Oh sure, I'm not suggesting Trump has a fountain of youth in his bedroon. Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il also eventually died, ending their terms. At least in their case, or pre-democracy European countries, the power was very explicitly blood-bound. This had the advantage that if a few quickly died in succession you might just get a child on the throne who ends up being overthrowable.
Unfortunately, this problem has been solved by dictatorships where the power is tied to a party or small non-familial circle, such as China, potentially Russia (though we'd have to see how things end up would Putin disappear tomorrow, they may actually have reverted to familiar inheritance) and now, likely, the US. There, pesky biology forms no such risk.
The dynastic approach to power retention requires a coalition of ideologically unified extremists to keep it going. One key feature of the Trump coalition is that everyone hates each other. They all are cranks who want something unthinkably awful, but also don't care about what the other guy wants and hopes they don't get what they want[0]. There is no Trumpism to rally around, only a Trump.
[0] A microcosm of this is the Musk / Altman feud.
You’re a little early to come to this conclusion and dictators don’t require a political coalition, they just reward loyalty and eliminate opposition ruthlessly. You’re still playing a game Trump doesn’t want to play (democracy).
Hitler was also perceived as a worthless clown who could be easily manipulated by other interests when first elected. But he was cunning enough to eliminate all opposition and start a world war. Putin and Xi (who Trump admires and looks up to) are very similar.
Trump could easily start a dynastic takeover of the republican party, there is more than one Trump (Ivanka, Baron, etc). There are many reasons to be fearful at this juncture, especially if you live in the US.
I agree with all of it and think the likelihood of a dynastic takeover is over 50%.
But I don't think this is entirely accurate
> Hitler was also perceived as a worthless clown who could be easily manipulated by other interests when first elected. But he was cunning enough to eliminate all opposition and start a world war. Putin and Xi (who Trump admires and looks up to) are very similar.
Especially with Putin, as far as I can tell at no point was he considered a clown by anyone who mattered. He was definitely underestimated, but it's a marked difference with Trump (and Hitler).
Yes there are certainly differences and that description doesn’t fit him so well but he was certainly underestimated, in particular his vindictive ruthlessness (a trait he shares with trump).
Unfortunately, this problem has been solved by dictatorships where the power is tied to a party or small non-familial circle, such as China, potentially Russia (though we'd have to see how things end up would Putin disappear tomorrow, they may actually have reverted to familiar inheritance) and now, likely, the US. There, pesky biology forms no such risk.