President Donald Trump is not focused on what might happen if he were to die suddenly in office, but, according to his one-time biographer, doing so might actually give him exactly what he wants for his legacy.
Michael Wolff is a longtime author and reporter best known for his extensive coverage of Trump and his political career, including a series of books exposing the chaos of his first term. In the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, “Inside Trump’s Head,” he touched on the looming possibility of Trump’s death, responding to a conversation from one of the outlet’s earlier podcasts, in which an author suggested that his death could become the subject of “deep-state assassination” conspiracy theories and inspire a “terrorist uprising.”
Wolff has noted in the past that Trump is very much fixated on his own mortality, but also stressed during the most recent podcast episode that he is not focused on planning for a possible death while in office. Despite that, Wolff suggested that a sudden death during his second term would inevitably do something for Trump that he has always wanted, especially given his recent obsession with legacy and his place in history.
“If he died suddenly and in office, that might well transform Donald Trump into an iconic historic figure,” Wolff suggested.
Trump’s fixation on his own importance as a global political leader has been abundantly clear during his second term, most notably through his obsession with construction projects that would impose his own personal vision on the White House and Washington, D.C. Reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan also recently revealed that when they spoke to Trump for their new book, Regime Change, he showed them a piece of writing which argued that he was the most powerful and influential person of all time. While the president claimed that this was written by a notable historian, it was actually written by the golf caddy of an associate of his who claimed to be a history buff.
In response, co-host Joanna Coles asked whether that was something Trump would actually want, given how obsessed he is with being important and remembered. Wolff said that dying in office was certainly not the only possibility that Trump is entertaining, and definitely not the one that he is actively planning for.
“He’s thinking that the options are he’s going to go on indefinitely,” Wolff explained. “He’s going to leave office, he’s going back to Mar-A-Lago. And then, he is no doubt already plotting how, from Mar-A-Lago, he continues to be the dominant figure in American politics.”
Wolff also suggested that, whenever Trump passes away, especially if he were to do so in office, the nation would feel a major weight lifted off its shoulders.
“It’s like when you remove any dominant figure, dictators,” Wolff said. “I think people breathe a big sigh of relief. I think it’s like the world clears, and with Trump, the quiet will be extraordinary. People will breathe again. History starts over again.”