We Should Take Trump's Thoughts on a Third Term Seriously. Very Seriously

Donald Trump suggested yesterday that there "are methods" that could allow him to serve a third term as president. We can presume these would take advantage of the 22nd amendment's wording that "no person shall be elected to the office of President more than twice." One such way suggested is that Trump could run for vice president, then take over in  the event the elected president dies or resigns, thus working around that troublesome prohibition on being elected. This would require someone able to win, yet be willing to give up the presidency. Some believe J.D. Vance may be that person, but it's hard to picture someone as willing to debase himself as Vance has been in the pursuit of power giving up the presidency after attaining it. Furthermore, such a gambit would be seen immediately as the naked attempt to circumvent the Constitution that it is, plus it is hard 

Another possibility, far more treacherous - and thus, much further under the radar - but one we need to begin preparing for now, is that Trump uses the levers of power to remain in office. What might this look like? Well, he has a Secretary of Defense who stated in the opening of his book The War on Warriors that he would be willing to fight on the side of rebels against the United States armed forces to save our country. He now has that military at his disposal - a military that has been transformed in eight weeks from a professional defender of the Constitution to a something that risks becoming a political tool at Donald Trump's disposal, following the firing of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief of naval operations, the vice chief of the Air Force and the top JAG generals at the Air Force, the Army and the Navy. None of these officers were fired for incompetence or dereliction of duty. Instead, they were let go and replaced with people sympathetic to or outwardly supportive of Donald Trump. That is not how our military has ever been staffed. It is now.

Pete Hegseth asks in his book what a military rebellion might look like "in a world of F-35s and hypersonic missiles." We may find out. It is certainly more likely with a Defense Secretary who would muse about such things and a president who would think it prudent to nominate such a man. Especially a president who ruminates about a third term and who chose a man who has stated his openness to armed conflict against his own country.

There are a whole host of options that lie between the two scenarios above, from declaring an emergency that requires postponing the next election to packing the Supreme Court with justices willing to interpret the Constitution anyway Trump sees fit. It may be hard to fathom any such ridiculous turn of events, but then we have to ask ourselves - when has this president ever shied away from the ridiculous?