'Stuff of nightmares': Expert imagines four ways Trump could try to serve a third term
Donald Trump has openly mused about serving an unconstitutional third term as president, and a legal analyst said it's not too early to start worrying.
The newly inaugurated president is "notorious for bending norms and breaking laws," wrote Politico legal editor James Romoser, and while the U.S. Constitution's 22nd Amendment makes clear that "no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice," there are four scenarios where he might carry out "the stuff of liberal nightmares and MAGA dreams" and hold onto power for at least four more years.
âAnyone who says that obviously the 22nd Amendment will deter Trump from trying for a third term has been living on a different planet than the one Iâve been living on,â said Ian Bassin, an associate White House counsel for Barack Obama who is now executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Protect Democracy.
Rosomer mapped out four paths Trump could try to remain president in spite of the constitutional prohibition.
"He could generate a movement to repeal the 22nd Amendment directly," Rosomer wrote. "He could exploit a little-noticed loophole in the amendment that might allow him to run for vice president and then immediately ascend back to the presidency. He could run for president again on the bet that a pliant Supreme Court wonât stop him. Or he could simply refuse to leave â and put a formal end to Americaâs democratic experiment."
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) has already introduced a constitutional amendment that would allow Trump, but not Obama or Bill Clinton, to seek a third term, and his supporters are talking like it's a done deal.
âPeople are already talking about changing the 22nd Amendment so he can serve a third term,â said Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in a social media post Trump later shared. âIf this pace and success keeps up for 4 years, and there is no reason it wonât, most Americans really wonât want him to leave.â
Trump could just run for a third term and dare anyone to stop him, and Rosomer wasn't so sure that anyone would step up.
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