Here’s the lede of Maggie Haberman’s story in the New York Times today:
Standing inside the Capitol for the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, President Trump declared his plans to resurrect an idea he had in his first term: to create a national garden filled with statues of notable Americans.
The choice of who would be included would be “the president’s sole opinion,” Mr. Trump said, chuckling. And he was giving himself “a 25-year period” to make the selections.
A short time later, at a breakfast at a Washington hotel, Mr. Trump flicked again at the prospect that his time in office could extend beyond two four-year terms.
“They say I can’t run again; that’s the expression,” he said. “Then somebody said, I don’t think you can. Oh.”
Just eight days after he won a second term, Mr. Trump — whose supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an effort to prevent Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory from being certified — mused about whether he could have a third presidential term, which is barred by the Constitution.
Which, well, huh.
I have written and talked about this a whole lot. And my basic belief can be summed up this way:
Amending the Constitution to allow Donald Trump to serve more than two terms is virtually impossible
Donald Trump would love to be president for three terms (or more).
Again, a reminder on amending the Constitution: It requires a 2/3rds vote in the House and Senate followed by approval from three-quarters of the state legislatures in the country. Not going to happen.
But, that Trump keeps entertaining it — and Republicans keep humoring him — is instructive.
For Trump, it allows him to avoid lame duck status — or at least put it off for as long as possible. As historian Douglas Brinkley told Maggie: “It serves Donald Trump’s public relations to start the bantam rooster crowing that he may serve a third term because it makes him not a lame duck.”
For Republicans, it allows them to publicly show their loyalty to him — as the most MAGA-fied members fall all over each other to try to make it possible for him to stay in office.
I maintain that this simply isn’t going to happen. But I DO think he (and we) are going to be talking about it for most of the next 4 years.
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