Summary

Despite the 22nd Amendment barring a third term (“No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice”), Trump continues to suggest he could run again, raising the idea at a Black History Month event and with Republican governors.

Legal experts say the Constitution is clear that he cannot run, though some supporters, including Rep. Andy Ogles and Steve Bannon, are pushing for a constitutional amendment or a 2028 campaign.

Meanwhile, Trump has expanded executive authority in his second term, drawing criticism for undermining congressional checks.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          1
          edit-2
          4 months ago

          Camels, much like dogs, cats, and other domesticated animals, are constantly pushing their boundaries. The phrase “a camel’s nose under the tent” is indicative of a camel that is attempting to find a way inside the tent so that they may eat the, most likely, food that has captured their attention with its scent.

          This would be applicable to the Drumpf administration because they are, much like the camel, using a method of “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks,” as well as a method of overwhelming the media with birdshot. Namely, if you’re creating 50 stories a day, and doing 50 things a day, then the media and the government can’t keep up.

          Again similar to our camel that has enough strength to tip the tent over, and create a royal mess, in its attempt to get in.

          Edit: First time I have heard the phrase as well,.but that is the meaning I would take from context.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            14 months ago

            I looked it up when I saw it, it seems like it comes from a fable with a similar moral to “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”

            A camel sticks his nose under the edge of a tent for warmth, it’s owner (or a stranger w/e) allows it to out of kindness. Then the camel slowly worms it’s entire body in the tent and refuses to budge.

            It’s a slippery slope parable.

            In a sane society Trump should be in prison.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    14 months ago

    He really is sort of pathetic.

    It’s weird and oddly discouraging. It seems like the individual most responsible for the oncoming collapse of the United States should be some sort of supervillain, but he’s really just a desperately insecure and over-compensating wad of hair, bronzer and congealed fat with the emotional maturity of a spoiled three-year-old.

    And meanwhile, his wannabe Rasputin sidekick is a desperately insecure and over-compensating middle-aged chuunibyou who’s still trying, and pathetically failing, to be the edgiest 13-year-old, and to not think about the fact that everyone who knows him thinks he’s an asshole.

    As if it’s not already bad enough to watch as the US is systematically destroyed, we have to watch as it’s systematically destroyed by people who are so pathetic and creepy.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      14 months ago

      For me as an outsider he represents the worst of america- fake, plastic, bloated ego, stupid but unaware, white man complex… He’s a poisonous human with no substance. Maybe it would be fitting if he were the last president.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    174 months ago

    Yeah well, the Constitution says a lot of things. However, it’s fairly clear a large segment of the American population doesn’t care what the Constitution says as long as it’s their team in power.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      14 months ago

      Exactly, they’re going to say the courts are just against him, or something, and then kick off.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        24 months ago

        And I would say:

        Yes, the courts are against him on that because it’s fucking clear that our founders never wanted a king or authoritarian in charge and two terms is more than enough and already set.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    394 months ago

    The Constitution barred him from running again after he incited a riot on the capitol. Yet here we are.

    Forgive me if my faith in the Constitution is waning a bit.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      14 months ago

      The constitution is fine. The government has lost their will to enforce it, that’s the problem.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      64 months ago

      One difference is that he, specifically, wasn’t convicted of insurrection by the time ballots were being printed up. That’s why the Supreme Court could plausibly say that there was no basis for states to remove him from the ballot.

      The clause on term limits is clear. It’s automatic, and there’s no interesting basis to challenge that. The Supreme Court would have to massively overreach to make that work. Will they do that? Maybe, but it’s not the same situation.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    134 months ago

    I have to say, it would be extremely funny if they changed the constitution and then Trump lost to Obama

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      24 months ago

      The Dems should call his bluff and propose a constitutional amendment allowing three terms, perhaps under the condition that sitting presidents must win an open primary to be eligible for a second or third nomination.

      FDR had three terms, plus a few months of a fourth term.

      IMHO, the bigger issue is not having three terms, but the fact that sitting presidents can get the nomination without winning a primary. This practice removes an important opportunity to replace them.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        14 months ago

        The parties aren’t part of the government and can make their own rules on how they choose a candidate. All that’s required to run for president is getting enough signatures and filing the right paperwork. Being a party’s chosen candidate makes that a lot easier, but anyone can do it.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          14 months ago

          Since we are talking constitutional amendments, anything can be added as a requirement.

          The way things currently work are not a restriction.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            14 months ago

            I honestly think we should have fewer roadblocks to running for national office, not more. Introduce an amendment that candidates have to be primaried and now only members of a party can run for president, rather than anyone who gets enough support. That doesn’t seem like a step forward to me.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              14 months ago

              In what world could someone who is already elected president not arrange some kind of democratic primary for their second and third terms?

              You could also abolish the whole primary process and go for a French two-stage election.

              Anyway, sky’s the limit for finding a new system.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    7
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    To be fair he wasn’t supposed to run for a second term as a convicted felon, but he managed that.

    I’d like to say I’d be surprised if he could win another election as his popularity plummets, but the US voters have proven themselves to be stupid and/or lazy.

    • Dojan
      link
      fedilink
      24 months ago

      I wouldn’t be surprised. He promised an end of elections and voting. This is what his voters wanted.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        04 months ago

        Take the good with the bad, if we have to re-do the voting system I say we move towards a more popular-voting system and get rid of the electoral collage, it’s time to shake up the gerrymandering of districts in favor of GOP Senators/Congress.

        Time for an overhaul!

        • Dojan
          link
          fedilink
          14 months ago

          I think he’s aiming more to become an emperor. That said, I like the positive outlook! If he fucking ruins everything, there’s always room for the Americans to build something better in the mess he leaves.

          • skulblaka
            link
            fedilink
            14 months ago

            I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. The abject destruction of all aspects of law and government being carried out by Trump/Musk right now is, objectively, a bad thing that’s going to hurt a lot of people very badly. But once their system inevitably completely collapses, I think a lot of Americans are going to be open to new ideas of governance.

            Previously, we could all see problems in our systems but the path to actually getting them solved involved generations of focused political maneuvering to actually stand a chance of putting them in place. Take federal adoption of ranked choice voting as an example. Many people would say they were in favor of that but we all knew it had a snowball’s chance in hell of ever actually happening because of how our system of governance was set up. I fully expected we’d just coast along with FPTP voting until we’re all dead from climate catastrophe.

            But now, we’re actually looking at a potential full scale, whole hog destruction of the foundations of American government. Whoever inherits it afterward - and someone will, this reign won’t last forever, it’s incapable of sustaining itself even if we all just left them alone - has the potential for nearly a ground-up rewrite of some fundamental assumptions of American government. We’re talking about changing the baseline voting systems, changing eligibility for office for many roles, even fundamentally changing the way our representation is appointed (such as by population size instead of by land, for instance - one rep for every, say, 500,000 citizens, not two reps per state regardless of population) and so on.

            Rising from our own ashes may just end up being one of the best things to ever happen to America, in a historical context. Inevitably, no matter how this farce ends up resolving, we will have an opportunity for this afterward. Trump, in his bumbling fury, has swept away decades worth of red tape and inertia that we otherwise would have had to struggle through to make this happen, and in addition has galvanized a lot of latent anger with the system within the citizens. We will have a real chance to turn that into something constructive after all this finishes in whatever way it does.

            That’s my light at the end of the tunnel for all this, and in a weird way, I guess I have Trump to thank for this. His signature style of completely ignoring norms and regulations means that he can blast through a ton of bullshit while being completely immune to the feedback, and we can just build it all up again from scratch later in a term or two instead of taking six decades to effect gradual change.

            Previously I would have called this accelerationism and maybe condemned it, but we’re in the shit now, so may as well get it over with I guess. He’s already throwing all his toys out of the crib no matter what I say about it so I’m no longer ashamed about cheering for it. America has had a deep sickness in its government for a very long time and maybe now we can excise it. We’re losing a lot of healthy tissue alongside it, and that’s bad, but it’s not likely to kill us altogether. We’ll grow back stronger.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              04 months ago

              I’ve thought the same but this is all dependant on someone sane being able to take power back at some point soon. Where will all the crazies be when this better society is being created?

              The climate catastrophe is also a ticking time bomb with very little time left to avert total disaster. The other problem is that Putin caused this situation for a reason and honestly I’m thinking he destabilised the world because there’s a plan involved. Call me crazy but Russia, China and whoever could be aiming to invade. What else are they playing at? They’re all megalomaniacs and they’re going to control all these countries where the US was giving aid (and I’m sure spying).

              And then there’s an asteroid, currently a 3% chance of hitting. Have you seen ‘don’t look up’?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      14 months ago

      That, and we have that stupid Electoral College. Oh, and lots and lots of fuckery from the Republican apparatchiks when it comes to running our elections.

    • Nougat
      link
      fedilink
      64 months ago

      Being a convicted felon does not disqualify you from running for president, or from being elected to the office.

      Fomenting insurrection does, but that got waved away “because reasons”.

      • ORbituary
        link
        fedilink
        English
        6
        edit-2
        4 months ago

        Because Merrick Garland is a bitch. Also more stuff.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          34 months ago

          Because Biden appointed a bitch instead of someone who would actually do their goddamn job.

        • Nougat
          link
          fedilink
          54 months ago

          Nah, Colorado was handling it appropriately, then SCOTUS stepped in and told a state that they’re not allowed to administer elections in their state.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              2
              edit-2
              4 months ago

              Because given how shameless SCOTUS has been, not sure there’s even an alternative reality where they still don’t worm themselves around Garland too, regardless of what he did or how fast.

      • RejZoR
        link
        fedilink
        English
        34 months ago

        As convicted felon you can’t run for position of burger flipper at McDonalds, but you can become a president…

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          24 months ago

          I mean the reason why someone shouldn’t be barred for office based on a conviction is obvious

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            14 months ago

            And if you, and potentially multiple family members, don’t pass a background check… you still qualify!

          • @[email protected]
            cake
            link
            fedilink
            04 months ago

            I mean, it should be fine to stop someone from running a country if they are a felon, but that requires sane, rational adults.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              14 months ago

              No. It should never be fine. People make mistakes. People fix those mistakes. But more importantly, you never want it possible for a political arrest to disbar a person from office.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                1
                edit-2
                4 months ago

                Problem is he wasn’t just arrested. Convicted by a jury, incited an insurrection on live TV, retained classified documents and hid them from the FBI, and attempted a coup with the fake electors scheme…it’s a massive leap beyond just being “arrested”.

                He’s literally guilty of blatant treason. That should obviously be disqualifying. Brazil, which might be considered a “third world country” by many Americans, handled their similar situation infinitely better.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      1
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      I hate to ‘akshualllyyy’, but actually there’s nothing in US law or the constitution that precludes a convicted felon from running for or holding office.

      There was a lot of legal talk leading up to the last election about that, along with plenty of surprise that was the case. It turns out it was another of those gentlemen’s agreements that was never codified because up until very recently, most people just assumed voters were smart enough not to elect someone like that, so codifying it wasn’t worth anyone’s time.

      If we ever wrest control back from these ghouls, there are a shit-ton of things that need codifying.

      e: a few words

      • Nougat
        link
        fedilink
        14 months ago

        If we ever wrest control back from these ghouls, there are a shit-ton of things that need codifying.

        While this is absolutely true, it is not a good idea to make felony conviction a disqualification from holding office. Look at who’s controlling DoJ right now, and there are plenty of states that will follow that lead. Making it so that a felony conviction disqualifies a person from holding office is just a roadmap for corruption to follow in order to maintain control.

  • Boomer Humor Doomergod
    link
    fedilink
    English
    34 months ago

    Who’s gonna stop him from running for or taking office for a third time? The Democrats? Are they gonna write a strongly worded letter? The Supreme Court? Do they have anyone with guns who will listen to them?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      24 months ago

      He’ll be SLaMmeD in that strongly worded letter, they’ll pat themselves on the back for a job well done, then run another candidate without a primary.

  • Phoenixz
    link
    fedilink
    24 months ago

    Of course he’ll run and of course he’ll win and og course he’ll just ignore the laws about it and of course nobody is going to stop him

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    34 months ago

    Barred? By whom? Really, when will the states wake up and figure out there is no “adult” in the wings that will enforce norms.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    14 months ago

    He’s gonna run anyways. Mark my words. He can’t leave office or he’s fucked. The constitution is nothing more than toilet paper at this point, if no one is going to stand up for it.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    04 months ago

    It is unlikely that the constitution will be amended. Democrats still (and will always) hold roughly 50% of seats in the Congress. So any proposal to amendment will not pass. However, there is a possibility of coup if Trump does not want to step down.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      14 months ago

      My guy, 2 years from now, there will be a redder wave from a kangaroo election, and they will amend the Constitution and end whatever is left of democracy. CISA is gutted, and will be replaced with lackeys that will confirm the fake election. We’re cooked.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      1
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      They just illegally fired, and replaced the joint chiefs. What makes you think they aren’t going to arrest and replace all the democratic representatives and senators?

      We’re already past The Reichstag Fire

      He will be trying to make The Fediverse illegal in the US within the next 6 months.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          04 months ago

          You’re not wrong, there was nothing illegal about firing the joint chiefs.

          It was stupid, but not illegal. Calling everything Trump does illegal, only serves to dilute the impact when he does actual illegal things.

          Much like labeling everything ‘Nazi’, it only serves to cheapen the term.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            14 months ago

            Some Lemmy users even go so far as say there is equivalent of Reichstag fire event in US. Trump is only in office for one month and I didn’t see the Congress get burned, pinned the blame on an opposing group, and then made Trump demand for absolute power. Is Trump bad? Yes, but let’s not exaggerate. There are still checks and balance working as intended (many courts are still blocking many of Trump’s executive decisions after all). People need to relax and get a cool head first. Because decisions made on emotions will only blunder.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              24 months ago

              Unfortunately The Algorithm has learned that outrage is a form of engagement and so people who consume social media in place of news or education now are incentivized by social media’s reward systems to generate and view the most outrageous takes on any event.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    04 months ago

    I’m a Brit so what do I know? But I can see him taking a leaf out of Putin’s playbook and running as VP to a family member running for President, possibly Eric. Then he’ll still be in control.

    • Match!!
      link
      fedilink
      English
      04 months ago

      the constitution also directly bars that, but, it bars a lot of what Trump’s already done in the last month

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        14 months ago

        The bad news is that we’ve (the sane, the empathetic, the introspective, the curious) already lost what was America. Trump’s reelection is more like the rimshot following the actual punchline. So that battle is lost. It’s painful but we can’t dwell on it like a dog licking a hot spot. The good news is a new battle is brewing. I have no doubt that the current state of the government is unsustainable, wether by design or through incompetence. It’s a near certainty that major calamity is on the horizon. Illness, war, terrorism, climate, social upheaval, something catastrophic will happen. It is going to happen and it will demand leadership and governance to overcome, and the fourth reich will not be capable of rising to the occasion. They will botch it, and the nation will be shattered. Historic levels of national reorganization will need to occur. Implied rules will need to be made explicit. This is where the next fight really is. They got to play offense for as long as democrats were a boogie man. Well, they hold all the cards now, so they will be soley to blame for the trainwreck. They will try to weasel out of it, but we can’t let them. We need to keep them cornered, and we need to be ready to snatch back the tiller when the rough seas knock that fat bastard down onto the fucking deck. Then we need to bust out the plank and throw a going away party for his whole rogues gallery. Then we need to find shore again and fix our damaged ship.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          04 months ago

          You’re talking like America as an institution will survive. It probably won’t. A new plague is already brewing and we have an idiot actively fighting against healthcare in charge of healthcare. The president is attempting to start multiple wars and isolating us from all allies. They’ve gutted the programs put in place to prevent the next major terrorist organization from forming. They’re taking active steps to make climate change less survivable even as its effects are already here. Socially we’ve been degenerating for years, Obama was a pretty lie about our ability to improve as a society. Not even to mention the economy is going to collapse.

          America is hitting empire ending issues and half of them are being actively caused by the leader of the empire!

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            04 months ago

            Quite the opposite. I’m saying America is over and soon something new will be built in it’s place. And it’s up to us to make sure it is an improvement over what it replaces.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                14 months ago

                Why would they physically invade when they’re already extracting what they want from us remotely? They’ll no sooner physically invade our land than a farmer would invade the barn where they keep their cattle. Why take by force what you are being freely given?

                And as a side note, I am able to fix very little, but we stand a fighting chance to fix a great deal more together.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  14 months ago

                  They invade to cement their control, I guess, not just to grab resources. If their candidate could lose the election, they would lose everything. I think this is all destabilisation and manipulation so that we’re weaker when they do invade and some people would even welcome them as rescuers. I’m not saying it will be tomorrow but they’re destroying America very quickly and systematically. They’re trying to destroy the west and democracy entirely.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    114 months ago

    The Republican Third Term Project is pushing this hard. They’re at CPAC drumming up support. I think the language is only specific to Trump though, so no other past president would be able to run again. It’s something like a president that has not served 2 consecutive terms.

    Also, Trump doesn’t care about the constitution and neither do just about every GOP in office. They may say publicly that he can’t do it or whatever, but if it comes down to it, they would vote for it.