The escalating feud between Trump and Elon Musk just went to the highest level when the former DOGE leader called for the impeachment of the sitting president.
He is much worse, but he’s also far less of a threat, as he doesn’t have ANY public mandate, in the form of any kind of following or cultish fandom.
Trump’s power is almost ENTIRELY a product of how he tapped into the country’s stupid fucking redneck hogs and narcissists and delusional conspiracy nuts. JD has exactly ZERO flat-earthers driving around with his face painted on the side of their van. Having a following of millions of people, even if they are mentally-deficient to a degree that is literally breathtaking, is still power, a great deal of power too because he has them under such tight control.
Vance might be dangerous in short-term policy decisions, but he doesn’t have electoral power, he doesn’t have chips in the game, he won’t make a dent in senate/house bill votes, he won’t have influence on local and state elections. He’s pre-neutered. The only ones who should be worried about Vance are the white-house sofas.
Yep that’s what I’m talking about, having a “movement” behind you is the strongest form of political currency. The right has wanted someone like Trump for a VERY long time because he’s wealthy and not with cash. And he’s dumb enough to be led around.
Vance is largely a nobody. You can accurately deduce he’s a pile of shit, but he’s always going to be largely ineffectual on the political stage because his ass is broke.
Yes, I said he’s worse. First line, first paragraph.
Do you understand political power though? It’s a deep game but even at the highest levels, you can see that just being “bad” or “good” isn’t enough to shape policy and leadership. A president has a job to do, and that job is almost entirely negotiating political favors between various groups and committees and lobbyists. To be able to do this, you have to have both a shrewd understanding of political law and precedent, AND you need political capital.
Donald Trump has very little understanding of political law and precedent, but he has MASSIVE political capital.
Vance has none. Just like Stephen Miller, someone who is also literally a sack of insects in human skin, someone like him even being as close to the president as he is, he has no political capital. He would never get elevated to an electoral position so he had to worm his way to an advisor status.
They could do some harm, but all their attempts at passing policy without political capital will get shot down in the other branches of government. There are a lot of examples of this in history, even recently with presidents who had waning capital like Biden. If you aren’t actively gaming the game, you’re getting left behind.
You seem to be ignoring the entire class that owns them. Peter Thiel, Marc Andreeson, etc. can “create” political capital through manufacturing it. That’s how Vance even got elected to Senate in the first place.
He doesn’t resonate as strongly with the MAGA base as Trump of course, but since when did the will of the people matter, especially now that there are loyalists in every notable and important position in the whole of the executive (all agencies), legislative, and judicial branch.
We’re still talking about different things. It’s okay, we can agree that we don’t want any of these people in power but I’m saying Vance doesn’t have the political currency to have as strong of an impact as even Trump, nothing to do with “the will of the people.”
While I do believe America is spiraling towards autocracy and dictatorship, it won’t be Vance’s face on the armbands. It will be someone but the way America falls into that hole will be a different path than Venezuela took, mostly because our government is so much larger and more complicated with far more international interests at play, requiring more long-term political capital to be spent to bend the system until it breaks.
OKey at least there is that. I just want somebody in the US office who will fix the political system to be more compromise based, but I think I’ll sooner see a unicorn irl.
I have this feeling that JD Vance is way worse than Trump
He is much worse, but he’s also far less of a threat, as he doesn’t have ANY public mandate, in the form of any kind of following or cultish fandom.
Trump’s power is almost ENTIRELY a product of how he tapped into the country’s stupid fucking redneck hogs and narcissists and delusional conspiracy nuts. JD has exactly ZERO flat-earthers driving around with his face painted on the side of their van. Having a following of millions of people, even if they are mentally-deficient to a degree that is literally breathtaking, is still power, a great deal of power too because he has them under such tight control.
Vance might be dangerous in short-term policy decisions, but he doesn’t have electoral power, he doesn’t have chips in the game, he won’t make a dent in senate/house bill votes, he won’t have influence on local and state elections. He’s pre-neutered. The only ones who should be worried about Vance are the white-house sofas.
Vance also has no charisma or personality to speak of. He can’t lead a movement like MAGA.
Yep that’s what I’m talking about, having a “movement” behind you is the strongest form of political currency. The right has wanted someone like Trump for a VERY long time because he’s wealthy and not with cash. And he’s dumb enough to be led around.
Vance is largely a nobody. You can accurately deduce he’s a pile of shit, but he’s always going to be largely ineffectual on the political stage because his ass is broke.
Vance is absolutely worse. He’s the true disciple of Curtis Yarvin, and that’s the end of the country as we know it.
Yes, I said he’s worse. First line, first paragraph.
Do you understand political power though? It’s a deep game but even at the highest levels, you can see that just being “bad” or “good” isn’t enough to shape policy and leadership. A president has a job to do, and that job is almost entirely negotiating political favors between various groups and committees and lobbyists. To be able to do this, you have to have both a shrewd understanding of political law and precedent, AND you need political capital.
Donald Trump has very little understanding of political law and precedent, but he has MASSIVE political capital.
Vance has none. Just like Stephen Miller, someone who is also literally a sack of insects in human skin, someone like him even being as close to the president as he is, he has no political capital. He would never get elevated to an electoral position so he had to worm his way to an advisor status.
They could do some harm, but all their attempts at passing policy without political capital will get shot down in the other branches of government. There are a lot of examples of this in history, even recently with presidents who had waning capital like Biden. If you aren’t actively gaming the game, you’re getting left behind.
You seem to be ignoring the entire class that owns them. Peter Thiel, Marc Andreeson, etc. can “create” political capital through manufacturing it. That’s how Vance even got elected to Senate in the first place.
He doesn’t resonate as strongly with the MAGA base as Trump of course, but since when did the will of the people matter, especially now that there are loyalists in every notable and important position in the whole of the executive (all agencies), legislative, and judicial branch.
We’re still talking about different things. It’s okay, we can agree that we don’t want any of these people in power but I’m saying Vance doesn’t have the political currency to have as strong of an impact as even Trump, nothing to do with “the will of the people.”
I feel like you could have said the same thing about Chavez and Maduro in Venezuela…
While I do believe America is spiraling towards autocracy and dictatorship, it won’t be Vance’s face on the armbands. It will be someone but the way America falls into that hole will be a different path than Venezuela took, mostly because our government is so much larger and more complicated with far more international interests at play, requiring more long-term political capital to be spent to bend the system until it breaks.
Yes, but he won’t be backed up by maga. There will be more internal fighting.
OKey at least there is that. I just want somebody in the US office who will fix the political system to be more compromise based, but I think I’ll sooner see a unicorn irl.
Vance is totally owned by Peter Theil, who is a well-known Psychopathic Oligarch.
Yeah, unfortunately, there’s no one in the line of succession I particularly like. At least RFK is #12 and Linda McMahon is #16, both pretty far down.
He might be, but that’s a chance I’m willing to take given how fucking terrible Trump is.
That’s because he’s dumb enough to follow the dumb guy. We all know he’s a fuckin moron.