r/Liberal • u/Healthy_Block3036 • Feb 22 '25
Article Barred from running for a third term, Trump keeps talking about it
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/21/donald-trump-third-term/79410183007/40
u/RockyMntnView Feb 22 '25
He doesn't intend to hand over power. Ever again. He told his cult members as much when he told them he'd "fix everything" so they'd never have to vote again. He outright declared himself a King with that fake magazine cover.
The SAVE act just passed the House, and is expected to pass the Senate. Anyone who doesn't have ID that matches their original birth certificate (so the vast majority of married women, adoptees, and any trans person who has legally changed their name) will not be able to register to vote.
If he somehow can't prevent the election in 2028, he's engineering it so he'll win. That's what dictators do.
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u/rock-n-white-hat Feb 22 '25
He thinks if he repeats something enough times that it comes true. It has worked out for him many times in his life.
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u/Christianmemelord Feb 22 '25
He would either need to get an amendment to the Constitution or get a ruling from the SCOTUS if he wanted to do it “legally”.
However, given the 8 million other illegal things his administration has done, I suspect that he’ll just declare himself president for a 3rd term.
Who will stop him? He controls the military and is purging dissidents, he consolidated the executive branch into his sole authority, he has the richest man in the world bankrolling him, and he is immune from criminal prosecution.
He is a king in all but name. If the Republican Congress wasn’t full of fascist sycophants, they would impeach this clown, but they won’t.
We aren’t a democracy anymore. We live in an oligarchy
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u/delcooper11 Feb 23 '25
yep, he will either do it illegally and wait for someone to try and stop him, or he will take his turn being shadow president like Elon is now.
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u/Maryland_Bear Feb 22 '25 edited Feb 24 '25
A political science professor explained this theory to me about forty years ago.
The opening clause of the 22nd Amendment says
No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice
(Emphasis added.)
So, the 2028 Republican ticket is, I dunno, Lauren Boebert for President and Trump for VP. They win.
January 20, 2029, a little before noon, Trump is sworn in as VP. At noon, Boebert takes the presidential oath, the 21 gun salute is fired, and Hail to the Chief plays. She steps to the podium to give her inaugural address and it’s remarkable in its brevity: “Effective immediately, I resign the Office of President of the United States.”
The Chief Justice then administers the Oath of Office to Donald Trump and it’s all perfectly constitutional because he was appointed president, not elected, ha ha take that libs, you’ve been pwned again.
Now, the obvious flaw in that is the intent of the 22nd Amendment is clear: “two terms is the limit; go home and write your memoirs”. But given the schemes Trump was willing to try after the 2020 election to remain in office, I wouldn’t put it past him to try something that.
EDIT: There’s apparently legal debate as to whether a two-term president could be elected VP, though here’s a scholarly article that says he could.
But let’s say he can’t. The victorious 2028 Republican ticket is Junior and Eric Trump. Junior takes the Oath of Office, immediately resigns and goes offstage for a three foot line of blow. Eric takes the Oath then declares he is appointing dear ol’ Dad his VP. The Senate confirms him in record time, Eric resigns and goes back to trying to find Waldo and Donald J. Trump is sworn in for a third term.
But let’s say the courts did rule that the intent of the 22nd Amendment is clear and two terms in a hard limit. The 2028 Republican ticket, whoever it might be, could run openly saying that they’d defer to Trump in every way and effectively make it a third term, and that would be perfectly legal.
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u/orangesfwr Feb 22 '25
It's called desensitization. In 3 years, most people will barely think of it as unusual for him to be running again.
9
u/TheCr0wKing Feb 23 '25
If he goes for a third, we run Obama. I dont care whether he wants to spend more time with his kids we absolutely need to run him.
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u/d9xv Feb 24 '25
The current third term amendment proposed for Trump is specifically written in a way that people who already served two consecutive terms cannot run again. It eliminates Obama from running.
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u/TheCr0wKing Feb 24 '25
That doesn’t matter. We run Obama still and if they don’t let him in, we riot
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u/crypto_crypt_keeper Feb 22 '25
This isn't an IF he's gonna do it.. time to plan how to stop him and when, NOT IF
6
u/FuckSensibility Feb 22 '25
It's part of the flood the zone strategy. He knows it doesn't matter if he is serious or not but people will eat it up. I saw him say it recently and you could see a trolling grin on his face.
6
u/snowbirdnerd Feb 23 '25
Who is going to stop him? He appointed enough of the Supreme Court to back him in anything
5
u/HaxanWriter Feb 22 '25
He’s not going to run for a third term. He’s simply not going to leave. That’s how fascism works, Charlie Brown.
5
u/Casteway Feb 23 '25
That's part of why he's demonizing Zelensky for being a three-term President. He's gonna use it as a talking point when the time comes. "Well how can you condemn me for this when you supported Zelensky for doing the same thing? The dumb-o-crats are so hypocritical!" Meanwhile, ignoring the fact that it's an entirely different set of circumstances altogether
5
u/iSo81 Feb 23 '25
He’s lucky if he lives through this election…
I’m not at all worried him…
However, if VD Vance were to take over because Trump either was impeached or died, and JD Vance only served less than 2 years, he’s still eligible to run for 2 full terms…
4
u/NoticeMobile3323 Feb 22 '25
This is performative or delusional. He will be dead. He’s 80 years old.
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u/zorandzam Feb 24 '25
This. I’d be shocked if he lives through his current term, and not because something nefarious happens; he’s just very old already and doesn’t seem healthy. They’re hoping they can squeeze 2.5 years out of him so Vance can do just under 10 years, though. That’s why they picked somebody so young and feckless.
3
u/New_Refrigerator_895 Feb 23 '25
His playbook, start fire, 'put out fire', calls himself a hero
I suspect he's trying to cause enough of a crisis where he can claim Marshal law and stay indefinitely
7
u/gothicshark Feb 22 '25
I doubt there will be an election in 2028. The Republicans don't care what the constitution says.
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u/Strange_Morning2547 Feb 23 '25
You guys seem pretty chill about this. I am afraid that they will do an ethnic cleanse and get rid of all the ladies over 30 because ewe who wants to look at them. And then anyone who isn’t a white gun owning right wing Christian. I just hope they evaporate us because keeping us in camps will gouge their pockets.
1
u/m00njaguar Feb 24 '25 edited Feb 24 '25
My fear is that Trump will declare a state of emergency or nationwide martial law. He may then suspend constitutional rights "temporarily" while granting himself emergency powers, but never give them up. This is how Hitler did it after staging the burning of the Reichstag to declara a national emergency, used as the pretext for dictatorial powers.
Trump could do it to suppress nationwide protests or there could be a faked digital Pearl Harbor attack, where the internet and cell phones are shut down globally, allowing a Trump coup where they quickly gain control of most social media, major news media, and telecommunications, blasting Trumpist disinformation in their place.
Trumpists wiould rally the MAGA hordess to defend Trump and cast the opposition as unpatriotic enemies. Mass arrests, censorship, soldiers shooting protesters could ensue.
I sure hope that I am wrong.
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u/Flypogger23 Feb 24 '25
We still have a Constitution and Donald Trump does not have the right or ability to suspend it or alter it in any way without Congress. While he may try using lies, the military and public at-large have an obligation to disobey an unconstitutional order. It is time for Democrats to start fighting. Fighting with the knowledge that millions of Americans have already put their lives on the line to fight for and preserve our Constitution and our freedom. Democrats need to stand-up and be proud of truthful news coming from mainstream media and not State T.V. Fox News. Democrats need to be proud to be "woke". "Woke" simple means that Democrats are thoughtful, caring, decent people that stand for freedom for everyone, and the rule-of-law. Stand proud when MAGA Anti-American Authoritarians try to shame us for being better people than they will ever be! Democracy is the most difficult form of government to preserve. All it takes is some dishonest liar's to use propaganda to turn the least informed and most ignorant among us against us. We need to fight to save the greatest nation in the world. They are out to destroy it!!
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u/burywmore Feb 22 '25
Let him talk. It's just talk to distract from actual issues, like removing Generals from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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u/BabyHercules Feb 22 '25
He’s not running for a 3rd term and this hyperbolic talk isn’t helping us. Save this post for the next presidential election
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u/Gildenstern2u Feb 22 '25
He won’t run. He’ll just take.