What If JD Vance Is Just Waiting in the Wings to Execute an Authoritarian Takeover?

All the talk about trump's obvious mental decline may be a distraction from the regime being built by the ventriloquists pulling trump's strings

Here’s a sobering thought: What if trump is just a figurehead? We all like to think that after he passes from the scene, whether at the hands of the Grim Reaper or because the 25th Amendment has been invoked, trumpism will wither on the vine, the cult leader no longer around to exert his charismatic grip on the cult.

But what if that’s not true? In fact, what if it’s the case that the ventriloquists pulling the strings of the MAGA movement—the tech oligarchs, the Christian dominionists and nationalists, the architects of Project 2025, the military and police loyalists, and the members of the Convention of States movement seeking to rewrite the Constitution—would prefer that the erratic and unpredictable trump be gone, to be replaced by the more disciplined, calculating, and ideologically committed JD Vance? That Vance has been groomed for the role of transitioning America to some version of Christian nationalist authoritarianism and that he’s merely biding his time in the wings?

That is the unsettling argument made by a woman named Lori Corbet Mann in a Substack post titled “Don’t Let Trump’s Mental Decline Distract You From What’s Being Built.” I’d never heard of Mann before stumbling across her post, but I was sufficiently impressed by the cogency of her argument to look her up. She writes on Substack under the title “Your Time Starts NOW!” which doesn’t sound like the kind of Substack engaged in serious contemplation of the current political moment, but this is a case of don’t judge a Substack by its cover.

Her self-description is somewhat cryptic—“Whistleblower under Mugabe. 🇿🇼 Strategic thinker. Helping people stay grounded as we defend democracy—with clarity, insight, and strategy”—and I wasn’t able to find out much else about her. But the post I cite is lucidly written and clearly thought out. I’m not sure I buy her thesis; in fact, I think while there’s no reason to doubt her contention that the sinister forces mentioned above are intent on establishing an autocracy in the US, it won’t be as easy as installing their man Vance in office. Nonetheless, her argument is worth taking seriously.

In a nutshell, she suggests that all the talk about trump’s obvious cognitive decline misses the point. “The deeper issue is that Trump’s authoritarian project does not rely on his personal lucidity,” she writes. “It never has.”

She goes on to say that “the real machinery of authoritarian power is being driven by a network of actors who are organized, well-funded, and ideologically aligned.”

“This isn’t about Trump the man anymore,” she writes. “It’s about the structure that’s been built around him—and how far it’s already moved without most people noticing.”

Vance, she notes, has longstanding ties to Peter Thiel, the neo-fascist Silicon Valley billionaire who gave him a job with his venture capital firm and then underwrote Vance’s successful campaign for the Senate, donating $15 million, the most money ever donated to a single Senate candidate.

And unlike trump, who relies on the support of the Christian right but only pretends to share their beliefs, Vance appears to be a true believer, possessed of the zeal of the convert. (He’s a convert to Catholicism.)

Mann argues that if and when Vance assumes the presidency, we’d no longer be reacting to trump’s daily chaos. Rather, “[w]e would be watching the plan move forward, point by point, often without resistance. That’s the real shift.”

“The machinery is already in place, the agenda underway. And under a more disciplined leader like JD Vance, it would likely operate with fewer distractions and greater precision.”

Lest you think all is lost, Mann offers a vision of what resistance to such a regime might look like. It would be less about reacting to trump’s daily outrages and more about understanding systems—“how they’re being repurposed, who’s benefiting, and where the leverage points are.”

It would also mean preparing for the long term—“not just a cycle of scandal and reaction, but sustained transformation, with real-world consequences for how people live and what they’re allowed to say, do, or become.”

As I said, I’m not sure I agree with everything she says. But it’s certainly food for thought.

A play I would have regarded as far-fetched just six months ago now seems frighteningly real

As it happens, shortly after I came across Mann’s post yesterday, I went to see a play written by my friend and former Kansas City Star colleague Mike Rice, who, beginning about a decade ago, launched another career as a playwright. And I must say, the play only reinforced the strength of Mann’s argument.

As recently as six months ago, I would have said that Mike’s dystopian vision of life in trumpworld circa 2027 was way over the top, a doomsayer’s nightmarish projection of fears that could never possibly materialize.

But I don’t say that now. The plot revolves around a Christian nationalist takeover of the country. Dissidents are rounded up and thrown into prison, in this case a building that was once a local landmark symbolizing America’s highest ideals. The action revolves around four prisoners—a drummer for a heavy metal band, a star NFL running back, a retired high school teacher, and a former TV journalist.

The play, “The Enemies from Within,” was performed as part of the 20th season of the KC Fringe Festival, a volunteer-run organization that features experimental work in theater, dance, music, and other artistic mediums.

In an author’s note, Mike wrote that the play began to take shape in his mind on November 6, 2024, after trump had been declared the winner of the presidential election and Mike took off on a 20-hour road trip to Norfolk, Virginia, to celebrate his grandson’s first birthday.

“I began writing as soon as I returned home,” he wrote. “Before the first draft was finished, a new administration had taken office. Many of my fears have since materialized. Thankfully, the events depicted in this drama have not.

“Let’s hope it stays that way. More importantly, let’s fight to ensure it does.”

Hear, hear.

Kudos to Mike for having written this cautionary tale. I took in the very last performance; otherwise I’d recommend you go see it. It’s not for the faint of heart. But it’s an honest attempt to come to grips with a world that can no longer be said to be the product of a wild-eyed playwright’s febrile imagination.