillbilly Holler.
Of one thing I feel certain, the notions of the Heritage cult are unworkable and those policies will fail. An isolationist America First is not sustainable in this modern world.
The far-right goons are only united by self-interest, without Dear Leader they will be like a herd of cats.
JD Vance is no Reagan. He is not even an Eric Trump.
@ ^ birgerjohansson : Yet if Trymp dies in office – & seems plausible he’ll become
POTUSDictator of the former USoA..@2. Doc Bill :
@12: And let’s be honest here; Vance is merely tolerated by the Qult. He’d never really take Donnie’s place. (Technically, the Qult would rather have someone else other than the little couchfucker because his wife isn’t lily white.)
@ ^ Autobot Silverwynde : There will be in-fighting and destruction and chaos but will it end where we want it too or end up worse?
It always ends up worse.
Even if Trump completely loses all mental capacity, hell, even if he up and croaks, they’ll probably Weekend at Bernie’s the mofo as long as they can to try to hold the cult together. Watch for signs of AI in his speeches.
Whatever charisma Trump may have, Vance has none. Trump’s unpredictability and madness instills fear in his groveling flunkies. Vance has none of these attributes. He’s an asshole, but he’s not insane. He will never be a cult figure, or have sycophants to help him. He will never have Trump’s power.
“The Death Of Stalin” is wonderful, and I suspect, true-to-life. It’s also hilarious.
So, this isn’t chaos?
If the big D dies or becomes mentally incapable, cough, cough, JD Vance will take the Presidency. He will be unable to maintain the coalition. Trump does it through Mafia style leadership. Vance can’t change his own diaper, using the techniques the Big D employs to keep all the shit in one bag will be beyond his grasp. Fractures through the party are inevitable, and the power void will cause a great rush of Far-Right wannabee Trumps vying for the spotlight. Trumps demise may very possibly shatter the Republican Party. How Stephen Miller plays through this will be key.
@9 raven – Their first method of keeping power is to try and rig the voting procedures so they don’t lose too many elections. If that doesn’t work, it is very likely they will attempt to use the military to seize power.
This is partially completed, just may work but I do not see who will carry it out. .
@ 11 Doc Bill – An isolationist America First is not sustainable in this modern world.
Sadly, the less informed multitudes do not understand that air travel and instant communication (the internet) has changed the stand on your own two feet philosophy that used to be the way of the world. The best action is to embrace globalization, understand its workings and get ahead of the curve. That is too progressive for all the country bumpkins who Trump convinced differently. Ironically, Trump has embraced globalization, he is trying to control it through tariffs and (making) deals.
Start with a CT about a campaign of slow poisoning.
That Dementia Don is crumbling away fast is obvious to anyone with eyes and ears, laughable “medical reports” from the White House notwithstanding.
As you anticipate, what’s not obvious is what is going to come after.
The god-emperor will keel over or be no longer fit for public appearances (even with a broomstick up his jacket and a XXXXL Pampers)… at that point the knives will come out and we’ll see his minions tearing at each other to gain primacy: rats in a sack.
Problem is, no one of them can replace DT as new god, the devout only have eyes for him and bow only to him.
The couch-lover is a nonentity (AND incompetent, but as we know that’s not a problem here), the rest of the rancid crew, nasty as they are, weigh even less.
No bets on how it’s going to play out but pretty it ain’t going to be, surely.
Fingers crossed…
Things get better instead of worse when people push for it. Right now there are a lot of politicians and judges who have been scared to push against Trump even for venal reasons in case of retribution, and if Vance takes over one might hope those same reins of terror would slip.
But really, if Vance had the small decency to die soon afterward too, it would be appreciated.
Strikes across the frontier and strikes for higher wage
Planet lurches to the right as ideologies engage
Suddenly it’s repression, moratorium on rights
What did they think that politics of panic would invite?
Person in the street shrugs, “security comes first”
But the trouble with normal is it always gets worse
Callous men in business costume speak computerese
Play pinball with the Third World trying to keep it on its knees
Their single crop starvation plans put sugar in your tea
And the local Third World’s kept on reservations you don’t see
It’ll all go back to normal if we put our nation first
But the trouble with normal is it always gets worse
Fashionable fascism dominates the scene
When the ends don’t meet it’s easier to justify the means
Tenants get the dregs and the landlords get the cream
As the grinding devolution of the democratic dream
Brings us men in gas masks dancing while the shells burst
The trouble with normal is it always gets worse
Bruce Cockburn 1983
Can’t say we weren’t warned…
as has been intimated it is hard to tell just how “demented” this guy actually is from the moment hee came down the escalator.
It has never been about his “policies” or his politics or his successes as few as they have been. It has always been his “celebrity” his fame, his “Stardom” from reality TV. It is where he learned how to perfect his your fired and his poses as an all powerful hero of a certain kind. There no one who can master that act nor any alternative pose
all I hope is to live through the change coming to see democratic principles regain their place in society,
I am old and do not want to wait 20 years nor can I.
Trump sounds like my grandmother about 6-7 years before her death of Alzheimer’s dementia, mixing stories up and losing words. She could likely have lived longer with better care (we eventually placed her in a institution, which didn’t provide personalized 24/7 care). It won’t likely be what kills him directly in the next couple years.
His other health worries might drop him dead on shorter notice but that’s highly unpredictable.
There is plenty of precedent for mental incompetence in the U.S. presidency. Off the top of my head I can think of three presidents that probably qualified as such in my lifetime. And yet things roll along smoothly, more or less.
Biden’s goons effectively ran the show without him for four years. Trump’s minions can do the same.
“There is plenty of precedent for mental incompetence in the U.S. presidency. Off the top of my head I can think of three presidents that probably qualified as such in my lifetime. And yet things roll along smoothly, more or less.”
You are known, beholder.
Lemme check with the Bubblebot, since I’m not USAnian, as it is:
The claim rests on a historical pattern: that even when presidents exhibited signs of mental decline or questionable competence, the machinery of American governance—its norms, institutions, and public trust—provided ballast. This resilience was not accidental; it was built on a tacit contract of character, decorum, and institutional respect.
🏛️ Historical Precedent: Incompetence Buffered by Norms
Woodrow Wilson suffered a debilitating stroke in 1919. His inner circle concealed his condition, effectively allowing unelected figures to govern. Yet the public’s trust in the presidency remained intact, largely due to reverence for the office and the absence of overt norm violations.
Ronald Reagan, in his later years, showed signs of cognitive decline. Though never formally diagnosed during office, aides shielded him, and he operated within a framework of institutional deference and public decorum.
George W. Bush was often criticized for intellectual incuriosity, yet he voluntarily submitted to neuropsychological testing after medical procedures, demonstrating respect for constitutional process and public transparency.
In each case, the system absorbed the strain because the presidents, however flawed, operated within the bounds of expected behavior. They deferred to norms, respected institutions, and—crucially—did not center governance around personal grievance or spectacle.
⚠️ Trump’s Disruption: Norms as Targets, Not Guardrails
Donald Trump’s presidency diverged not in degree but in kind:
Norms were not neglected—they were actively dismantled. Trump rejected the idea that the presidency is a place of moral leadership, instead embracing a persona that flouted civility, transparency, and institutional respect.
Trust was not eroded passively—it was weaponized. He cast doubt on elections, science, intelligence agencies, and the press, not as collateral damage but as strategy.
Character was not a stabilizing force—it was the axis of disruption. His public persona—marked by impulsivity, grievance, and self-promotion—became the governing principle, displacing deliberation and continuity.
Unlike prior presidents whose limitations were buffered by institutional trust and behavioral norms, Trump’s approach hollowed out those very buffers. The system didn’t “roll along smoothly”—it lurched, polarized, and in some cases, broke.
In short: past incompetence was mitigated by respect for the office. Trump’s tenure redefined the office around himself, making incompetence not a liability to be managed but a spectacle to be amplified.
[and yet, people go with it, and they elected him!]
@ Morales
When did you forget how to blockquote dude? You’re not a noobie, you’re an old-timer, yet you’re comments are increasingly becoming unreadable walls of text. Blockquote tags are your friend. Embrace them.
@4 remyporter – They’re not going to line up behind Vance; to the contrary, I fully expect a lot of the MAGA faithful to claim that Vance assassinated Trump, with Hillary Clinton’s assistance.
If Trump dies in office, there is a good chance that happens, could you imagine the conspiracy theories that will be spread. You got a jump on it.
@ ^ stuffin : when Trump eventually dies there’s going to be conspiracies about it, full stop. That’s what the tinfoil hat mob do especially when its their idol. Wouldn’t be surprised if many reckon he hasn’t actually died long after he finally has died just like with Elvis.
This is relevant.
Trump hasn’t been seen in public for 3 days.
This is unusual for him.
So what does this mean?
.1. He is clearly sick with a mind rapidly failing.
His puppet masters might have decided that this doesn’t make good TV and video.
.2. He might have gotten even sicker.
He might actually be dying.
.3. It might mean nothing at all.
Showing up every day and rambling incoherent and putting more tariffs on whoever caught your attention that day can be exhausting.
He might simply be taking a break before deciding which US city to invade with his military forces. Chicago and Boston are next in line.
No one knows really and it can mean a lot or mean nothing.
@ ^ raven : Yes.
I feel like I’m being threatened with a good time over here…
If I were hiring an assassin, I’d leave the blowhard figurehead alone and send her (or him) to Miller. Then Thomas, Alito and Roberts.
@Raven Just came in here to see if anyone had more information. I spotted a YouTube video (didn’t watch) that speculates he’s actually dead. In any case, we should probably redouble our preparations for the surge of new, wilder chaos.
People get very excited very quickly; https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/08/30/is-trump-dead-rumors-debunked-as-trump-seen-leaving-for-golf/
(I remember a lot of speculation about Putin a couple of years ago, same sort of thing)
It was by far the funniest day on social media for a long time. Everyone realised he probably wasn’t dead, but just enjoyed the possibility, and they did eventually wheel him out to go golfing with his 18yo granddaughter in a miniskirt, but the thought alone kept Bluesky the funniest place for hours, so that was nice.
rorshach @39
Trumpolini in a miniskirt is a horrifying image that no amount of brain bleach can erase. Fuck you and your and your entire microbiome for making me visualize that.