My mom and I have a bet going. She thinks that the Gonad Lump is only pretending to run for president in 2024 and will bow out of the race before the primaries, and I think she's out of her mind if she thinks he's gonna concede apropos of nothing; he's too addicted to power, he misses being a godking emperor, there's no way in hell he's gonna choose to retire and let some other nutjob take up the mantle as Fuhrer. He's too proud, he'd never willingly step out of the limelight, and he hates anyone who would dare try to usurp him. He is the one and only face of the Republican Party, and he'll be milking that fact for the rest of his life.
But she made a good point that had me reconsider some things. The Lump recently sold his Washington DC hotel, the Old Post Office and Clock Tower, which he used to embezzle millions of dollars from foreign ambassadors. He gave special preference to emissaries, politicians and world leaders who stayed there and padded his wallet; quid pro quo, pay-to-win, bribery so blatant that I was SHOCKED to hear he was willing to give it up. If he became president again, he wouldn't be able to profit off visiting dignitaries, which would defeat the whole purpose of his presidency; that's kind of his entire schtick. If he can't make money doing something, he straight up doesn't want to do it. That's the only motivation he's ever had in his life, and the fact that he gave up his money laundering front is a sign that he may just be going through the motions in 2024 before he cuts and runs.
The Supreme Court just made bribery legal in their Ted Cruz case. Politicians are allowed now to pay off their private debts with secret campaign donations, and the Lump has a lot of legal fees to pay, so he may just be using his 2024 campaign as a slush fund. He'll nickel and dime his maga sheeple for all they're worth; they don't want to pay taxes but will gladly give him a big chunk of their paychecks because they worship at his feet. It's like church offerings to them. He's a cult leader fleecing his followers, stringing them along, "just a little more money, and I can make American great again again! Just a few more bucks and we can drain the swamp! If you increase your recurring donation, I'll send you a form letter with a copy of my signature on it!" It's sad.
We'll know for sure whether he's running or not based on what the megadonors do. They can see through him, he's their little pawn, so they're not gonna give him hundreds of millions of dollars if they know he's gonna fart it away on legal fees with no real desire to take back the White House. He's an investment to them, they only like him so long as he gives them what they want, and if he's planning on bowing out of the race then they're not gonna waste their bribes - excuse me, I mean "donations" - on a scammer when there are plenty of Lump knockoffs waiting in the wings. If they can't have the shark, they'll go for the suckerfish clinging to his belly; DeSantis, Cruz, Gaetz, Boebert, any of the other ambitious sycophants, you name em. They have nothing original to say, they're all just competing with each other to see who can acy the most like the Lump. They're cover artists. They're Elvis impersonators. They would put on orange face paint, bad wigs and fat suits if they thought it would further their careers. It's a race to the bottom, they want to see who can be the most offensive and cruel as possible. If the Lump doesn't run, they'll all be vying for his endorsement, so keep an eye on their behavior. Like the megadonors, if they think he's not running they'll ramp up their own activity (they would never run against him, so if they run at all it means he's out). They'll keep it on the downlow until he formally declines to run, but there will be chatter behind the scenes; they'll show their hands sometime next year.
My mom thinks he's gonna make it look like he's running all the way until January or February 2024, snd then find some excuse to drop out before the primaries; maybe some health scandal or a death in the family (he can make it happen; sorry Tiffany, but you're expendable). I figure that if he's going through all the trouble to keep up appearances for his donors then he's probably gonna see it through to November. In 2016 he didn't expect to win but he followed through on the grift anyway; maybe it was an act, maybe his heart wasn't in it, but that didn't mean he didn't want it. If he pretends to run, he could very easily convince himself to actually run. It's all keyfabe, so why would he break character midway through?
$200 says he's gonna run and win the Republican nomination in 2024. That feels like the safest bet I've ever made, but I'd pay ten times that amount to be wrong. I WANT to be wrong. I want him to suffer a debilitating stroke and be a bedridden vegetable for the rest of his miserable life, which would be very short because his family wouldn't want to waste money keeping him on life support. It'll never happen though. Both of his parents lived to be 90, so we're stuck with him until the mid-2030s at the earliest, save for some unforseen "national tragedy." On an unrelated note, next year is the 60th anniversary of Lyndon B. Johnson becoming president. Isn't history fascinating?
