A key element of the Dark Enlightenment is the scapegoat mechanism of René Girard’s mimetic theory. Trump serves as the chaos agent to dismantle democracy, ultimately blamed for everything and removed from office. The second part involves Vance taking his place to establish an authoritarian state techno-monarchy from the ashes of destruction. With midterms looming, the narrative will focus on how Trump’s fitness, or lack thereof, to hold office and condition the masses to believe that Vance is the inevitable, albeit “reasonable” replacement.