Following the election of 78-year-old Donald Trump as the next president of the United States, a conspiracy theory has surfaced that Trump will retire in a year and his VP-elect, JD Vance, will take over as the new president. This claim comes along the lines of the Democrats arguing towards the tail-end of the campaign trail that Trump, given his old age, is unfit to rule for four years.
The claim surfaced on the Reddit community 'conspiracy theories' on Friday and went viral soon after. It was shared across social media platforms, with users in hordes sharing it.
As per the theory, once Donald Trump puts enough of his loyalists in the US House of Representatives, first during the 2024 elections, and then in the 2026 midterm elections, he will take steps to plan his retirement. It says that the president-elect will first invoke the 25th amendment which will allow him to retire with all his wealth and freedom.
Theory: JD Vance will be President by this time next year, with Mike Johnson as his VP. byu/Fun_Ad527 inconspiracytheories
The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution addresses presidential succession and disability. In the event the President's post is vacant due to death, disability or retirement, as per the 25th amendment, the Vice President can take over as the president for the remainder of the term. A presidential declaration can also come under the 25th amendment by which the president can transfer power to the Vice President if they are unable to perform their duties.
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The situation has been compared with the rise of Vladimir Putin in Russia in the early 1990s, who was chosen to be a successor by an aging Boris Yeltzin. The viral conspiracy theories suggest that the function of JD Vance is the same, and he was on the Republican ticket to succeed Donald Trump.
"This theory is underpinned on the supposition that the main reason that an increasingly diminishing Trump ran again was to avoid prison and financial disaster, and the GOP had to run him because they had no other winnable candidate," the user, Fun_Ad527 wrote in the Reddit post.