There are many Americans who have noticed Trump’s swollen ankles, the large bruises on his hands, and his increasingly incoherent speech, and speculate that he is in rapid terminal decline, and will soon die. The White House itself has announced that Trump is suffering from chronic venous insufficiency1.
Chronic venous insufficiency occurs when your leg veins don’t allow blood to flow back up to your heart. Normally, the valves in your veins make sure that blood flows toward your heart. But when these valves don’t work well, blood can also flow backwards. This can cause blood to collect (pool) in your legs. You are more likely to have this condition if you are overweight, do not exercise sufficiently or have a family history of such a problem2.
In the last couple of days, Trump has appeared rather weakened, seemingly without his orange makeup, and with a lump on his forehead just above the bridge of his nose. The media was not allowed to ask him anything and although supposedly going golfing, the media was not allowed anywhere near where they could photograph or video him, let alone ask him questions. This was after he had been out of the public eye for the best part of a week, and unusual absence. There was speculation that he had suffered a transient ischaemic attack (TIA; a temporary blockage of blood flow to the brain) or perhaps a stroke3.
Normal Americans look upon Trump’s demise as something to be desired, as they seem to think it will mean the end of the attack on democracy. However, I very much doubt this is the case. The christofascists who put together Project 2025 will not let the demise of Trump blunt their drive to turn the US into a theocracy. If Trump dies soon, Eyeliner Vance (a wholly owned gofer for billionaire Peter Thiel) will become president, and he is just as amoral and venal as Trump, but is more intelligent (not much of a claim, I admit), and the attack on democracy will continue apace.
On top of this is Trump’s militarisation of the streets of Los Angeles and Washington DC which asks for a conflict between the armed services and civilian society. It is the christofascists’ way of attempting to provoke a ‘Reichstag fire’ as Hitler did, to consolidate his power by claiming that communists were planning a violent uprising4.
This manufactured incident would allow the christofascists to declare an emergency and suspend due process and coming elections. As Trump’s former defence secretary, Jim Mattis, said, the armed forces should be used on US soil “only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors.” However, Trump’s deployments of the armed forces in Los Angeles and Washington DC were not requested by the governor and mayor, respectively5.
The assorted normal states in the US (those not run by MAGAt cultists) have started legal methods of trying to unmask the ICE gestapo squads, in part so they can be identified and shown to be members of neonazi organisations such as those who were involved in the January 6th 2021 insurrection6.
This will be a middling embarrassment to the christofascists, but it will not stop them. However, the normal states are also starting to at least suggest that their State Defence Forces (SDF) may be used to somehow counter the National Guard deployments by the christofascists. The SDF cannot be ‘federalised’ as the states’ National Guards can be. They always remain under the control of the state7.
This move, while understandable, is very dangerous in that it could place two heavily armed military units in opposition to each other on the streets of numerous cities in the US. This makes an incident able to be used as the Reichstag fire was, much more likely, and could lead to another civil war in the US, 160 years after the last one ended.
The only hope I see for the US is if the armed forces step in and remove these fascists from office. This may sound unlikely, but they have sworn an oath to protect the constitution, and the constitution lays out the rules for the running of a democratic US. It is not a recipe for a fascist theocracy.
*A transient ischemic attack (TIA) is a short period of symptoms similar to those of a stroke. It’s caused by a brief blockage of blood flow to the brain. A TIA usually lasts only a few minutes and doesn’t cause long-term damage. However, a TIA may be a warning. About 1 in 3 people who has a TIA will eventually have a stroke, with about half occurring within a year after the TIA8.
Sources
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-health-hand-makeup-b2813029.html
- https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/chronic-venous-insufficiency
- https://substack.com/home/post/p-172473002
- https://blotreport.com/2025/06/14/what-will-happen/
- https://edition.cnn.com/2025/08/12/politics/trump-generals-national-guard-analysis
- https://www.npr.org/2022/07/12/1111132464/jan-6-hearing-recap-oath-keepers-proud-boys
- https://bootcampmilitaryfitnessinstitute.com/2024/01/03/what-is-a-state-defence-force/
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/transient-ischemic-attack/symptoms-causes/syc-20355679
