Many wonder if he’ll seek political vengeance against people he views as disloyal.
Ron DeSantis is out of the Republican presidential race. But in Florida, his second term as governor has only just gotten started.
As DeSantis returns to Tallahassee, the state capital is ablaze with speculation — and anxiety — about how the governor will wield power in the remaining almost-three years of his term. How will he seek to rebuild his stature in Florida after washing out at the national level? Will he lay the groundwork to run for president again?
And, most of all: Will he take political retribution against Republicans who he sees as having betrayed him in the presidential race?
Donnieboy isn’t going to live forever, you know? In fact, he seems to be declining rapidly lately. So even if there’s no election there will be a vacancy for Supreme Leader at some point.
Oh, if Trump wins, the dictatorship will be hereditary.
Baron will be the new Kin Jong Un.
Trump works because he’s able to churn up a base of support as a cult of personality. Those tend to fall apart as soon as the personality at the center dies or gets imprisoned. His adult children don’t have the capability of cultivating the base in the same way. Neither does anybody else in the GOP.
Once the infrastructure for dictatorship is in place, a the successors of a dictator don’t need much in the way of support. Particularly considering what tends to happen to prominent members of the opposition.
Nah, that’s not how these things work.
The Kim family might beg to differ.
North Korea is a huge exception. Most dictatorships do not last that long. It’s worth studying how they managed to pull that off.
No. It really isn’t. History is filled with hereditary succession. It’s not some outlier thing. It’s actually kind of been normal for most of human history.
It’s filled with hereditary monarchies in a very stratified society. Modern dictatorships don’t arise out of a system like that. Many of them were originally fighting against exactly those systems.
Hereditary rulers didn’t all rise from a stratified society. They created the strata. Prince, princess, Duke, duchess etc. Etc etc. The strata was always their family and friends. Strata like that would not exist without them.
History has been filled with usurpers to the throne. Who have then gone on to set up their own dynasties etc. it’s actually quite normal. And in the process they turned up the strata. Replacing it with people, loyal to them. Because the strata itself is meaningless and is just meant as a positive feedback mechanism.
Francisco Franco’s regime didn’t become hereditary. Neither did Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi, Augusto Pinochet, Syngman Rhee or Park Chung Hee. Rafael Trujillo was succeeded by his son; that lasted about 5 months.
Most authoritarian “communist” regimes don’t become hereditary, either. Not Mao, not Stalin, not Pol Pot, not Ho Chi Minh. Raúl Castro had power for a while after Fidel’s health was failing, but he’s out of power now and it’s not been picked up by others in the Castro family.
Just try finding 20th century dictatorships that became hereditary. It just doesn’t happen. North Korea is the exception.
Kim Il Sung spent decades establishing his successor. And he had absolute power by then. Neither applies to Trump. What usually happens in these cases it’s that the potential successors are at each other’s throats. This often results in civil wars, like what we have in Libya and Sudan right now.
The Republican party has spent a century longing for and pursuing dictatorship. Trump doesn’t need to do any more prep .The party eagerly picks through his word salad, looking for a way to please him. They even had shirts made up showing familial succession.
Not to mention, who’s gonna oppose him? Democrats? And breach decorum?
Democrats definitely will. Maybe not the leadership and not like they should. But the thing everyone has been conditioned to forget. Is that unlike the Republican party, the Democrat party isn’t significantly in any way a monolith. It’s a coalition party. Much to the displeasure of Democratic leadership. It’s the only reason I still have any hope for them.
Add some space ships to that fanfic you’re writing that’ll be cool.