In Reply to: Re: Likely Don Jr posted by russsmith on July 11, 2026 at 00:24:47
to keep the movement alive. Like I said before, the only name that comes close to that in my mind is Tucker Carlson, and he seems to have drifted away from the Republican Party, at least for now.
Trump didn't just come down from the escalator and call Mexicans rapists to shoot to the top. There were decades of publicity build up that got him there. Even before The Apprentice, there was the "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" on tv that inculcated the public with a particular form of nouveau riche kitch. Rappers used to love him and hold him up as a symbol of richness. There was so much groundwork put into making himself be a part of the average American household. That escalator moment was when all that effort over the years finally was finally cashed out.
There is no such thing with Don Jr or JD Vance or anyone. There is no propensity on the part of the public to have positive thoughts on these people outside the Trump turmoil that they have been associated with.
Sure, core MAGA will hold on to Jr for a while and will try very hard to see him as an extension of his father but it can't last long. The moment you take Sr out of the picture, Jr is just another entitled a$$hole and I'm pretty sure that he will not be able to hold on to any of what his father built, not for a day.
The next leader of the American fascist movement will probably come from the media with prior credibility on the American public and with enough distance from Trump that they can load the bad parts of this period and all its negative consequences on him and embrace the same underlying ideas with a fresh face and tell themsleves this time it's different. That's why I keep staring at Tucker Carlson. Sure, he has that over antisemitism going against him, but (a) evangelicals will turn a blind eye, which is what they do best, and (b) by that time, there may be a generational handoff in the evangelical movement already, and their view on Israel may start allowing them to maintain some distance with Israel's hard right and their Greater Israel agenda.
Just spitballing here.