For nearly a decade, Donald Trump has been the gravitational center of the American right. A populist demagogue who reshaped the GOP into a vehicle for grievance, authoritarianism, and spectacle. But behind the scenes, a power struggle seems to be brewing. The movement built in his image might have outgrown him. His legal liabilities are stacking up. His erratic behavior has turned from asset to liability. And most damning of all: the billionaires who once bankrolled his ascent are getting nervous. Enter J.D. Vance. A figure hatched in the hedge-fund vulture vaults and molded in the lab of tech-bro authoritarianism, blessed by Peter Thiel, and increasingly whispered about in elite conservative circles as the post-Trump Trump . And with talk of the 25th Amendment swirling quietly through donor meetings and think tanks, the unthinkable is now being gamed out in real time: a soft coup from within that sidelines Trump, installs Vance, and keeps the MAGA machine humming without the m...

T his week, Donald Trump took to Truth Social to tell his followers what he really thinks about Jeffrey Epstein: "Nobody cares about Epstein. Leave it alone." That wasn't a slip-up. That was a calculated attempt to shut down the very line of questioning that threatens to blow the lid off decades of elite abuse, corruption, and cover-ups. Let’s be clear. Trump partied with Epstein. Trump praised Epstein. Trump told New York Magazine in 2002 that Epstein was a "terrific guy" who "likes beautiful women as much as I do, many of them on the younger side." This isn't a conspiracy. It's a matter of public record. And now, facing increasing scrutiny after AG Pam Bondi was caught in the fallout of newly released Epstein files, Trump wants to change the subject. He doesn’t want the base he built on "draining the swamp" to look too hard at the real monsters who have always thrived in it. Trump's message to MAGA was loud and clear: Loyalty to...