Rick Wilson has never been one to hold back, but his latest Substack column went even further than usual. The longtime Republican strategist and outspoken Trump critic warned the former president’s most loyal followers that their leader will not be around forever, and that those who have helped him undermine democratic norms should prepare for consequences.
The column dropped the day before Donald Trump’s scheduled “routine yearly check-up” at Walter Reed Hospital, just five months after his last visit, fueling speculation about his health. Wilson did not mince words, tying the timing to his grim prediction. “You will not reign forever,” he wrote. “Your Dear Leader will be dead sooner than you imagine, given his failing health and corroded mind.”
Wilson’s warning was not just about Trump’s mortality, but about what he called the “reckoning” awaiting his inner circle. He accused Trump’s allies, from top officials to rank and file enforcers, of enabling what he described as an assault on American liberty. “The lawful power of the people will be used to deliver decisive, agonizing consequences,” he wrote. “Legal, political, economic, and social punishments are the only warning that will work.”
In the piece, Wilson also referenced Trump adviser Stephen Miller, calling him part of an effort to inflame public tensions to justify authoritarian crackdowns. He accused the administration of trying to provoke chaos so that Trump could invoke the Insurrection Act. “Donald Trump and his claque of pissant authoritarians have switched from wanna be to gonna be,” Wilson warned, adding that they were “itching to turn the United States military into their personal palace guard.”
The post also veered into disturbing imagery, with Wilson writing that Trump loyalists “can live their remaining days in an 8×8 cell or take a blindfold, a cigarette, and a wall.” He later framed his language as about accountability, not violence, but the line sparked outrage among Trump supporters and conservative media figures, who accused him of calling for political persecution.
Still, Wilson’s followers saw the essay as a blunt reality check for a movement that has grown used to acting with impunity. He argued that Trump’s cult of personality has shielded enablers from responsibility, but that eventually, when Trump’s influence fades, justice will catch up. “Those who betrayed this nation in the service of Trump,” he wrote, “will be tried and handed punishments so severe that generations to come will remember that America is, by its very DNA, engineered to destroy tyranny.”
Wilson’s rhetoric has long been divisive, but his prediction comes as Trump’s physical and political stamina face intense scrutiny. Between reports of repeated medical visits and observations about cognitive lapses, speculation about the former president’s health continues to swirl. For Wilson, that is part of his point, the “Dear Leader,” as he calls Trump, is not immortal, and when he is gone, his allies will not have his shadow to hide behind.
Whether seen as prophetic or provocative, Wilson’s words landed with force. His message to the MAGA faithful was unmistakable: Trump’s time will eventually end, and when it does, those who followed him blindly will face the consequences.
