{"id":2104,"date":"2026-06-23T15:37:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2104"},"modified":"2026-06-23T15:37:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:37:42","slug":"trumps-impending-mortality-has-his-younger-henchmen-eying-power-gop-insider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2104","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s ‘impending mortality’ has his ‘younger henchmen’ eying power: GOP insider"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

According to longtime Republican insider William Kristol<\/u>, while 80-year-old President Donald Trump may seem too old to stage a full \u201cauthoritarian takeover,\u201d Americans should remain vigilant. Not only has Trump become more \u201cwillful and erratic\u201d than ever, but he\u2019s surrounded by \u201cyounger henchmen\u201d who are \u201chale and hungry\u201d for unrestricted power. <\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s MAGA brand is collapsing \u2014 and that makes him an even greater threat<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump, writes Kristol in the Bulwark, has \u201clost a step. He\u2019s even more willful and erratic than he once was. His self-indulgence and narcissism are even more out of control. And it\u2019s only getting worse. A sense of impending mortality seems to be making our president even more unhinged than ever.\u201d So, warns Kristol, while it may be tempting to reassure oneself that Trump \u201cdoesn\u2019t really have the patience to carry out a thoroughgoing subversion of the rule of law, of our political and civil liberties, or of our elections,\u201d and that \u201che doesn\u2019t really have the ability to execute a full-scale authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government,\u201d Americans should remain on alert. <\/p>\n

Kristol gives two reasons for this wariness. First, because \u201cthere\u2019s no doubt he would like to see such a takeover.\u201d But also, because \u201che does have young men with a lean and hungry look in positions of authority and power in the executive branch who are committed to making his dream of power without limits a reality.\u201d And as Kristol notes, while some of Trump\u2019s lieutenants are more capable than others, \u201cthey all have lots of energy. They\u2019re all young men in a hurry to reshape our government and our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are numerous examples, writes Kristol: \u201cBill Pulte, the new acting director of national intelligence, is 38. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is 40.1<\/u> Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, and FBI Director Kash Patel are all 46. OMB Director Russell Vought is 50. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is 51. They\u2019re young, but they\u2019re as determined as the old man they work for not to hand their positions over to anyone other than fellow loyalists after their terms in office, if they intend to leave office at all. They\u2019re as determined as the old man they work for not to step aside from their powers and allow political opponents to look into what they have done. And like the old man they work for, they aren\u2019t committed to the peaceful and democratic transfer of power after an election, or to the political norms or lawful procedures of a liberal democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Time is a flexible concept\u2019: Trump\u2019s sleep habits are getting even \u2018stranger\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Kristol raises the example of Pulte, whom Trump specifically appointed as Acting Director of National Intelligence so he can conduct mass firings of non-loyalists. While Pulte\u2019s confirmation was unlikely from the get-go due to opposition even from Republican lawmakers, Kristol says it is now clear that Trump only needed Pulte in the role long enough to purge the intelligence community. And on Monday, a source told CNN, \u201cThe deep state firings have begun.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so Pulte has begun to follow in the footsteps of what Hegseth has been doing at the Pentagon, and Blanche at Justice, and Patel at the FBI,\u201d writes Kristol. \u201cLooking at their purges along with the mass hirings at ICE, one sees that we\u2019re entering a period of maximum authoritarian threat, one that makes Watergate look like child\u2019s play. And we\u2019ll be in that era of threat for the next two and a half years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faced with this danger, Kristol \u2014 who spent decades working against the Democratic Party \u2014 is now urging his past opponents to take action to stop it, writing, \u201cThey should be bold and resolute about using all means at their power \u2014 such as blocking unrelated legislation and balking at usually routine appropriations and encouraging dissent and whistleblowing from within the executive \u2014 to thwart the pernicious schemes of the old autocrat and his younger henchmen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump lashes out at \u2018very stupid\u2019 Republicans \u2014 but they\u2019re ready to \u2018punch back\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to longtime Republican insider William Kristol, while 80-year-old President Donald Trump may seem too old to stage a full \u201cauthoritarian takeover,\u201d Americans should remain vigilant. Not only has Trump become more \u201cwillful and erratic\u201d than ever, but he\u2019s surrounded by \u201cyounger henchmen\u201d wh…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump\u2019s 'impending mortality' has his 'younger henchmen' eying power: GOP insider - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2104\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump\u2019s 'impending mortality' has his 'younger henchmen' eying power: GOP insider - Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"According to longtime Republican insider William Kristol, while 80-year-old President Donald Trump may seem too old to stage a full \u201cauthoritarian takeover,\u201d Americans should remain vigilant. 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