Grant Cardone just might be a successor to Miscavige. Most Sea Org workers with leaderships/bulls#!+ skills have blown, or been worn out by stress and abuse. Grant is also innocent of all those staff-slapping and RPF sins so he'd have less baggage. And most important, Grant may think there'll be big bucks in it for him. Grant's a real believer in exhorting people to work harder and buy his materials, so that part fits perfectly. Grant may go for a power grab if Miscavige quits or is convicted of crimes. I doubt that he could be Miscavige's crown-prince-in-training. The two are both too narcissistic and controlling; ironically they are both short. Grant's about as old as Miscavige, so he can't wait for Miscavige to die of old age. Grant and his wife would have to join Sea Org, too, but with money and favoritism they might escape the rice and beans. The main problem is that in Sea Org there are no outside jobs, so he'd have to quit his TV host job and his get-rich-quick-book-and-training empire. Or, maybe Grant will just rewrite the rules to suit himself, and become the second prophet of CoS. Grant might quietly get the word out: "The heck with Hubbard books. This is the 21st Century. The courses will be similar, but with MY name and face on the materials."

This is not a thread on $cientology succession but I don't see the next leader after Miscavige coming from outside the organization. I suppose it could happen but I doubt that it would. The successor will have to already be in the sea org. It will either be one of Miscavige's vicious dogs or it will be someone with training seniority -- Minimum class six and OEC -- and they'll be what is referred to in $cientology as "Hard Core." If people are expecting relief from abuses when Miscavige gets replaced they can forget it. The abuses are built in. That's how I see it. I could be wrong but I think I'm not.

A Miscavige successor would need to project authority. LRH used charisma and lying puffery for his authority, while Miscavige uses fear, his association with Hubbard, and the big "win" of getting the IRS secret agreement. Cardone has got the charisma and lying puffery; is anyone else high up in Sea Org good at bamboozling audiences?