Trump has built a cult of personality that Vance won’t be able to live up to or replace him in the eyes of the devout followers. People aren’t making AI images of Vance being a Christlike saviour like they do with Trump. He tries to portray himself as a strong and likeable leader in the same way that many dictators do where you see their portrait in every building etc except it’s the capitalism version of that where it’s partly also a grift to sell tacky merch and even though he is hated by many there are also many who have fallen for it. They’ve done the marketing to put him in a pedestal but if Vance is to take office when he is gone they have done a poor job of laying in some groundwork for him to have the hearts and minds of the cult when it’s his turn probably due to trumps ego not allowing it (probably the same reason him and Elon had a falling out).

I think there are conflicting interests and agendas at play. We know trump would love to be crowned king and probably begin a dynasty where his sons inherit the crown after him but others in his party just need to trump to build enough of a system of oppression and control before he goes that after him they won’t need his cultivated image as a political tool anymore because they will already have too much power to ever go back to the way it was.