JD Vance once dumped on Trump. Now he’s sitting behind him in court as if waiting to wipe his butt. Elise Stefanik could once be considered a moderate, so far as that term can be applied to Republicans. Now she’s acting like Eva Braun—and dolling herself up like a porn star to compete with the looks of Kristi Noem (she must wish she could make herself taller and younger and, thus, more grabbable). Noem proudly declared that she had murdered a puppy, then a goat for good measure. Tim Scott seems to be one step away from demanding the repeal of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. Why?
Forget the fact that the Republicans are the party of performative cruelty and that their only reason for existing now is to make mediocre white men feel good about themselves. The reason is these politicians know they could never be elected President themselves, so their best chance of getting to the Oval Office is through Trump--because he will likely die in the next four years.
This is not an unknown calculus. LBJ, according to Robert Caro, realized that 10 of the 40 presidents up to that time had died in office, so it would be worth his giving up the Senate to roll the dice as Kennedy’s VP, and his number did indeed come up.
Trump is a month shy of 78 years old. He is obese, eats terribly and does nothing for exercise except swing a golf club periodically after riding to his ball. He is full of rage and bile, which can eat you alive. He is adored by his followers, but unloved by anyone. And, most importantly, he is clearly well into the middle stage of Alzheimer’s, both mentally and physically, which means he has two years or so until he’s mentally incapacitated and two years after that until the disease kills him.
So why not throw your lot in with him? His VP may not even have to wait until he dies before taking over his duties as president thanks to the 25th Amendment. No one will remember what they did to become president. Although I bet they hope Trump lasts three years, which would let them potentially serve two full terms of their own as president.
That the media sees these candidates as honest actors is bizarre to me. They aren’t. They are simply more venal and cold than most Republicans—which, to be fair, does make them the perfect candidates for the party.
