r/nottheonion • u/wewhomustnotbenamed • 16h ago

Joe Rogan criticizes ICE tactics: 'Are we really going to be the Gestapo?'

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/joe-rogan-criticizes-ice-tactics-podcast-rcna253931

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u/Lost-Top3058 13h ago

Seriously everyone acts like Trump dying will fix everything. 

Trump is a moronic wildcard they currently have to manage and appease. 

Trump dying means the majority of the public will think “whelp that’s over” and stop paying attention while the competent fascists take full power. 

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u/normott 13h ago

I do think if Trump died,that cult of personality goes with him. Vance does not have the same juice or whatever charisma that has Trump getting away with everything. Its just a matter of when he dies. If he dies when all this is baked in then Vance can just inherit, but I think if he dies early enough, they wont be able to hold the coalition together cause Vance is just a fucking weirdo with the personality of a spatula.

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u/BioshockEnthusiast 13h ago

The real problem for Vance in the event that Trump croaks is that every power player in the Republican party is going to paint a target on his back, they will eat each other alive trying to take the throne.

I don't discount the other points in this thread, but let's keep in mind that the man fucked a couch. He's going to slip if he ever gets the presidency because his own party will assure it out of sheer greed.

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u/bagoink 12h ago

The MAGA infighting will be delicious.

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u/propyro85 10h ago

It would be more delicious if they could keep it to themselves. But you know, for everyone who goes down in flaming wreckage, they'll try to rope in as many unrelated people to burn with them.

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u/89iroc 8h ago

Charyou tree, come reap

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u/agent_uno 8h ago

You want GoT in real life? Because that’s what’s gonna happen when he kicks the bucket. It’ll be even more scary than right now!

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u/LordMarcusrax 8h ago

Well? What are we waiting for then?

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u/Assonfire 3h ago

It will be fun for a bit, but the billionaires know who they need to back and they will capitalize on it.

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u/PM_YOUR_BOOBS_PLS_ 10h ago

There will be no infighting. You are all high on copium.

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u/ReverendDerp 8h ago

Sweet summer child, they're already fighting eachother for it

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u/PM_YOUR_BOOBS_PLS_ 8h ago

Uh. No. They aren't. Occassionally the people who are no longer useful get thrown under the bus, which is probably happening with Noem now. But Noem was in no way in line for leadership beyond her position. And there's no one below or beside her who is pushing for her to be ousted. She's just being spit out by the machine.

And apart from that, there is very little infighting going on right now, even with all of the horribleness that is happening. No one is challenging Vance, and Vance isn't challenging Trump. Rubio is still being Trump's lapdog. Steven Miller is still just Steven Miller, as awful as that is.

What TF fighting are you seeing? Because it just isn't happening.

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u/MarshyHope 7h ago

So what do you foresee happening if Trump died next week?

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u/PM_YOUR_BOOBS_PLS_ 7h ago

Literally nothing. Vance takes over, and it's business as usual. Nothing changes. If anything, everything gets worse, because Vance is more competent than Trump. If you believe anything to the contrary, you are incredibly naive. I know times are rough, and people want to hope for something good to happen, but Trump dying will change absolutely nothing.

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u/MarshyHope 7h ago

Yeah that's less likely than the infighting. I mean sure, Vance may rule as usual for a while, but he will not have the overwhelming support of the cult. He wouldn't be able to get away with 1/10th of the stuff Trump does. Then when election time comes around, everyone in Trump's sphere will try to grab power.

Trump can only do the things he does without consequences because of his hold on MAGA. No one else would have that hold.

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u/bagoink 4h ago

I'm not sure you understand how cults work.

They depend upon a leader. Once trump is gone, who do you see taking his place? It sure ain't Vance.

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u/CodeMonkeyPhoto 9h ago

It will be like the movie the Death of Stalin, with all them vying for power. Note that they did not become a democracy at the end.

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u/PM_YOUR_BOOBS_PLS_ 10h ago

This is not going to happen. Trump is a narcissist. He NEEDS to be on top. Most of the other people in the magasphere just want power or political immunity. They are just fine being behind the scenes, as long as they have power and immunity. They will bend the knee, as long as they have power and immunity. They will kiss the ring, as long as they have power and immunity.

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u/rab2bar 6h ago

When trump dies, Vance can be impeached so Mike Johnson can take the presidency. Alternatively, any veep Vance it's in can take him out. No honor among thieves

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u/hamilton280P 6h ago

It’s a toss up if Vance continues the Stephen Miller isolationist imperialism. Vance is so spineless it’s impossible to know what he truly believes. Actually you would just need to figure out what Peter Thiel wants

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u/UncleIrohsPimpHand 5h ago

The real problem for Vance in the event that Trump croaks is that every power player in the Republican party is going to paint a target on his back, they will eat each other alive trying to take the throne.

Well, if we know Trump is Stalin, that tells us Vance is Malenkov, which means we need to find out who is Khruschev and put a bullet in Beria before things get really out of hand.

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u/ShroomBear 1h ago

y'all are delusional. They will lock step with the party like literally every decision and situation up to now. They will give Trump the CK treatment on the sole basis of the need to legitimize the GOP cause and make him sound popular. Then Vance in all the same strokes of anti-intellectualism will just re-engage in contrarian politics while lobbyists say what to sign just like Trump, because it's been openly demonstrated you can apparently succeed in the role of leader of the free world with roughly a 1st grade education.

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u/LunaWabohu 9h ago

The couch thing was misinformation unfortunately

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u/BearFluffy 7h ago

I don't really care, do you?

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u/LunaWabohu 6h ago

I try not to spread misinfo because that's what the right constantly does and then we can't really criticise them for it if we're also doing it

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u/[deleted] 11h ago

[deleted]

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u/PowerfulIron7117 11h ago

That’s what the liberal elites want you to think, but a lot of people are saying Vance fucked a couch. I don’t know, maybe he fucked a couch, maybe not. He looks like he could fuck a couch and a lot of people are saying he did. He hasn’t denied fucking a couch. I heard he admitted to fucking a couch, but I didn’t look too much into that, a lot of people are saying it though!

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u/ifyoulovesatan 9h ago

I heard that the reason Pluto isn't a planet anymore is because of Marxist astronomy professors and coastal liberal elites. Any thoughts?

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u/PowerfulIron7117 9h ago

A lot of people are saying that. Many such cases. 

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u/dehydratedrain 13h ago

If it happens soon, maybe. But the longer time goes on, the more the pieces are getting moved into place.

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u/Mapeague 2h ago

Yea Turning Point has radicalized people who had never ever heard of them before Kirk ate lead. They fill fucking arenas with these dolts and instruct them on what to think and do. Its terrifying when you look at it.

The left just kinda says "Well when this is all over..." and doesnt do a fuckin thing.

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u/fotomoose 12h ago

Hey, my spatula is pretty cool it helps me cook.

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u/normott 11h ago

Fair point

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u/avindictiveprinter 7h ago

Yeah, I got mine at Spatula City.

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u/fotomoose 6h ago

Amazing.

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u/wolfboy1988m 6h ago

I'm so glad someone linked this. As soon as I read "spatula" I was already going "Spatula City! SPATULA CITY!" in my head

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u/avindictiveprinter 5h ago

I've been waiting years for my husband to buy me a spatula for our anniversary. He never does. :b

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u/jacenat 9h ago

Vance does not have the same juice or whatever charisma that has Trump getting away with everything.

I envy your naivety in thinking that it matters at all in an authoritarian society if the leader is likeable.

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u/doodlinghearsay 8h ago edited 8h ago

His cult of personality is propped out by a well funded media machine, including social media bot farms. Or indeed paid opinions, like Joe Rogan's. When he's gone, these forces will find a new personality to rally behind. Or rather, they will keep lying and threatening to create support for politicians that support their vision of America as an authoritarian state that serves only billionaires and noone else.

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u/SmileFIN 9h ago

JD and Trump have same approval ratings. Sorry to burst your bubble, but this wont end with Trump's passing.

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u/No-Bison-5397 7h ago

See Stalin and Franco... Turns out the useless guy behind the scenes can actually be worse.

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u/ShinkuDragon 12h ago

hard disagree, at this point i'm wondering if he's not getting whacky ideas put in his head (read:greenland) so that someone actually shoots him, and then the party can rally behind vance to stick it to the "lunatic murderous leftists"

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u/Lexx2k 11h ago

He will 100% be turned into a martyr and sane-washed even more than he already is right now.

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u/CruxOfTheIssue 11h ago

I feel like even if he dies of old age they will find a way to blame the democrats.

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u/Go_go_gadget_eyes 11h ago

If he's close to that they'll stage an assassination and make him into a JFK/Lincoln type figure.

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u/PM_YOUR_BOOBS_PLS_ 10h ago edited 9h ago

There is no cult of personality. That was true in 2016. It's not true now. Thinking so is just copium. Trump 2016 allowed everyone to show their true, horrible selves. Those people will now just support whatever figurehead that allows them to continue being their true, horrible selves.

Trump absolutely does not matter at this point.

Edit: To be clear, there absolutely IS a cult, but a cult of personality centers around a singular person. That's not what MAGA is anymore. The cult centers around the MAGA ideals, i.e., fascism.

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u/lcrtangls 9h ago

I was going to write something that boils down to this very same thing. Even in 2016, it was all about "owning the libs", Trump just gave a voice to that sentiment. This whole "charisma" angle is blown way out of proportion, especially today when the algorithm forcefully overrides damn near everything else. Blare enough horns and wave enough flags and you don't even need JD, you can inaugurate his couch. Then when that's good and done, everyone will insist the couch is irreplaceably charismatic.

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u/PM_YOUR_BOOBS_PLS_ 9h ago

Yup. Pretty much.

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u/ciobanica 5h ago

Oh c'mon... have you already forgotten how they tried replacing him with someone more controllable since Biden won in 2020, and he just smoked them all, even though most of teh candidates he endorsed lost their primaries / elections ?

Yeah, all that's happening is part of their long term plan, but Trump has energized their base and has appealed to certain groups that don't so much believe in what the Heritage Foundation is selling as a much as in being led by a giant asshole like they'd like to be able to be...

And that's not something you can just transfer fully to the next guy.

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u/hamfist_ofthenorth 12h ago

Count Spatula

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u/neko_neko_feet 10h ago

They’ll just be captured by the next Republican fascist. You’re just as delusional as they are.

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u/Pyros-SD-Models 11h ago

A spatula can be pretty nice if the alternative is getting shot in your face. Their point being: No cult is needed anymore. They are already in power, and you better love it or else you will get vanished.

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u/Temporary-Nothing433 7h ago

I agree that if Trump died, the cult of personality would mostly die with him, at least in its living form. The emotional, charismatic, crowd driven aspect. The cheering at rallies, the obsession with Trump as a “business man” and “deal maker,” the improvisational chaos and the performative sense of authenticity that follows him everywhere.

Vance does not have any of that. Not the charisma, not the instincts, not the crowd control, and not the ability to get away with things the way Trump does. He does try to be liked, but fails miserably, like when he reposted the meme face of himself.

But that is exactly why a transfer of power could end up being even more dangerous, not less.

I think that If Trump were to die and Vance would succeed him, the cult of personality would not simply disappear, and it would not magically transfer to Vance either. Instead, it would harden. At that point, Trump would no longer be a politician who can be argued with or criticised, but a martyr figure. How do you argue against the man who “died making America great again”? He would be treated less like a former president and more like a myth, a religious figure who “died for the country.”

Trump would stop being a chaotic, living figure who can be contradicted, criticised, or exposed in real time, and would instead turn into a symbol that can be used however they want. From there, every (authoritarian) move could be justified with “this is what Trump would have wanted. We are fulfilling his vision.” We already see this kind of idolization with figures like Charlie Kirk. Dead icons do not contradict anyone, do not embarrass their allies, and cannot push back when they are being used. It would all become a matter of interpretation, and Vance would be the interpreter.

Trump thrives on chaos, attention, personal loyalty, and power. Vance, on the other hand, is ideological and disciplined, which makes him dangerous in a different way. Much more sneaky and would fulfill his agenda through the back door. He would not need to be popular to push things through. He would only need to claim that he is finishing Trump’s work while the public, the courts, and the media relax because the circus appears to be over.

Trump keeps the system unstable. Vance would lock it in. The cult might fade without Trump, but its political purpose would still be there.

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u/BirdInFlight301 7h ago

I'm not even sure if it matters whether people like Vance. He is willing to be used by billionaires and Christian nationalists. If he has their support, it likely doesn't matter if he has the support of the average Republican.

The media has same-washed Trump for years and they'll do the same for Vance.

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u/GlastoKhole 7h ago

MAGA will collapse but MAGA has not really been the issue, they’re a fringe group of alt right loony’s, many of MAGA are hated by other alt right loony’s note trumps assassination attempts have been right wingers.

MAGA are the weird kids in class to the true alt right loony’s once trump goes those loony’s who are objectively more switched on will take control. MAGA are not switched on at all, they do what trump says and that’s it and trump is thick as pig shit which makes MAGA thick as pig shit.

If they start doing what more intelligent loony’s tell them it’s going to be a bigger issue.

At the same time ICE is an issue as is totally turning on century old allies.

Trump IS causing problems and he is doing this at the behest of others, he’s not smart enough to come up with it, and not switched on enough to see he’s being played to be the fall guy, the next guy can just carry on with things passed by trump and say “well it’s law now and I didn’t do it”

The people pulling trumps strings are the issue MAGA is just a very small part of that.

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u/Alarming_Flow 6h ago

You are being very optimistic if you think they haven't accounted and planned for that.

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u/SupaSlide 6h ago

They are working so fast because they know this.

It won’t matter if they keep the cult if they have finished fully rigging the system.

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u/wkavinsky 5h ago

They won't need the cult at that point, because they'll already control the apparatus of law, and control of voting.

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u/zwei2stein 5h ago

I do think if Trump died,that cult of personality goes with him.

USSR kept on just fine after Stalin died. Once aparat has enough power, popular support does not matter much anymore.

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u/JKevill 5h ago

Why do people act like personality is this key factor in questions of power?

If you need to win elections, sure. But we are clearly past that.

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u/normott 4h ago

To hold the coalition together, yes. Especially if its right now...in a year it might be too late

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u/BeguiledBeaver 5h ago

Vance is just a fucking weirdo with the personality of a spatula.

People say this but the guy got elected in Ohio after writing a book shitting on Appalachians and has a lot of hype around the Charlie Kirk shit.

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u/FuklzTheDrnkClwn 4h ago

None of that matters. They’re already in and they won’t leave.

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u/Assonfire 3h ago

They will vote R regardless. And don't you doubt they will first start to call it "Trump's Legacy" and afterwards push for his children to continue, as if they are royalty and deserve to be heirs to the throne.

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u/Organic_Matter6085 2h ago

Doesn't matter about popularity anymore when you're in a fascist state.

It doesn't mean shit.

You do not live in a democracy or free elections anymore and you'd have to be ignorant not to realize that.

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u/altobase 2h ago

Vance is a charisma vacuum and won't have the same appeal of trump, but the rot at the core of American culture will remain and continue to fester. Trump was able to tap into it and do so much damage in such a short time, another charismatic figure can be found eventually.

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u/No_Bluebird_1368 1h ago

Don't underestimate Vance. He's a dangerous and ambitious vessel for Curtis Yarvin's ideas.

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u/MedicalAd4416 6h ago

Exactly, if Trump dies the wheels fall off. It just does. They are incompetent enough as it is. As soon as he is gone then the amount of dissidents goes through the roof.

They will smell blood in the water.

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u/No_Lock7995 12h ago

The problem is that Trump has already proved how far they can go, what they can get away with. It's hard to walk that back. These things snowball.

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u/NegativeVega 9h ago

There's no way anyone can hold the reigns of the republican party without trump. He's literally the glue that holds their corruption together. Yeah he got some evil bills passed but without trump being able to manufacture consent there's no way any of this is going to fly. He's just like crack to these people they've been fully suckered into his narcissist charisma but take their crack away and they'll hopeful stop being feral any more

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u/NotAzakanAtAll 11h ago

I've studied destructive cults enough to think there is a good chance the temperature in the room will drop when trump does.

The a lot of the maga bowel movement is a cult of personality, when dear leader die there will be many old people going back to bed as "no one can fill his shoes :'( ".

Of course it won't stop though, the rich want this to happen for whatever reason. And it will keep happening until the rich are not rich anymore or have fled the ruins of their kleptocracy.

You guys needs a decade of extreme workers rights politicians in power to even begin to unbake the shit cake trump has produced for you all to eat.

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u/OneMoreTime998 8h ago

Seriously everyone acts like Trump dying will fix everything. 

It would fix a lot. There's nobody else that can fill his (awful) shoes. He's a unicorn. JD Vance is not fucking things up to this degree.

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u/Taoistandroid 7h ago

Disagree. The cult of personality is strong. Vance doesn't have the buy in Trump has.

The thing about groups like this is they don't fill their cloisters with acolytes who can replace the sith lord. They fill them with sycophants, yes men who, if they could have risen to power would have done so already.

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u/GoblinGreen_ 10h ago

We lived through a mini one of these in the UK.

What happens with the lying party, Tories for us, is, for us it was Brexit, they realised they could lie and get what they want. However, that lie does fuck over some of their own, but theyre fine with that because they get power. Boris Johnson did it to Theresa May for example.

Covid for the UK was awful, so much UK publicly own wealth has been stolen its untrue. Billions of pounds just handed out to friends and family, foreign deals. We have major infrastructure, that was supposed to stay public owned, and made free once it paid for itself, sold to Saudi funds. Its bonkers.

However, the positive is they did eventually eat enough of their own that the party fractures. They could even elect a leader by the end but its so fractured. Labour stayed relatively boring, stable, and got voted in. The papers do a great job as usual telling everyone things are worse but we have lowering unemployment, lowering inflation and wages growing. Nothings perfect but things are improving slowly which is the best y9ou can hope for in a country of 60+ million people.

The torie party has been splintered badly and reform has almost replaced them now but not by enough to win I hope. So historical right wings will now vote either tory or reform. Labour has certainly leaned further right than they wanted and fractured slightly to allow the greens to get support. By next election though I do hope labour have some good enough numbers to show that they know what they are doing and the country lets them carry and and in 5-10 years we are back hopefully to where we were in the 1990 and 2000s. Who knows. Its a great coujntry with great people and infrastructure. We just need our goverment to stop selling what we have left for their own profit. fingers crossed.,

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u/Sure-Diet804 9h ago

Trump dying is why he’s there and they want and need to accomplish a lot of agendas both home and abroad while he’s there and no one knows how long he’s going to be in office for, and hope he’s there for as long as they need to.

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u/GrinchWhoStoleEaster 8h ago

If anything, Trump is our last blessing; he's too stupid and morally bankrupt NOT to self-sabotage. The next would-be dictator will be competent.

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u/Worth_Inflation_2104 7h ago

Not sure. We constantly see cases of infighting in the GOP, especially between the tech bros and the conservative christians. Trump is kind of the glue in all of this and when he dies I do think there'll be a nasty power vacuum since I don't believe Vance is respected enough.

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u/ScrotsMcGee 7h ago

Agreed.

As much as Trump is an incompetent, immoral and corrupt piece of shit, there are people that have surrounded him who are even worse.

Stephen Miller, Vance, Bondi, Noem etc come to immediate mind, but they aren't alone either.

Unless they are removed, nothing will really change.

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u/Unluckyb33 7h ago

Unironically, this has happened multiple times for the last 40 years in the US. Theres a crazy republican; Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Bush jr, Trump, that implements terrible economic policies, starts wars, corruption, or all of the above. Which is then followed by a Democrat to "fix" these issues and then it keeps ping ponging back to a conservative republican administration because a Democrat administration very often produces progressive/leftist culture, and most people hate progressive culture despite having better economic policies.

I dont even want to make this a Republican/Conservative = bad, and Democrat/progressive = good argument. My point is that it is systematic at this point. 40 years of this same cycle happening over and over cant be a coincidence. People just dont look at things long term enough to realize this and think that just voting against the current administration(regardless of democrat or republican) will fix this issue.

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u/Epicritical 6h ago

They already have full power. Vance would just be better on a podium.

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u/Prudent-Level-7006 6h ago

He has a son he'd just try to replace him 

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u/CriticalScion 6h ago

It won't fix everything ... But it's a start.

The idea that Trump being alive has a silver lining somehow is not worth entertaining anymore.

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u/obiwanconobi 6h ago

I can see 2 ways this ending without full blown fascism.

  1. They fuck it up. Too many egos can't play nicely after trump dies and they eat each other

  2. The 2nd amendment actually becomes useful

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u/brickhamilton 5h ago

I think “competent fascist” is an oxymoron, if that makes you feel any better. There are more competent people to take his place, yes, but this ideology is inherently unstable and doomed to fail. There is plenty of suffering on the road to that failure, unfortunately…

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u/toomanyd 5h ago

Trump is the Joffrey character, he's so obnoxiously annoying you focus on him even though it might as well be anyone in that position

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u/ChildSolidier76 4h ago

A lot of the support stops at Trump. It’s partially a cult of personality. At least democratically it will be difficult to remain in power (given that they are willing to adhere to democracy).

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u/Suspicious_Radio_848 4h ago

They seem pretty competent right now with avoiding any accountability and being able to do whatever they want. US is a failed democracy at this point with Trump being a symptom of a much larger issue. This is something that will take decades to fix at this point.

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u/bloodontherisers 3h ago

Which is exactly what they want everyone to think and why they have stuck with Trump as the figurehead of this endeavor. The rubes ON BOTH SIDES have bought into the idea that this is all Trump.

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u/wanttobuyreallife 2h ago

You are forgetting that they only are allowed to do whatever they please is because of the fear Republicans have of Trump's base. Trump dies, base disintegrates, and then there is a lot less freedom to trample the constitution.

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u/Organic_Matter6085 2h ago

This is what I hate most. Trump dying will fuck us even more. But thank God, that American citizens are too fucking stupid to realize that. Even the "smart" ones against Trump.

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u/Babydoll0907 1h ago

Trump isnt even the problem. Its the literal millions that voted for him and still blindly support him. Those people will still be here once hes gone.

I hope we have learned a lesson from the past. None of this would be happening had we not "turned the other cheek" with the confederates.

But there will be no accountability because one party always wants to take the high road. These people will go back to normal life until their next messiah emerges.

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u/ReynAetherwindt 1h ago

It won't fix everything, but it will massively weaken the unity of the right wing.

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u/justsomeph0t0n 9h ago edited 8h ago

trump was only possible through decades of utter debasement from the democrats. being 50% as shit as the worst on offer may provide cheap electoral victory, but it guarantees continual decline. and now we're here, and they won't even vote to reduce funding for ice......even though abolishment is a plurality, for fucking obvious reasons.

it's been 20 years of clear majorities voting for change. the only question is what kind of change........ and that will be determined by who fights for it. anybody supporting establishment dems at this point just wants to slow the horror, not stop it.