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#termlimits

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Continued thread

Over the past nine or so years, I've repeatedly gone on record to describe my frustrating with the way corporate media covers the unhinged fascist shit Trump says as if he's your just drunk uncle who talks about Fox News anti-migrant propaganda over Thanksgiving dinner, and not a guy running for, or serving as, President of the United States. Trump, a man devoid of a sense of humor, will muse about some flatly illegal dictator policies he wants to do in the future, corporate media will report his statements as if they're mere political gaffes, point out that Trump's plan is illegal or otherwise against the rules, and then sit around waiting for him to actually try the horrible nazi crap he is openly saying he wants to do.

There is little to no analysis connecting Trump's stated plans to the actions the regime is taking, and this style of coverage doesn't change much whether he's out of office, or legally enshrined with the powers of the imperial presidency to make his nazi dreams come true. If and when Trump *does* actually try to do the awful fascist nonsense he's been openly promising to do, a media that has all but memory holed his promises to do so acts shocked that Trump's team of nazi rules lawyers have found a Calvinball way to plausibly accomplish their fascist program.

I mention this because even before he was elected president a second time, Trump has been musing about staying on as President after his second (and final, as mandated by the constitution) term is up in 2028. Often this is framed as "running for a third term" but there have been enough ominous hints from Trumpworld that Downmarket Mussolini is not married to the idea of having another election at all, that it's pretty clear the plan is to simply have Trump refuse to leave office, one way or another. Is a mainstream corporate media that has watched Trump try to enact almost every authoritarian policy he promised or even hinted at on the campaign trail, taking this seriously enough? No, it is not; and I'm not sure I expect them to start doing so even now that Trump has directly told an NBC monitor on Meet the Press that he's "not joking" about remaining in office beyond his second term.

motherjones.com/politics/2025/

“I’m Not Joking”: Trump Again Floats Running for Anti-Constitutional Third Term

"Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said in a post on X that there may be three ways Trump could attempt to “grab” an illegal 3rd term: 1) Ignore the Constitution and dare anyone to stop him. 2) Have GOP-run states just appoint Trump electors since any state not voting Trump is by definition ‘corrupt’. 3) Military coup and martial law—i.e., a successful January 6.”

As I've mentioned before, there seems to be a definite process by which Trump, the regime, and the larger political movement surrounding him manufacture consent and transform ideological propaganda, into state enforced (un)reality, under a presumed mandate that their actions would be legitimate if what Trump says is true, and everything Trump says *is* true because he's president. Typically this involves Trump and his propagandists (like Steve Bannon) repeatedly injecting the idea of a fascist plan, like say to ignore the constitution and remain president after 2028, into the discourse as a hypothetical option, slowly transitioning that musing into the outlines of a plan "we're working on," before ultimately transforming that idea into policy, often via executive order.

Given that Trump has mentioned this in passing multiple times, guys like Bannon have openly talked about the plan to make it a reality going on behind the scenes, and now Trump is telling his base that he's dead serious about doing it, it's probably safe (even for corporate media muppets) to say Trump is actively in the process of trying to make himself president for life, by hook or by crook. And I dunno about you, but to me that sounds like big news it's important to share with the American people in detail, and with an appropriate degree of alarm.

#Trump #Fascism #Dictatorship #2028 #Elections #TermLimits #22ndAmendment #Autocracy #USPol

Mother Jones"I'm not joking": Trump again floats running for anti-constitutional third term"There are methods which you could do it," he reportedly told NBC News.

A couple of weeks ago on the other account, I wrote a very short thread about my increasing frustration with Very Serious PeopleTM asking if Trump really means it every time he starts rambling on about all the fascist shit he wants to do. In that post I mostly noted that Trump, a fascist, literally has no idea how to tell a joke, has at least *tried* to do all the nazi shit people thought he was joking about in the past, and fascists in general were not known for their sense of humor. Whether or not Trump is actually able to *accomplish* all the nazi crap he says he wants to do, is often a matter of debate. But if he says it, he means to give it a try.

What brought that outburst on, was an article about a democracy watchdog group warning that people weren't taking Trump's threats to circumvent term limits and run for (or make himself) president again in 2028 seriously enough, and that was a bad idea - a position I agree with wholeheartedly.

I'm bringing this up now because apparently the slightly less disgusting Cuomo had noted fascist propagandist Steve Bannon on his podcast this week; Bannon remains a very close ally of Trump and a big supporter of the regime even though he's not actually working in the government this time. During that discussion, Bannon revealed that the Trumpist political movement is actively working on ways to secure a third Trump term already:

commondreams.org/news/can-trum

'We're Working On It': Bannon Says Planning Underway for Trump 2028

"Appearing on journalist Chris Cuomo's NewsNation podcast, far-right mouthpiece Steve Bannon demurred when asked if he had ambitions to run for president himself, replying: "No, and I'm a firm believer that President Trump will run and win again in 2028, so I've already endorsed President Trump."

When Cuomo pressed Bannon on the existence of term limits that would bar Trump from seeking a third term, Bannon said, "We're working on it. I think we’ll have a couple of alternatives, let’s say that. We’ll see what the definition of term limit is."

"We've had greater long shots than Trump 2028 and we've got a lot of stuff we're working on there," Bannon added. "We're not prepared to talk about it publicly, but in a couple months I think we will be."

Setting aside the fact that this podcast episode should not exist, because Chris Cuomo shouldn't be inviting fascists on his show to normalize fascist ideology and openly lie on behalf of the Trump regime with only mild pushback, I watched the clip; aside from what's quoted here, the only real notable addition I would make is that Cuomo let Bannon duck a question about whether or not the fascists would try another insurrection to keep Trump in power by touting how popular the regime was, and implying Trump would simply win anyway. Let's just say this wasn't Chris's finest hour, even if he did avoid literally agreeing with the nazi propagandist on his show, about nazi shit, like California Governor Gavin Newsom did.

What Bannon didn't shy away from is revealing here, is that Trump absolutely intends to run again in 2028 and his minion strategists are working on a way to circumvent the 22nd Amendment of the US Constitution which would otherwise forbid that. As I've mentioned in a number of articles, we seem to be seeing a pattern of the fascist right transforming Trump's seemingly fantastical ravings, into a type of "unreality" enforced as if it were fact by the larger fascist movement, and then transformed into real and direct action by the regime itself. Given the reality that Trump has repeatedly mused about clearing the way for him to run for a third term in multiple public settings, and we now have a fascist propagandist who is closely allied with Trump revealing that the larger regime is "working on" making that a reality, I think we can safely dispense with the idea that these guys are joking.

So will the nazis get away with this? I mean, who knows; it's not easy to legally change the Constitution, but I have no idea if Trump even cares what the laws say anyway - his actions in power thus far suggest that he literally does not. Right now, the nazis seem to be in the planning and manufacturing popular support stage of this particular autocratic fuckery project, but I'd be inclined to take Bannon at his word when he says we'll be hearing more about it soon, because while Steve is a nazi liar, he rarely lies without a purpose. What I can say is that since Trump was sworn in as president, I can think of dozens and dozens of things he's done that Very Serious PeopleTM swore he couldn't do, and so far he appears to be getting away with the vast majority of it.

Common Dreams · 'We're Working On It': Bannon Says Planning Underway for Trump 2028 | Common Dreams"We'll see what the definition of term limit is," said Steve Bannon, the far-right podcast host and former top advisor to the president.
Replied in thread

⬆️ @GreenFire

>> I understand why people call for term limits to be added to our constitution, but I don't think they appreciate that Biden's 50 yrs of experience is what allowed him to be so successful as POTUS despite all of the opposition he faced.

#TermLimits are essential in all 3 branches of government.

#Biden has been very successful in a lot of areas, especially with the hand he was dealt.

But it is unknowable what COULD have been if younger blood was given a chance more frequently.

What happened to Nancy Pelosi in Luxembourg? It's all over the news but only says "sustained an injury" and nothing else. HIPAA covers her, I guess, but unless it's a national security risk, they might as well tell everyone.

Did something embarrassing happen? Has she suffered a Mitch McConnell? (A glitch in the matrix w/ fall.)

Maybe it's time to retire and take it easy.

abcnews.go.com/Politics/nancy-

ABC News · Nancy Pelosi hospitalized during a congressional delegation trip abroad, her office saysBy Lauren Peller

@DemocracyMattersALot

The idea of #termlimits for #scotus has merit and has been proposed by a variety of legal experts.

However no one has ever explained to me what will, or should, happen if the #Senate fails or refuses to confirm a #scotus nominee during the two-year window between terms.

Personally, I would prefer #Senator #RonWyden’s Judiciary reorganization proposal.

truthout.org/articles/ron-wyde

Truthout · Ron Wyden Submits Bill to Drastically Reform Supreme Court — Including Expanding It to 15 Members“I think we can all agree it’s time to reform the Supreme Court,” said Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden.

Californians will vote for a new governor in 2026. That person will replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, who cannot run for another term for this office. Newsom’s current term will end January 2027. #TermLimits

Kamala Harris for Governor of California. abc7.com/post/poll-kamala-harr

abc7.com · Poll: Harris would be top candidate in CA's gubernatorial election if she runsBy Carlos Granda

Supreme Court Reform with Steve Vladeck | MSNBC / Rachel Maddow Presents: Déjà News Podcast
youtube.com/watch?v=tIDQQ71t5b

#Law #SCOTUS #termLimits #Constitution #RogueJustices #WellBehaved

Well-behaved Justices keep their job. Oh? And bribe and obstruction of justice, lying to Congress... seriously the rogues in SCOTUS by this measure are already disqualified.

Continued thread

#SCOTUS now has 6 #conservative justices, appointed by fmr Presidents #Trump, #GeorgeWBush & #GeorgeHWBush, & 3 #liberal ones, appointed by #POTUS #Biden & fmr Pres Barack #Obama. 3 justices, all #conservatives, have served >18 yrs: CJ #JohnRoberts, &Justices #Alito & #ClarenceThomas.

If #TermLimits had allowed the president to choose a justice every 2yrs during the most recent 4 admins, those numbers would be reversed: 6 would have been appointed by #Democratic presidents, & 3 by #Republicans.

#POTUS #Biden proposed major changes to #SCOTUS on Mon, including 18-yr #TermLimits for justices & a binding code of conduct.

Under Biden’s term-limit plan, presidents would appoint a new #SupremeCourt justice every 2 yrs. If that rule had already been in effect over the past 2 decades & each justice had served the full 18-yr term, the court’s ideological split would be flipped.

#law
nytimes.com/interactive/2024/0

Continued thread

“2nd, we have had #TermLimits for presidents for nearly 75 yrs. We should have the same for #SCOTUS justices. The #UnitedStates is the only major constitutional #democracy that gives #lifetime seats to its high court. Term limits would help ensure that the court’s membership changes w/some regularity.That would make timing for court nominations more predictable & less arbitrary.It would reduce the chance that any single presidency radically alters the makeup of the court for generations to come.

#POTUS Biden endorsed sweeping changes to the #SupremeCourt on Monday, calling for 18-year #TermLimits for the justices & a binding, enforceable #ethics code for the high court.

#Biden is also pushing for a #ConstitutionalAmendment that would prohibit blanket #immunity for presidents, a rebuke of #SCOTUS after it ruled this month that #Trump is immune from prosecution for *official acts*.

#law #ActivistCourt #PartisanCourt
washingtonpost.com/politics/20

The Washington Post · Biden endorses Supreme Court reforms, amendment to limit immunity By Tyler Pager

#Biden calls for #termLimits on #SCOTUS under a system in which the sitting president would appoint a justice every 2 years for a fixed tern of 18 years.

He also wants a code of #ethics for justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity #upsideDown flag, and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their *spouses* have conflicts of interest #insurrection

Finally, he asks to reverse the #SupremeCourt’s immunity ruling on former presidents.

apnews.com/article/supreme-cou

AP News · Biden proposes Supreme Court term limits, ethics codeBy AAMER MADHANI