The GOP Is About To Devour Its Own King

Why Trump’s Loyalists Should Be Terrified...And Why the Power Brokers Are Already Sharpening Their Knives

The GOP Is About To Devour Its Own King

Why Trump’s Loyalists Should Be Terrified…And Why the Power Brokers Are Already Sharpening Their Knives

The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #652: Tuesday, November 18th, 2025.

READ THIS BEFORE THE AVALANCHE HITS

There’s a brutal little truth about power that most people never learn until they’re watching the blade come down…on someone who once looked…invincible:

Every authoritarian movement eventually eats its own king.
Every. Single. One.

Not because it wants to.
Not because it’s moral.
Not because the base demands it.

But because…when the king becomes more expensive to protect than to destroy…the system removes him with the cold efficiency of a butcher slicing into a side of beef.

And right now?

You are watching the Republican Party quietly…methodically…clinically prepare the table.

The knives are being honed.
The ropes are being tightened.
The newspapers are laying down tarps under the chandelier.

And the King of MAGA…Donald J. Trump…is wobbling at the center of the room like a bull that doesn’t realize the slaughterhouse gate…has already closed behind him.

This isn’t poetic metaphor.

It’s the oldest pattern in political history.

And if you know how to read the signs…
the snowflakes drifting across your screen right now…are the early indicators of a political avalanche designed not to wound him…
…but to bury him alive.

Today…I’m going to show you the entire anatomy…of how these things unfold.

Not someday.
Not hypothetically.

But now….inside the GOP as we speak.

Because contrary to the fantasy MAGA influencers are still peddling…the Republican establishment isn’t confused.
It isn’t indecisive.
It isn’t loyal.

It’s hungry.

And Trump…their once-useful battering ram…is about to become their next meal.

You’re Not Crazy For Feeling The Shift

If you’ve been watching the headlines closely…and I know many of you have…you’ve probably had that eerie sense:

“Wait… why does this feel like coordinated distancing?”

It’s not your imagination.

For months…the GOP elite has been playing a grotesque game of political Twister:

• One hand on the donors

• One hand on the base

• One foot on Fox News

• One foot on plausible deniability

And their neck twisted sideways trying to pretend they’re still loyal to the orange god they created.

But here’s the thing about authoritarian movements:

Loyalty is never loyalty.
It’s leverage.

Trump was the vehicle.
Trump was the chaos engine.
Trump was the useful monster dragging their agenda across broken glass.

But Donald Trump is no longer a vehicle.
He’s a liability.

More importantly…he’s a liability they can no longer control.

He’s volatile.
He’s reckless.
He’s legally radioactive.
And he’s infected with the one disease the GOP donor class fears more than inflation… more than immigration…more than a Democratic landslide:

Uncontainable exposure.

When the cost of protecting the authoritarian…becomes greater than the cost of eliminating him…

…the system eliminates him.

Quietly.
Efficiently.
With a smile so polite it feels like a threat.

And that process has now begun.

How The Machine Devours Its Own

To understand what’s unfolding around Trump…you need to understand how the Republican machine executes the political equivalent of “assassination”…without ever admitting it was their hand on the blade.

They never swing all at once.
They create a slope.
A sequence.
A predictable progression that lets them say afterward:

“It wasn’t us.
It was the circumstances.”

No, it wasn’t.

It was them.

And here’s how the slaughter always happens:

I. The Permission Phase

The Snowfall Before the Avalanche

The first sign something is shifting is always the same:

A trial balloon headline in a GOP-friendly outlet.

It’s never “Trump is finished.”
It’s never “The party is turning on him.”

It’s always a gentle nudge:

• “Trump’s grip appears to be slipping…”

• “Growing concerns inside the GOP…”

• “Donors uneasy with Trump’s erratic behavior…”

They test reactions in real time.

If the base screams?
They wait.

If the base shrugs?
They proceed.

This week…we saw the first snowflake hit the ground.

And it was not accidental.

II. The Silent Donor Revolt

Money Moves First…Always

Donors don’t publicly break.
They don’t post threads.
They don’t write emotional letters.
They simply…
stop writing checks.

PAC directors suddenly “reassess.”
Large transfers get “paused.”
Bundlers get “hard to reach.”
Operatives whisper to journalists “off the record.”

This is the sound of the authoritarian machine inhaling…before it bites.

Republicans don’t lose donors because of morals.
They lose donors because:

Exposure risk > political benefit.

And Trump’s exposure risk is now off the charts.

Epstein.
Documents.
Foreign money.
Private behavior…insiders keep hinting at…but refuse to say aloud.

When donors fear they could get hit in the crossfire?

They pull back first.

And that’s when the party…starts writing the eulogy.

III. The Operative Whisper Campaign

“Privately, senior Republicans say…”

This phase is the most cowardly….and the most efficient.

Politicians don’t speak first.
Their staff does.

Suddenly journalists start printing lines like:

• “A senior GOP strategist familiar with the campaign…”

• “Two advisers speaking anonymously…”

• “A longtime Republican operative expressed concern…”

This isn’t news.
This isn’t analysis.
This isn’t reporting.

It’s the party softening the ground for the kill.

When you see anonymous Republicans expressing concern…you’re watching the first teeth sink into the king’s shoulder.

IV. The First Act Of Public Distancing

One Wolf Steps Forward…Then Others Follow

This is where it gets interesting.

Because the GOP doesn’t have a spine.
It has a pecking order.

The moment a single ambitious Republican believes Trump is weakening…he or she peels off to protect their own future:

• “If these allegations are true…”

• “We need full transparency…”

• “The party must put stability first…”

• “This is concerning.”

It’s not an attack.
It’s camouflage.

After the first wolf bites…three more emerge.

This is the moment Trump starts to feel the cold air.

V. The Catalyst Event

The Trigger That Collapses the Slope

This is the most important part of the cycle.

Every authoritarian purge needs a trigger…a justification…a fig leaf the party uses to pretend:

“We didn’t abandon him.
He crossed a line.”

The trigger might be:

• A leaked document

• An Epstein-related revelation

• A national security scandal

• A catastrophic internal poll on his approval or 2026 impact

• A donor revolt

• A meltdown caught on camera

• A confidant who flips

But once the trigger drops…the avalanche begins.

And the GOP can say:

“WE didn’t do this.
HE did this to himself.”

Classic Human Behavior Rule:

People will do unbelievable things if you give them a story…that lets them keep looking in the mirror.

The GOP is building that story now.

And with 2026 looming…the year that decides whether Trump consolidates power or begins losing it…Republicans are gaming out survival strategies they never thought they’d need.

VI. The Media Fracture

Fox News Splits…And That’s When You KNOW

When Fox News fragmenting becomes visible, it’s over.

Some hosts will double down.
Some hosts will hint at “what comes after this.”
Some will pivot to policy.
Some will subtly mock Trump’s instability.

This shakes the base.
It destabilizes their sense of who the “real” leader is.
It creates cognitive dissonance.

And cognitive dissonance is the gateway drug to abandonment.

You’re going to see this fracture soon.

It is inevitable.

And because Trump is a sitting president…any hint of internal splintering carries twice the weight…and twice the risk…for the GOP.

VII. The 72-Hour Collapse

The Fastest Part of the Avalanche

This is where the slaughter stops being theoretical.

The knives come out.
The ropes tighten.
The cameras roll.

Within a period of three days:

Hour 0–6:

The catalyst drops.
Phones explode.
Fox producers panic.

Hour 6–12:

Right-wing media shifts tone.
WSJ editorials turn ominous.

Hour 12–24:

Top Republicans go silent.
Silence = self-preservation.

Hour 24–36:

The first public break.
The floodgates open.

Hour 36–48:

Donor money freezes.
Trump loses oxygen.

Hour 48–60:

The base splinters.
Succession talk begins.

Hour 60–72:

The party turns.
The king is devoured.
Everyone pretends they always saw it coming.

This is how authoritarian systems save themselves.

And Trump is sprinting toward this moment like a man running downhill with no brakes.

VIII. THE SUCCESSION QUESTION

The Final Reason They’re Moving Against Him

Here’s the final, strategic truth:

The GOP cannot devour its own king until it believes it can survive the succession.

Right now…internal Republican confidence in a post-Trump order is rising…quietly… but unmistakably.

They’re already gaming out:

• Who controls the base?

• Who can win 2026?

• Who can stabilize donors?

• Who keeps the courts?

• Who keeps the movement alive without the baggage?

And the unspoken reality is now obvious:

They believe there is a successor path.

That’s why the avalanche has begun.

Not publicly.
Not loudly.
Not all at once.

But unmistakably.

The GOP is preparing to devour the king it created.

And the king doesn’t even see the knives yet.

What This Means For You, For Democracy, And For The Fight Ahead

Here’s the part most people get wrong:

Trump falling is not the end of authoritarianism.
It’s the next evolution of it.

Authoritarian movements don’t collapse when they eat their king.
They mutate.
They reorganize.
They regroup.

The machine survives by shedding its liability.

And if Democrats…independents…moderates…and democracy-defenders are not prepared…
the danger increases…not decreases.

When the king falls…the movement searches for a successor with:

• fewer scandals…

• more discipline…

• cleaner optics…

• less baggage…

• and far more strategic cunning.

That’s why we stay loud.
That’s why we keep pressure on electeds.
That’s why we stay organized.
That’s why we expose what they’re doing in real time.

This avalanche isn’t the end.

It’s the transition.

And we will be ready.

You’re Part Of The Inner Ring Now

If you’ve read this far…you’re not casual.
You’re not passive.
You’re not here by accident.

You’re part of the people who want to understand what’s really happening…
not the sanitized nonsense being spoon-fed to the public.

And I’ll tell you this bluntly:

Democracy doesn’t survive because passive people vote.
Democracy survives because committed people refuse to look away.

You’re one of them.

Stay sharp.
Stay loud.
Stay engaged.

The avalanche is forming.

And when it hits…
you’ll be one of the few who understands exactly what you’re looking at.

Back soon…Big week ahead.

-Jack
P.S….READ THIS BEFORE YOU SCROLL AWAY…

There’s one piece of this story I didn’t include above…intentionally.

Because it’s not the kind of thing I’m going to put out publicly for free.

It’s too volatile.
Too sensitive.
Too likely to set off alarms in all the right (and wrong) places.

And it’s this:

The GOP already has a preferred successor in mind.
Not a guess.
Not a theory.
Not a meme.

An actual…behind-the-scenes…donor-approved, operatives-whispering, Fox-exec-tested successor they believe can:

• inherit the movement…

• control the base…

• unify the party…

• protect their financial interests…

• and give them everything Trump can’t give anymore.

Most people have the wrong name in mind.

And when you see the real one…you’ll understand exactly why all these early headlines are suddenly appearing out of nowhere.

So here’s what I’m doing:

👉 Tomorrow…I’m releasing a paid-subscriber-only deep-dive called:

“THE SUCCESSOR: The GOP’s Hidden Plan for a Post-Trump America.”

In it, I’ll show you:

• The exact person the GOP is grooming

• Why this person checks every authoritarian box

• Why donors trust him

• Why Fox is already testing narratives around him

• Why he’s more strategically dangerous than Trump ever was

• And how the party plans to roll him out if (when) the avalanche takes the king

This isn’t guesswork.
It’s pattern recognition.
It’s insider behavior analysis.
It’s the kind of thing you read once and say:

“Holy sh*t… this changes everything.”

If you’re a paid subscriber…you’ll get it automatically.

If you’re not?

This is the moment to move from the cheap seats to the inner circle.
You’ll get tomorrow’s piece…and every future one like it.

Upgrade to paid and don’t miss the article I cannot release for free.
It’s one of the most important breakdowns I’ve ever written.