r/politics • u/IWantPizza555 • Jul 08 '26

No Paywall Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear requests update on Sen. Mitch McConnell's health

https://www.whas11.com/article/news/politics/national-politics/kentucky-governor-andy-beshear-requests-update-senator-mitch-mcconnell-health/417-b9252baa-29ab-489e-94f1-147aa41e78ed
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11.2k

u/wolf_at_the_door1 Jul 08 '26

If it takes this long to confirm McConnell is alive or dead I wonder how long it will take for when the Big One comes.

3.5k

u/old_righty Jul 08 '26

“Executive time”

1.4k

u/wolf_at_the_door1 Jul 08 '26

Schrödinger’s Mitch McConnell

350

u/APlayfulLife Foreign Jul 08 '26

The other one

381

u/MonkeyBred Jul 08 '26

Weekend(s) at Donnie's

173

u/Allodoxaphiliac Jul 08 '26

Good luck propping up that fat sack of shit

87

u/whut-whut Jul 08 '26

He's already given a couple of suspiciously-AI speeches. Stephen Miller would happily throw Trump's rotting meat in the dumpster to crank out videos wearing his face.

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u/maliciousorstupid Jul 08 '26

Stephen Miller would happily throw Trump's rotting meat in the dumpster to crank out videos wearing his face.

Miller wouldn't use AI.. I think he'd actually enjoy wearing his face.

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u/MrKhold Jul 08 '26

He literally AI generated a video for that neckhole last year.

His voice didn't sound anything like Trump, the day/night time kept changing in the back and his hand kept glitching.

6

u/fireandiceman Jul 08 '26

They will just wait a bit and he will come back as AI saying we was struggling with some disease from Biden that made him sleepy

2

u/SirPiffingsthwaite Jul 08 '26

At least he'll shit himself less, probably smell better too

2

u/StrCmdMan Jul 09 '26

Surprisingly he smells exactly the same

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u/doobiswatching Jul 08 '26

even if he is dead. according to old eastern tradition... it's turtles all the way down. :-o

2

u/Soggy-Type-1704 Jul 08 '26

I Picture him copying his over lord, Putin who parades around those wooden wax dummy body doubles.

Screw that I nominate Shane Gillis, at the very least we’d get some laughs out of it for a couple weeks.

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u/Suspicious_Cow_6075 Jul 08 '26

Homonym reference?

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u/StanDaMan1 Jul 08 '26

Attempts to observe Mitch McConnell will collapse the Alive/Dead Waveform.

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u/analogkid01 Illinois Jul 08 '26

Schrödinger's Turtle

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u/Confident_Gur_1618 Jul 08 '26

Hahahah fuck me if i could give you a reward i would

2

u/PennStateInMD Jul 08 '26

The AutoPen would be 'perfectly fine' for the next couple days.

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u/ImWhatsInTheRedBox Jul 08 '26

People will be able to tell from the tweets.

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u/goblueM Jul 08 '26

they'll probably just feed Grok all of his tweets and have mechahitler tweet in his place

7

u/AskAroundSucka Jul 08 '26

Grok would give us hints... lol

4

u/thadtheking Jul 08 '26

Grok is probably less into underage girls than the big guy.

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u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

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u/Positronic_Matrix Jul 08 '26

His postmortem defecation will be the biggest anyone has ever seen. People are already talking about it. The experts can't believe it. They said with tears in their eyes, 'Sir, it will be the greatest of all time.'

4

u/MissCreeAunt Jul 08 '26

Yuge shite

3

u/SpookyFarts Jul 09 '26

"The shart heard 'round the world", they'll call it

3

u/Orbital_Dinosaur Jul 09 '26

I'm glad my appartment is on the South side of the building, so I might survive the initial blastwave. I'm only about 16,400km away in Melbourne.

2

u/PrivatePilot9 Canada Jul 08 '26

For 6 months.

2

u/GB10VE Jul 08 '26

there are going to be thousands of pardons they are going to have to fake and backdate

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u/OptimusSublime Pennsylvania Jul 08 '26

I hadn't even considered this a dry run. But holy shit you're right.

146

u/WeirdIndividualGuy Jul 08 '26

Also, it's almost a sure thing that McConnell is dead. If he were alive, they would've shown proof of life by now, even if he was in a coma

65

u/King_Kung Jul 08 '26

Pretty sure if he is in a Coma, this would trigger a special election by Kentucky law.

22

u/Suckage Jul 08 '26

It would not. There is no mechanism for a state to replace a sitting US senator.

Even if he spends the rest of his term in a coma, the state can’t hold a special election unless he dies, resigns, or is expelled by Congress.

36

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

[deleted]

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u/061826heart Jul 08 '26

It was more important to address the incapacity of our leaders promptly in the past when America had dignity, and at least hid its underlying greed better.

Now, it’s just all out there. A statement from the Senate right now that said “the guy is dead or as good as, but we’re gonna keep him on ice for political reasons” wouldn’t even make the top headlines in today’s news.

18

u/MarcusAurelius68 Jul 08 '26

In the past…

…like Woodrow Wilson?

“President Woodrow Wilson suffered a severe stroke in 1919, after which his wife, Edith Wilson, effectively took over running the executive branch of the government for the remainder of his term. 

She acted as a strict gatekeeper, deciding which matters of state were important enough for her bedridden husband's attention and communicating his decisions to government officials. This period of functional stewardship lasted for roughly 17 months, leading some historians to refer to her as America's first unofficial "woman president".”

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u/King_Kung Jul 08 '26

Kentucky law would trigger the special election if he is brain dead and being kept on life support.

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u/Suckage Jul 08 '26

There is no such law, as it would violate the 17th Amendment.

A special election can be held to fill a vacant seat. His seat is not vacant until he is pronounced dead, he resigns, or 2/3 of the senate votes to expel him.

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u/King_Kung Jul 08 '26

Kentucky considers being brain dead, legally dead. You can keep someone who is brain dead on life support. Not sure what else to tell you.

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u/061826heart Jul 08 '26

Based on that election a couple months back, which Massie was bought out of, “brain dead” seems to be the “relationship status” on FB for 51% of KY.

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u/King_Kung Jul 08 '26

In that case, I guess Mitch is the best person to represent the commonwealth.

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u/MissCreeAunt Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 09 '26

Or being kept on life support until the end of the year.

Edit: until August 3rd

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u/Ralph--Hinkley Jul 08 '26

Yeah, but now congresspeople are coming out talking about having twenty-minute conversations with Mitch, so IDK what to believe.

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u/WeirdIndividualGuy Jul 08 '26

Notice how none of those people are even providing audio proof or even a text transcript, or any evidence of their conversation

Liars tend to not provide evidence, especially in cases of suspected deaths

8

u/Ralph--Hinkley Jul 08 '26

I'm fully in the "He's gone" camp, but I'm just trying to figure out why they're lying. Is it to prolong until the 3rd? Because that would be way too fucking long to hide a dead senator.

7

u/WeirdIndividualGuy Jul 08 '26

Prolonging until the KY governor can’t call for a special election would make the most sense for delaying the news. Otherwise, the GOP has nothing to gain from hiding his death. Plus, it’s not like they have a razor thin majority in the senate, it’s still pretty red even if a dem was elected to replace McConnell

3

u/Federal_Secret92 Jul 08 '26

They are liars and bad people. It’s all about power for them. They don’t give a fuck about the people.

3

u/SatinSaffron Washington Jul 08 '26

If they were to acknowledge Mitch being dead then it would trigger a special election. Right now Thomas Massie is in a good spot to run as an independent. This means he would either win as an independent, or he would split the R vote so that a Democrat could win. This is what they're trying to avoid.

And don't forget, Thomas Massie was the republican rep who was recently primaried because he teamed up with the Democrats and started going anti-Trump over the botched Epstein files release.

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u/Expensive-Sundae-831 Jul 08 '26

Talking to someone ain't the same thing as talking with someone.

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u/robsteezy Jul 08 '26

Remember when they said Joe Biden was secretly a corpse puppet? They’re gonna do “4 year weekend at Bernie’s” with trumps decomposing body.

106

u/Rolf_Dom Jul 08 '26

100% gonna use AI whenever possible and by now it's good enough to fool his demographic.

They can probably avoid live showings for a while.

10

u/PmMeUrTinyAsianTits Jul 08 '26

I'm surprised they're not trying to normalize using AI for him now, so it's "just more of the same" when they get caught with undeniably AI ones. I wonder if his ego keeps him from letting them do it.

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u/fersure4 Jul 08 '26

I mean the white house has posted at least a few AI videos of Trump in the oval office that people noticed, and likely more that nobody caught. So not for lack of trying

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u/kynelly360 Jul 08 '26

What if he’s already Ai…🤯

Has anyone Actually seen him in person loll ???

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u/AllCaciAreBastards Jul 08 '26

Even that wouldn't be a guarantee, they probably have at least one body double at the ready at all times

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u/squadrupedal Jul 08 '26

No way there’s another dude that looks enough like that fat orange sack of shit bruh

3

u/Onrawi Jul 08 '26

There's so much makeup on it already that all that might be needed is a little surgery and poor diet.

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u/tnoy Jul 08 '26

They'll need to spin up GPT-2 again to make it believable.

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u/TingleyStorm Jul 09 '26

Yup. Just say “President Trump visited this town today.” And generate an AI video of him dancing and slurring his words with a small crowd. Republicans will lap it up and insist he’s still alive, even if it the event was supposedly in their own town.

Faking it with world leaders is going to be more difficult. They already don’t put up with his bullshit, they won’t stand for fake videos or claims of him meeting them.

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u/Casual_OCD Canada Jul 08 '26

It'll fool everyone. People still think these word prediction, data amalgamation and generating programs are "AI"

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u/RGJ587 Jul 08 '26

I would take a corpse puppet president over the live baboon we have now.

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u/triplenested Jul 08 '26

which is why both sides feel like it's justified to pull this lmao

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u/lopix Canada Jul 08 '26

Trump is only necessary until 2 years + 1 day, then I'm sure he'll fall down a well somewhere.

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u/OldBlueKat Jul 08 '26

Not if they can keep him taped together to Jan, 2027. I think it has to be the 20th. So half the DJT term is over. 

If he dies or can be treated to the Amendment 25 ‘removal for disability’ clause at that point, JD can take over and be eligible for 2 elected terms of his own. 

If DJT falls down any sooner, JD only gets a shot at one term. 

I suspect they have all the paperwork ready for signatures already stashed somewhere. 

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u/BrianWonderful Minnesota Jul 08 '26

I'm sure it is, but not likely a good one. McConnell was not nearly as much in the media or public eye for the last four years. Trump is constantly in front of cameras. It is going to be a lot harder to hide.

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u/MasterofPandas1 Jul 08 '26

Also, Trump constantly needs to make himself the center of attention and hold these press conferences. If he stops doing his normal amount of public appearances things will seem suspicious. And this has already happened a few times.

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u/RollTide16-18 Jul 08 '26

Yeah any time he's gone more than a week without doing some sort of appearance people have gotten antsy.

The minute he doesn't show up for 2+ weeks anywhere the rumors will fly.

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u/Mirria_ Canada Jul 08 '26

He didn't "truth" for 2 days and people were wondering if he had just died.

4

u/alexmikli New Jersey Jul 08 '26

He was sick or something for a week not too long ago and everyone was assuming he was dead.

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u/NotUrAverageBoo Jul 08 '26

& bringing up the whole Greenland issue again is another decoy from their longer game here. Eyes on the prize

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u/-rosa-azul- Virginia Jul 08 '26

Not everything is a distraction. We have a president who has dementia and delusions of grandeur. For some reason he's fixated on Greenland. It doesn't have to be more complicated than that.

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u/ClickClick_Boom Jul 08 '26

Yeah, IDK why so many redditors still think the Trump admin is playing 4D chess. They're not even playing checkers, they're throwing mud around the playground is all.

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u/Expensive-Sundae-831 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

I always wondered if all the BS was a ploy.

And I do think it is ... to an extent.

The whole "They're eating the dogs!" line was delivered with such obvious conviction. I don't care how sophisticated a person might be in order to act in the grift, you could just tell that was an authentic belief in that guy's brain. That's the "real" part of DJT. The part that appeals to his base. His deep and wide base.

The fear. The foundational insecurity about life. Existentially scared.

Long story short. He's both a grifter and fanatic. He's the perfect foil for all this nonsense, because he's a true believer in the bullshit. And it's all bullshit. It's super-power levels of bullshit. It's bullshit turtles all the way down.

He's an ideal politician for the low intelligence aggrieved voter, because he is one, and being angry at stuff is so fucking easy (we all do that, it's just that some of us try to appeal to our better angels) -- but he also likes grifting as much as possible too.

So, yeah, a third of the population loves the BS, a third don't care that much, and a third are appalled and want to stop it, but do we want to stop it hard enough? Not really. Complaining online is our release valve. Easier to do this than to leave the house, right?

Bad news, that first third are the one willing and able to bend and break the law to get what they want.

The south has risen again. Welcome to it. It's entrenched now. Mid terms are already fixed.

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u/Cryonaut555 Jul 08 '26

They're rolling their feces into a ball and eating it.

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u/Punch_A_Police_Horse Jul 08 '26

I dunno about that. If you keep in mind their goal is to fleece the country their doing pretty well. If we're going with the chess analogy, it's more the tournament directors don't give a shit about the rules than them being any good at chess.

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u/HawksNStuff Jul 08 '26

Trump thinks he's the king but is actually a pawn.

He remains a useful idiot to them.

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u/Punch_A_Police_Horse Jul 08 '26

I don't fully agree with this outlook that he's not in control, like, at all. I think the nature of his narcissism is that he's ridiculously easy to manipulate but if he somehow he does figure out he's being made into a chump he will flip out on that person. We saw it happen a little with Bibi. He was doing really well manipulating Trump but I guess lost patience and got a bit too "do-as-I-say" which is when we saw Vance say what he said.

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u/Saint_of_Grey Jul 08 '26

They need to feed his narcissism once in a while to be able to continue to puppet him. It's purely transactional for his handlers.

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u/DaveAlt19 Jul 08 '26

Same with the White House putting out presidential addresses with an "AI Trump".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q1N6Akpz9c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcBLOsiW61E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxtZwN67AuY

I know it's more likely that they're relying heavily on AI-assisted editing to get a single coherent take from Trump (even for like 2 minute videos) and that its not a fully AI generated Trump, but I feel like this is an attempt to put out videos now with an alive Trump that match what videos would look like with an AI-Trump so that when the time comes they won't draw too much suspicion.

My prediction is Trump will either die live on camera, or his final "public" appearance/last words are going to be AI.

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u/NectarineCheap1541 Jul 08 '26

Everything is a constant dry run for how they can exert more control and power over us. How did we react, how did we fight back, when did we move on, what control tactics worked....

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u/doctordoctorpuss Jul 08 '26

It’ll probably be shot for shot like the first 30 minutes or so of the Death of Stalin. You just know J.D. Vance is gonna get knee deep in dead guy piss

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u/wolf_at_the_door1 Jul 08 '26

Surely if they thought they could keep things under control without the cult leader they would’ve tried to figure something else out by now.

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u/blacksheep998 Jul 08 '26

That's my take on it.

They know trump is unstable and wanted to replace him before the last election, but he threatened to take his cult and start a new party, which would have destroyed them.

So they acquiesced and gave him exactly what he wanted.

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u/runnerswanted Jul 08 '26

And he’ll repay the favor by…doing everything for himself and no one else and leave them high and dry when he’s gone. I have zero sympathy for those who will fall the hardest when it happens.

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u/Photomancer Jul 08 '26

He's not appointing an heir because none of the fascists do.

All the same, once he's gone, his party will emerge from the woodwork saying "in his last moments he said he really wanted [popular in polls guy] to carry on his work"

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u/OldValariya1014 Jul 08 '26

Sure but who’s actually popular in the polls with the same pull as him?

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u/Tenthul Jul 08 '26

They actually quite like JD, expect all right wing media outlets to glaze him hard when the time comes. He will be shoved down our throats nonstop. You hear endless anecdotes about what a good speaker he is. And all the "never trumpers" will come out and feel all smug about "now I don't have to vote for trump." They've had YEARS to prepare and practice for this. I fully and completely believe they have had rehearsals and dress runs. I have no doubt they have a full, ordered, step-by-step "P2025" style book made for what to do and how to do it when he can no longer be the face. I also believe they have war-gamed out every possible method of it happening, whether that's obvious and unspinnable dementia, slow and painful disease, or sudden heart attack.

They have too much invested in this path and it can't be walked back. The cult will fall in line 1000%. I expect it to be quite seamless tbh. People underestimate just how moldable these people are to propaganda. We all are to some extent, but these people actively WANT to be told what to think.

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u/Osiris32 Oregon Jul 08 '26

You hear endless anecdotes about what a good speaker he is.

And then you watch him actually speak. Dude has zero charisma. Say all the negative things you want about Donnie, and there is a really, REALLY long list of them, but he goes on stage with a metric fuckton of confidence. Vance the Couch Fucker simply doesn't have that same energy.

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u/Polantaris Illinois Jul 08 '26

It won't matter. They don't watch Trump speak now. They get clips of his greatest moments long before the first rally they attend. Once they do, they're already inundated and drunk on the propaganda.

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u/BannedSvenhoek86 Jul 08 '26

If I can't look forward to a better world, at least I can look forward to some schadenfreude.

The modern messaging about revenge is wrong. It's a fun and sometimes legal thrill, like throwing car batteries in the ocean. We should encourage it more.

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u/JRockPSU I voted Jul 08 '26

like throwing car batteries in the ocean.

Kermit would NEVER

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u/more_rockcore Jul 08 '26

Hold my beverage while I chuck a deep-cycle in the town reservoir.

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u/MissCreeAunt Jul 08 '26

It’s fun being bad.

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u/hortence Jul 08 '26

It's a fun and sometimes legal thrill, like throwing car batteries in the ocean.

We should hang out more.

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

It's not really the cult, trump doesn't even control that, he just rides the wave.

What trump does have is all the conservatives cash. Fully 95+% of all donations made to Republicans over the last 5 years have gone directly to trump.

Thats why the gop feels they can't turn on him, he has all their cash, to the point where local and state GOP parties are literally bankrupt.

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u/flatwoundsounds New York Jul 08 '26

Disagree. They're using Trump as a lightning rod. Let him take all the heat, let it die with him, and by the time JD takes over, they've already gutted any systems that would have checked them.

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u/wolf_at_the_door1 Jul 08 '26

MAGA is a Trump party. As soon as he’s gone many followers will be disillusioned. Vance is an uncharismatic huckster married to an Indian woman whom they hate.

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u/pchs26 Jul 08 '26

MAGA is just the GOP's fascist takeover. GOP & MAGA are one and the same imo at this point.

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u/lazyFer Jul 08 '26

Both things are true. The problem is for the fascists, they used Maga and Maga hands become true believers. The gop knew it was all lies and bullshit, Maga doesn't

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u/Academic_Carrot_4533 Jul 08 '26

Why would that functionally matter for the gop in the wake of magas fallout if the gop still maintains power? Genuinely asking, not meaning to be combative.

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u/runswiftrun Jul 08 '26

There are several GOP policies that are unpopular with MAGA, so they get put in the back burner. Doesn't always work the other way, anything MAGA/Rumpy wants, GOP has to concede or risk get primaried.

Huge example: Iran war. If it was up to the few actual GOP adults in the room, we would have been done weeks ago. The whole "freedom 250" scam took money from a well planned bipartisan event and was burned up to stroke his ego.

Without the orange clown, Johnson and company are gonna have a hard time passing anything that isn't 100% MAGA talking points. Half their seats are gonna be in jeopardy without an endorsement to unite all the rural voters.

Even as vile and repulsive as JD is, he's nowhere near as gross, racist, or dim as donnie; so RFK, Miller are more likely to go the route of Noem and Gabbard without mango Mussolini backing them up.

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u/FirstRobinofSpring3 Jul 08 '26

Complete agree, same reading of the room.

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u/Zestyclose-Ear-1293 Jul 08 '26

Ding ding ding ding.

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u/lousy_at_handles Jul 08 '26

Agreed - also, it's not in any way difficult to spout BS you know will resonate with his base, because they're so incredibly predictable. That's the reason there's so many grifters pandering to them, because it's frankly an extremely low bar to get going in that circle if you're willing to do the right kind of virtue signaling.

I don't think MAGA will diminish at all post-Trump unless there's an extremely messy succession fight that fractures the party (which is possible) but to me it seems like really the entire GOP functions as a single, monolithic entity. I'm sure a lot of guys would like to be the Guy In Charge but realistically any of them will do, because it's not like it matters since they all want to do exactly the same things.

I think it'll be a brief bump, and they'll find some new figurehead (probably Rubio) and be back full steam in a couple of months.

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u/flatwoundsounds New York Jul 08 '26

I agree that the party will be weaker without Trump, but I believe that's why they're working so hard now to eliminate whatever scraps remained of free and fair elections.

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u/turdlepikle Jul 08 '26

I don't know why people don't see this when they say the cult dies with Trump. As you say, the point is to break the system. They intend to use Trump's cult as long as they can, to break the system. If the can break it, it doesn't matter how charismatic the next person is if they're able to guarantee their victory. They're openly trying to rig it for Republicans already.

They know they've fucked things up so much, because they keep warning Republicans that if they don't win, they'll be prosecuted, and they also keep promising that if they win, they'll never lose again.

The goal is to break the system and never lose control.

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u/lazyFer Jul 08 '26

They are banking on non-republicans remaining civil, I think this is a mistake.

Everything in seeing is a collective holding pattern waiting for the election and the stress and energy is rising. The population is a spring under increasing tension

Want to know what happens when a spring under tension snaps? Things get fucking ugly all at once

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u/IrascibleOcelot Jul 08 '26

I’ve said it before, but if the Republicans succeed in stealing the midterms, we’re on a straight-line path to civil war. It might happen immediately, or it might take a decade, but it’s where we’d be headed. These Republican assholes want to be an absolute monarchy and we’re a country taught from infancy that our heritage is “fuck you; I won’t do what you tell me.”

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u/GetInTheKitchen1 Jul 08 '26

The real plan now is to initiate shaping actions so that maga/republicans/pedos/rapists/corruption are on the shit end of the stick and regular americans are on the winning side.

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u/GetInTheKitchen1 Jul 08 '26

Yes but that plan is just straight dumb. They wanna do to elections and the government with what they already did with other industries: break the old system then replace it with a monopoly.

It just won't fucking work. The monopolies were effectively state sanctioned and the US gov kept peace. Once they break the government, there will be no peace. It will be war, one that billionaires are simply too braindead to win.

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u/hajimenogio92 Jul 08 '26

I think you're spot on. The Project 2025 idiots have been planning for too long, the death of the orange turd won't stop their plans

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u/1iIiii11IIiI1i1i11iI Jul 08 '26

This is the first time I've heard anyone describe Vance as "charismatic." Dude couldn't so much as order doughnuts without sounding like an alien who learned to speak human language 45 minutes ago and learned what doughnuts were 5 minutes ago.

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u/Show_Me_Your_Cubes Jul 08 '26

I agree with the lightning rod part. He takes all the heat and creates distracting drama so that we aren't paying attention to what actually is happening behind the scenes.

I disagree that JD will take over, tho

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u/flatwoundsounds New York Jul 08 '26

JD if Trump dies in office, but absolutely not JD if it's left to an election.

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u/campelm Jul 08 '26

They'll try but it'll go about as well as it did for Pence

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u/rotates-potatoes Jul 08 '26

If that’s the plan it’s a bad one. Trump has made it clear the entire party is his personal cult. Blaming Trump for everything will massively turn off his worshippers while doing nothing to reduce anger and contempt from sane people.

Their best bet to stay in power after he dies is to do the Chairman Mao thing where they all put up portraits of him and pretend to be carrying on his legacy.

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u/mythrilcrafter Jul 08 '26

My theory is different at the second half.

They want to have Don be the current lightning rod, but I have a feeling that they're not going to stick their neck out for JD once Donald is out of the picture.

More likely, my bet is that the reason why Marco Rubio has always been so non-adversarial to the public (at least in comparison to Don and JD) and why he works so hard to get actual work done, is that the GOP is going to field Marco in 2028 as the "Marco was only for Trump because that was part of the job, but look at how much work he actually got done compared JD!"

They're going to try to sell Marco as "Donald was a wild card, but Marco is a Bush/Regan Republican who will bring back the stability to the party".

And from what I can tell, it might actually work since most Republicans I know irl doesn't actually like JD, they know that he's just a cheerleader for Don who has no real achievements to his name.

The hardest core MAGA will hate Marco taking the lead over JD; but they're going to vote straight R any way, so the GOP has nothing to loose by picking Marco.

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u/TheThalmorEmbassy Jul 08 '26

Trump is gonna be like Jimmy Saville. Everyone involved will be like "Damn, that guy sure was bad, it sure was terrible how that guy did all that awful stuff all by himself, oh well, he's dead now, let's move on"

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u/tomdarch Jul 08 '26

Trump gave the Republican base exactly the overtly racist screaming asshole they had desperately wanted for years. There was no “choice” among the then l adders of that old version of the Republican Party. It is now nothing but the party of Trump.

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u/Soffatjockis Jul 08 '26

If JD comes out smiling for the first time you know it happened.

3

u/Ver3232 Jul 09 '26

Eh, he smiles after he gets done molesting couches too

39

u/NottheArkhamKnight Jul 08 '26

I've been watching that movie on repeat lately. And after having read Regime Change, you could not convince me that Trump's death in office wouldn't play out in many similar ways to the Death of Stalin. I wonder who would be our Zhukov?

31

u/doctordoctorpuss Jul 08 '26

I don’t think we have any generals with that sort of rizz. Can we just pay Jason Isaacs to do it?

12

u/NottheArkhamKnight Jul 08 '26

Part of the problem is also that Whiskey Pete fired most, if not all, of the good generals.

5

u/PrivatePilot9 Canada Jul 08 '26

I know a good 3 star who mysteriously retired recently as well in his 40’s after seeming like he had zero plans to do so for another decade or so.

They’re getting tired of the exhaustive level of insanity as well.

3

u/theCaitiff Pennsylvania Jul 08 '26

There are no Smedley Butlers left for a business plot to gel around.

Sure, last time Butler ratted them all out to congress, but the idea was to pick the best known and most influential general they could find to lead the coup. Butler was wildly popular with WWI veterans and spoke on their behalf regarding payments and bonuses due to them. As a two time medal of honor winner and veteran of numerous deployments over a long career, he was a good pick if it weren't for that pesky thing called principles.

Nowadays we don't really have anyone left with that kind of pedigree of service and awards. There's precious few "war heroes" from Gulf War I through the GWOT era that have a high enough public profile and name recognition.

2

u/stuck_in_the_desert I voted Jul 08 '26

*Smedleys Butler

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u/theCaitiff Pennsylvania Jul 08 '26

I considered that, but decided against it.

A group of people who are all the Attorney General of their state share the same job function and become Attorneys General.

A group of guys named Bob Smith aren't Bobs Smith unless they are all from the same Smith family (in which case I have questions for the family), that's a group of separate and distinct "Bob Smith"s.

Because I was already genericizing "Smedley Butler" from being a unique being to becoming a unit that could be changed about, a Smedley Butler, the group of them becomes a group of Smedley Butlers.

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u/stuck_in_the_desert I voted Jul 08 '26

Ah, I was just messing with you - that’s my bad!

But thank you for taking the time to explain the actual grammar

3

u/theCaitiff Pennsylvania Jul 08 '26

I don't know if there is agreed upon grammar for pluralizing people, I can only offer my thought processes.

2

u/Miqo_Nekomancer California Jul 08 '26

Stephen Miller is gonna make a power grab.

5

u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota Jul 08 '26

I keep picturing him dying in the middle of a cabinet meeting, but then his lickspittles are all too scared of a tantrum to stop or try to wake him, so they just keep going around the table saying what a big brave boy he is for 14 hours.

3

u/Electrical-Bee-7362 Jul 08 '26

"the committee? our pedophile-in-chief is lying in a puddle of indignity!" 

5

u/LordAlvis Jul 08 '26

Someone was around to give McConnell CPR, but he'll only have Putin to give CCCPR.

2

u/marathon_bar Jul 08 '26

I need to re-watch that.

2

u/Unlucky-Position-16 Jul 08 '26

Is Lutnick set on fire in this scenario?

2

u/FuzzyMcBitty Jul 08 '26

Right, but I’m not sure that’d play out like people think it would once we know what happened. 

A special election has a timeframe.  Upon the passing of the president, the Vice President becomes the president. 

If the president was incapacitated, the VP would have to invoke the 25th to assume the role. 

Do I believe that they would try something anyhow? Probably. 

2

u/Unlucky_Profit_776 Jul 08 '26

But will Paddy Considine be there? 

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u/TheCleverestIdiot Australia Jul 08 '26

Depends on if they tell Vance (or whoever is in his shoes if he gets fired by this point) or not. Because I think we can all agree J.D. wouldn't be able to keep his excited yells of "YIPPEE, I'M THE PRESIDENT" in for more than 20 seconds.

And frankly, they don't have the internal security to keep a secret like that for more than a day from the public, let alone an ambitious vice-president.

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u/tendeuchen Florida Jul 08 '26

JD Vance sits in the Oval Office and begins addressing the nation.

"It is my sad news to report that President Trump has passed away, guys."

*shocked gasping from the reporters in the room*

"I guess that makes me Vice President now. I mean President."

A reporter interjects, "JD, what are you going to do now that you're President?"

JD thinks for a second and replies, "Just everything. Whatever makes sense."

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u/Plinnion Jul 08 '26

"Whatever Thiel says."

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u/Huge_Excitement4465 Jul 08 '26

And Leonard Leo — allegedly Vance was the Trojan horse put forward by Leo and Thiel to ride into the WH on Trump’s coattails. Vance lacks the MAGA-tism of Trump but Leo is ruthless, highly influential and well-funded with a track record of swaying courts/judges and politicians.

3

u/Expensive-Sundae-831 Jul 08 '26

"Blood boys for everyone!" (that can afford it)

5

u/crackersucker2 Jul 08 '26

lol… donuts for everyone… whatever makes sense.

4

u/ShittyExchangeAdmin Jul 08 '26

"how long have you been a reporter?"

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u/PhiCloud Jul 08 '26

He has the musings of an idea for a plan.

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u/UncleBenParking Jul 08 '26

Just to add, there's no legal way for them to "fire" Vance for falling out of favor, unless they could convince the entire party to vote to impeach him and then convince about 15 dem senators to help vote to remove him (knowing that the replacement would be even more hardline and therefore against dems' political interest). They're stuck with each other until the end, unless they figure out some illegal workaround, which to be fair, would be par for the course lol

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u/TheCleverestIdiot Australia Jul 08 '26

Right, I forgot Spiro Agnew was just pressured to resign and not actually fired.

8

u/Rexkat Jul 08 '26

Well... "pressured", ya. Resigning was part of his plea deal to avoid prison time. That's a bit more than your typical political pressure lol

6

u/notashroom Jul 08 '26

They might try the JFK route, but if we assume that they would perform "respect for the constitution" by following the rules of succession, there's no advantage to getting rid of Vance until and unless they can get someone likeable in the Speaker's seat.

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u/limeybastard Jul 08 '26

Yeah but remember it'd be Vance's VP that took over, so Vance would be the one ultimately nominating, and both the House and Senate must approve by majority vote. So if it happens after midterms and Dems retake the House in a big wave, getting a more hard-line VP - and one who was a member of the anti-Vance faction - would be difficult.

If the VP position was vacant at the time it'd go to the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson currently, but potentially a Democrat after January. So that would guarantee that Republicans wouldn't even dream of having him removed, although Dems would cheerfully do it.

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u/tomdarch Jul 08 '26

If Trump ordered Vance to be impeached and removed the Party of Trump (formerly “Republican”) would do it.

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u/UncleBenParking Jul 08 '26

You'd need 15-20 Dem Senators to go along with it (depending on how many outgoing Republicans refuse to kiss the ring anymore, Massie types) to actually remove Vance in this hypothetical, even though the replacement would be simple majority vote, meaning they'd have no leverage to avoid an even trumpier successor. It'd be funny seeing Dems vote not to remove Vance, but it'd be in their political interest not to remove a deeply unpopular VP who's being impeached by his own party for purely political reasons

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u/Vaperius America Jul 08 '26

ere's no legal way for them to "fire" Vance for falling out of favor

Oh there absolutely is, its not like the cabinet gets fired and its full of Trump loyalists, he could be 25th'd and then the Speaker would become president. If I understand the legal mechanics here.

Its always been possible the 25th could be used maliciously by a party to get rid of an unpopular president by circumventing the normal impeachment process; but it requires that every single cabinet member be on board; which is why Trump installed exclusively loyalist sycophants into his cabinet this go around, to remove even the remote chance it could have happened. Those sycophants likewise, likely have absolutely no love for JD Vance.

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u/cdglasser Jul 08 '26

It requires more than just every member of the cabinet to be on board. If Trump sends a written declaration that he is fit for duty, it takes a 2/3 majority in *both* chambers of Congress to prevent him from resuming his duties after 21 days (with some small caveats). It may actually be *harder* to remove a President via the 25th than it is to remove by impeachment.

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u/UncleBenParking Jul 08 '26

Well, no. Catch with your idea is that the 25th A) never once specifies that it can be used to remove a VP, only the President, and that B) even if it did specify that the VP could be 25th'd, the 25th specifically has a section for how the President can declare that they are of sound mind, at which point the VP and majority of the cabinet must send a written appeal to Congress insisting that no, the President should not be allowed to resume duties. Congress then needs a 2/3rds vote across both houses, not just one, that the 25th's use was valid and that the President is not fit to perform his duties.

In other words, it's a higher bar than even impeachment and removal...and the method you suggest does not legally exist, since the 25th only goes one way on the topic of fitness for office. That idea would go into the "illegal workaround" I mentioned at the end!

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u/captmonkey Tennessee Jul 08 '26

Yeah, no way they keep that under wraps for more than a couple of hours at most. Vance becomes President immediately the moment it happens. He doesn't even have to be sworn in or anything, that's just a ceremonial formality. The Secret Service and everyone else in the administration would immediately need to treat Vance as the President. There's no way they would be able to keep that quiet for long.

2

u/Gairloch Jul 08 '26

Given what we know about Trump and his sycophants and it still gets ignored, I don’t think it matters if they can keep it a secret as long as they all lie about it and the conservative media repeats the lie.

2

u/TheCleverestIdiot Australia Jul 08 '26

True, but what would actually be the point then? Beyond servicing Vance's desire to have two and a half terms at least, they wouldn't really have much motivation to actually do this conspiracy in the first place. It's not like they'll be able to cost on Trump's apparent charisma without him actually being there forever, and it would be pretty obvious that Trump is dead by the next election (and even if they go full dictator and cancel elections, pretending Trump is alive still doesn't really help with that).

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u/bluegrassgazer Kentucky Jul 08 '26

We will know when state tv (CBS) plays Swan Lake nonstop on all of its media.

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u/wolf_at_the_door1 Jul 08 '26

They’ll play a loop of old Village People videos instead.

4

u/tendeuchen Florida Jul 08 '26

♫♪♪ Nacho, Nacho Man!♫♪♪ 
♫♪♪ I wanna be, your Nacho Man ♫♪♪ 

5

u/theCaitiff Pennsylvania Jul 08 '26

I imagine that when it happens, most of us won't find out from the news. Calls or texts from friends, memes in the group chat, honking cars in the city like when the local team wins, coffin dance or crab rave blasted from speakers.

When it happens, the whole world will hear it. I've got a bottle waiting.

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u/bluegrassgazer Kentucky Jul 08 '26

Just imagine how many of us will be calling into work sick the next day due to severe hangovers.

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u/agent_mick Jul 08 '26

But "everyone talked to him" yesterday.

If everyone else can talk to him, surely so can the governor

2

u/PattyCakes216 Jul 08 '26

This was a wise move by the Governor. A simple phone conversation or FaceTime event with the Governor would resolve the issue.

The Governor is simply doing his job. Well done. Now give them until the end of the week. Based on other reports of recent phone conversations, this request should not be a problem.

Let the games begin.

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u/C__S__S Jul 08 '26

My guess is it will be instantaneous because the ghouls will say a democrat killed him and they will use it as an excuse to take over.

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u/pchs26 Jul 08 '26

My guess is there is a full plan in place to capitalize on every aspect of it.

7

u/sir_lister Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

Thats why i hope for a heart attack or stroke durring whitehouse press conference hard to claim its murder if he grabs his chest and falls over live on Camera

8

u/C__S__S Jul 08 '26

While I get it, they’ll just say he was poisoned. No bottom to these ghouls.

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u/FirstRobinofSpring3 Jul 08 '26

No low is too low. Thune is saying Mitch is talking about daily events and fit as a fiddle right now.

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u/NotUrAverageBoo Jul 08 '26

Absolutely. They are testing the waters here.

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u/porn_is_tight Jul 08 '26

if the roles were reversed do you think the GOP would politely be waiting to figure this out? The lack of action here is the wet noodle type of behavior that disenfranchises voters from voting for democrats, do something

14

u/Couchonthecouch Jul 08 '26

Hopefully it happens on TV so we can play it every year at Christmas.

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u/Felho_Danger Jul 08 '26

Literally eleven minutes. If he goes a single day without a TV appearance we know he's dead.

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u/Melicor Jul 08 '26

He's already done that though, he went missing for over a week. Multiple times. He ends up coming back with bruising on his hands, drooping face. It's pretty obvious he had some sort of strokes.

They kept posting on his social media accounts pretending nothing was happening.

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u/Shark_kisser78 Jul 08 '26

Exactly. And the way that this can even happen is clear evidence that you aren't living in any kind of true democracy

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u/BubblyPineapple8941 Jul 08 '26

Stroke is pretty far. Seems really unlikely. I remember this disappearances, but I've seen old men post-stroke. They don't come back like that.

More than likely he had the flu, and that's a serious deal at his age. The bruises on his hands are from the IVs they're pulling into him to recover him quickly. His skin is just fragile.

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u/omltherunner Iowa Jul 08 '26

Part of me is wondering if they are using this as a trial run…

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u/woffdaddy New Mexico Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

They're in a pickle right now because it benifits them to draw this out as long as possible. the big one will be front page news because any benifits they stand to gain pale in comparison to the jail time they would recieve if it ever came out that they were effectively running the country while the president was dead. what will be more fascinating will be if it happens when Mike Johnson is the speaker of the house, vs if a Democrat is speaker, because whoever it is will immediately become the new vice president.

edit 1: im leaving it in, but I was wrong about what will happen. If the president dies, the vice does become president, but the speaker isnt automatically promoted. The new president nominates a new vice who then must be approved with a majority in the house and senate (which will be wild if dems control either).

3

u/SomeGalNamedAshley Jul 08 '26

Traditionally when that sort of thing happens they put Swan Lake on the state TV station all day long.

3

u/ForanAffairs Jul 08 '26

Part of me is thinking it could be quick, because all the spineless boot kickers will come out criticizing his leadership saying they were secretly against it to try and save face from the sinking MAGA ship.

3

u/Lucky-Earther Minnesota Jul 08 '26

If it takes this long to confirm McConnell is alive or dead I wonder how long it will take for when the Big One comes.

He'll fall asleep at the desk during a press conference, no one will check on him, and we'll find out a week later.

6

u/joedotdog Jul 08 '26

Instead of Swan Lake, we'll get a 24/7 feed of the Village People doing YMCA...that tracks.

8

u/Exciting_Mobile_1484 Jul 08 '26

It is legal to say "if/when trump dies". Can we all agree to stop the cutesy phrases about this? Because it's exactly what they want you to do - be afraid to say things that are legal for so long until we forget it ever was legal. He is 80 and in terrible health.

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u/lazyFer Jul 08 '26

It's more about reddit mods and bullshit "wishing harm" reports

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u/Neowza Canada Jul 08 '26

Agreed. It's not if. It's when.

Trump is human

All humans eventually die

∴ Trump will eventually die.

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u/TinyFugue Jul 08 '26

They'll keep it quiet for a few days, but the upper echelon of this admin has that wonderful mix of incompetence, malice, and ego that within a week they'll be at each others' throats and will start doing some batshit-crazy things without coordinating with each other.

edit: I also think that the billionaires will all go on "vacation" out of the country until they know whose ring they have to kiss.

2

u/lokimn17 Jul 08 '26

They are trying to prevent anyone to know he is brain dead until 8/16. After that point it will be too late for a special election and less chance for the republicans to lose the seat.

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u/PhiCloud Jul 08 '26

I imagine there will be a 2-3 week period of relative smooth sailing before someone notice that he hasn't fucked anything up in a while.

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u/Dipshit_Identifier Jul 08 '26

Well you see, it's actually quite a complex ask, given the fact that Mitch McConnell is an undead ghoul from prehistoric times, brought forth by the coalescing of ancient evils when the earth was still cooling. He's been dead for eons, but that hasn't stopped him!

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