What Comes Next?

President Trump has spurred one of the largest and most overwhelming cultural coups ever. By leveraging unfounded fears and prejudices in order to call his supporters to action, he has created an atmosphere of hate and bigotry within the very center of our government. It has worked. Rather than focusing on anything meaningfully productive, or attempting to bridge the gap between sides whose people seem to grow apart every day, he has managed to make one of the driving factors of half of the country their hate for the other side. Anger is a potent tool – extremely useful, especially for riling up a base whose main concern isn’t anything economic, or even useful in their daily lives. But it’s startling to see a man, the most powerful man in the world, have absolutely no concept of foresight, and no ability to think beyond himself. 

Indeed, many of his supporters even now have called for the repealing of the 22nd Amendment – the amendment that disallows any president from seeking more than two terms. They, too, can’t seem to be able to comprehend what will happen next, as they have relied on this man as their leader for almost the past decade – and certainly as their catalyst. After all, no other modern politician other than perhaps Reagan was able to stir this amount of support among the Republican base, and certainly no other president has inspired such fanatical loyalty from his followers. Before this Trumpian era, it seemed that the Grand Old Party was on the decline. Democrats were consistently winning popular vote after popular vote, and Hillary Clinton seemed poised to take the White House. Civil rights activists were continuing to make their pushes successfully, with Obergefell v. Hodges at the Supreme Court being another landmark case in a history of landmark cases expanding the rights of the people. Then came Donald Trump, a man unabashedly raunchy, comedic, and popular. Foremost a populist, Trump came onto the scene with a charisma that no other Republican leader had. And indeed, he has managed to rewrite the entire party, rewire the inner base of the party away from rational, pro-business people to people more governed by their emotions. These are people who now don’t particularly care what Donald Trump does – they will follow him off of a cliff. But they too have cattle blinders on. What comes next?

Donald Trump is 79. He is not a young man. Already, questions have been raised about his mental facilities and whether they are up for the task of the most strenuous job in the world. But there is no succession plan. J.D. Vance might seem like one of the top contenders, but with consistently high unfavorable ratings, he lacks the overwhelming support Trump enjoys. And it is most definitely true that nobody adores him with the same cultish fervor that Trump has cultivated.

I do believe that Trump will step out of office. Although many of his supporters may want a third term, I don’t think that will happen. When he steps down, however, there will be a power vacuum – a large one. All of these alt-right conservative podcasters and hacks have derived their legitimacy mainly from the fact that Donald Trump has created an environment in which these things have plausibility they wouldn’t otherwise have. They too have inspired followers – not in the same way, but still, young men especially who now follow people such as Charlie Kirk and Joe Rogan, who look up to them as role models. What happens next, after there is no clear space with which to put this political power?

I think that some of the heat and Republican fervor will die down. I simply can’t come up with another person that I think will inspire the same loyalty at the polls. Before Trump, there wasn’t anywhere near this type of loyalty within either political party – simply put, only the political junkies and activists truly cared about what was happening in Washington. I may be generalizing, but my broad point is true – that until Trump came along, there was no cultural behemoth in the White House. Say what you will – but that’s what Trump is. And there is no replacement, no successor. Trump doesn’t allow anyone to share the spotlight, but in doing so, he’s made it so that there’s no plan whatsoever for what comes next. I think that the people who will have benefitted off of this shift in the Republican party are not the politicians – not the GOP, but rather the podcasters who have made their mark sucking at the teat of the Trumpian cultural hegemony. They will still be cultural icons to their base, and they will still inspire people to vote. But those whom they appeal to – the younger generation, and predominantly the men – are the least likely to go to the polls. As of right now, it seems to be the perfect storm for the liberals – not the Democratic party, but the cultural progressives – especially as someone like Gavin Newsom is emerging as someone who could become the Democratic Trump. Is it unlikely? Yes, I’d say so. But after these four years, and even after perhaps two – I think that Republicans are in for a rude awakening.

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