I don’t either for all the reasons you stated. Trevor Noah was talking about a de facto African dictator who was in name only while other people ran the show.

I think it’ll be like that. They can’t openly push him out or there will be cult members storming the capital again, granted, the level of permissiveness that occurred the first time won’t happen while this admin is their target. No, they’ll let Trump bumble about while working their own angles. And Trump is such an easily manipulated dipshit he probably won’t even realize it.