Donald Trump flirted with the idea of being president for three terms – a clear violation of the US constitution – during a bombastic speech for the National Rifle Association in which he vowed to reverse gun safety measures green-lighted during the Biden administration.

“You know, FDR 16 years – almost 16 years – he was four terms. I don’t know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?” The ex-president and GOP presidential frontrunner said to the organization’s annual convention in Dallas, prompting some in the crowd to yell “three!” Politico reported.

Trump has floated a third term in past comments, even mentioning a prolonged presidency while campaigning in 2020. He has also tried distancing himself from this idea, telling Time magazine in April: “I wouldn’t be in favor of it at all. I intend to serve four years and do a great job.”

  • ShepherdPie
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    7 months ago

    there will be a 2028 election where we can hopefully find someone better

    I’ve literally had people utter this to me before every single presidential election that I’ve voted in and it’s never come true. Neither party has any incentive to improve things when they’re guaranteed to get votes because “the other guys are boogeymen!”

    • FakeGreekGirl@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      7 months ago

      So when Trump pulls another January 6, but succeeds this time and declares himself president for life, do you think that will make the situation better or worse?

      • acetanilide@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        My concern is that he will run again and again until he dies. Ideally if he won this year he could never run again. Obviously he’s a fascist so he will probably try to stay in (again) but man I am not looking forward to the next 20-50 years of him. And I’m guessing he’s going to live forever at this point.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Trump has visibly diminished in the last 4 years, as has his influence. Now he seems like the tail the dog is wagging but before he called himself the dog. I just don’t see him lasting that long

        • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          20-50 years??? How young do you think trump is??? 50 years from now he would be 127! 20 years from now he would 97.

          We’re not going to have even 5 years of trump left. Even if he wins and serves a full term. I may be wrong, but I don’t imagine him living to 83.

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              7 months ago

              For a half second I thought you were calling trump the clay rock superhero from the fantastic four.

              I may have only thought it for a half second, but I’m still already making popcorn. Because of how entertaining it would be to watch you explain how trump is The Thing.

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                7 months ago

                I hope you have your popcorn! I outsourced the explanation though.

                Imagine Donald Trump as The Thing from the Fantastic Four: an oversized, lumbering figure with an unmistakable, gaudy orange, rock-like exterior. His presence is hard to ignore, not just because of his sheer size and brashness but because he bulldozes through political and social norms with little finesse, much like The Thing smashing through walls.

                In this form, Trump’s bluntness and tendency to overpower conversations mirror The Thing’s raw physicality. His speeches are repetitive and simplistic, hammering his points home in a manner akin to The Thing’s catchphrase, “It’s clobberin’ time!”—straightforward and unsubtle.

                However, just as The Thing struggles with his monstrous appearance, Trump’s public persona is marked by a mix of bravado and thin-skinned sensitivity. His abrasive approach often alienates allies and emboldens critics, making his interactions as rocky as his hypothetical exterior. Both figures are defined by their confrontational nature, but where The Thing’s battles are physical, Trump’s are rhetorical and often divisive.

      • ShepherdPie
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        7 months ago

        That’d be quite the feat considering we have the Constitution and Congress. How do you suppose he’d succeed at this considering Trump and Co were basically laughed out of every courtroom when they brought their election fraud cases to court? He doesn’t need to be president for another Jan 6 to happen. He just needs a microphone and a big crowd of pissed off smooth-brains.

        • FakeGreekGirl@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          7 months ago

          Who needs courts when you have a cult of personality, a lot of whom have organized into paramilitary groups?

          Even now, the courts are failing to hold him responsible for what he did. They won’t save us. And half of Congress is on his fucking side.

          • ShepherdPie
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            7 months ago

            If paramilitary groups are how he seizes control of the government, then it doesn’t really matter whether he was elected or not because you’re talking about outright treason and a civil war, neither of which are predicated on him being elected to office first.

            How can you say “who needs courts” when the courts already shot his election fraud nonsense down in every single case they tried to bring? The trial for J6 has barely begun so how can you claim the outcome already? He was already convicted in the NY civil fraud trial.

            Maybe you should ask yourself why the guy who’s running against him can’t even be bothered to shape himself up when, as you claim, we’re on the verge of far-right paramilitary groups staging a coup if he doesn’t win? How shitty at your job do you have to be that you can’t even win against that?

            • FakeGreekGirl@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              7 months ago

              You’re preaching to the choir here. Biden is shit. But, again, at least I know he’ll go away in 4 years. Trump is going to try his damnedest not to. He already fucking tried once. And frankly, the fact that it’s been four years and he’s free to try again is proof enough the courts aren’t doing enough to stop him. There’s a reason they’ve been pushing all this stuff until after election.

              Open your eyes and stop pretending Trump is normal. In nearly 250 years that this country has existed, nobody has tried to pull the shit he’s tried to pull, and he will try it again.

    • barsquid@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Donald did do an insurrection on his way out in 2021. Oh, did you not vote in 2016? Maybe you are technically correct.

    • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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      7 months ago

      Trump can’t be both “different from everyone else” and “everyone’s worries about the guy are unfounded, he’s just another politician.”

      While I know you didn’t say he’s the same, per se, you might as well by comparing alarms that Obama or Romney are going to be forever presidents to the guy literally “joking” about being a forever president that’s taken possibly criminal steps to subvert the results of an election already.

      It’s not just the fringe paranoid folks saying “this could be the end of democracy as we know it if Trump wins.”

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      7 months ago

      There are generally better things happening under democratic rule than republican rule. I get that it can feel small to those of us who want more radical change but there is a difference.

      But I agree. Radical change is probably not happening from within the current system. Direct action and external pressure will be needed. But there is still a difference in how tolerant the two parties (and also between intra-party factions) will be of such a movement.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      If Biden wins, then in 2028 he won’t be able to run again, and Trump won’t physically be able to. I’m reasonably confident there will be two “new” choices.

      I’m very happy DeSantis seems to have crashed and burned, Christie had his last hurrah, and no one took Ramiswami seriously, but even Sanders’ age is a passing of the torch.

      So, will you support Harris, Newsom, or AOC to go up against Abbot?

      • ShepherdPie
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        7 months ago

        I’d support AOC but Newsom or Harris are more “status quo” Dems so they’ll probably get all the backing from the party in order to prevent a progressive from getting the nomination once again.