Will Trump Seek a Third Term, Despite The Epstein Files?

What we know.

Photo by Jonathan Simcoe on Unsplash

Donald Trump keeps hinting about a third term.

Everyone keeps dismissing it.

The minute I finished writing this piece, we’re now hearing reports that Trump endorses the release of the Epstein files, or at least a vote that’s almost certainly in favor of it. As I suggested in a previous post, it looks like someone did some work behind the scenes to ensure Trump wasn’t implicated, and to tie up all the loose ends there. It might’ve taken some time…

Currently, it looks like MAGA is starting to crumble. One columnist after another declares the movement dead. Everywhere you go, the internet is talking about a “shift in vibes.” And yet, some of us remain suspicious. All this looks and sounds too familiar. MAGA has been on its back before, and it always returns.

It comes back stronger, even smarter.

So often, the optimism we see when rifts form in the MAGA base never materializes into concrete action. Instead, it turns into complacency and then becomes a weapon used to silence anyone who would ask (or demand) better from any political party that claims to oppose fascism. After my last post about the Epstein files, more has happened. It’s worth paying attention to. Even if we acknowledge a larger futility in this world, there’s a difference between a bad president, a conventional fascist, and a Trump who slams their foot down on the collapse accelerator.

So, what else is new?

Apart from the sudden turnabout by Trump on the Epstein files, which stinks of more corruption, Marjorie Taylor Greene has joined the list of Republicans openly defying Trump on a range of issues, notably the Epstein files. This has earned her a temporary concession of respect, even from some on the far left.

Trump has officially un-endorsed her. (Of course, by the time you’re reading this, it’s entirely possible they could make up…)

Does that make her an ally?

Don’t count on it.

As one columnist explains, MTG and the other Republicans are simply trying to distinguish themselves and generate headlines by breaking ranks. They’re displaying a spine right now in the same way that JD Vance and other far-right Republicans did ten years ago, when it was cool to bash Trump.

Why now?

Well, they finally realized that Trump is a 79-year-old man who’s been dining at McDonald’s twice a day for a solid 15-20 years. It should surprise exactly nobody if and when he drops dead. Honestly, the surprising thing is that he’s still alive, and that he’s still coherent enough to rant about windmills. And even if the Epstein files probably won’t be enough by themselves to end his grip on power, it’s not nothing. It’s a wedge that ambitious fascists from Gen X can use to build their brand.

MAGA isn’t dying. It’s evolving.

MTG has been working overtime to repair her image.

Here’s a dose from NPR:

“He [Trump] called me a traitor and that is so extremely wrong,” Greene said during an interview on CNN’s State of The Union with Dana Bash on Sunday. “And those were the types of words used that can radicalize people against me and put my life in danger.”

When asked about her previous attacks against political opponents — such as in 2020 when she posted an image of a gun alongside a group of progressive Democratic congresswomen — Greene apologized.

“I think that’s fair criticism,” Greene said. “And I would like to say humbly I’m sorry for taking part and the toxic politics. It’s very bad for our country.”

Ah, yes, MTG feels “sorry” for participating in the toxic politics that delivered us into the fire pit of fascism, especially now that it no longer serves her interests to harass survivors of school shootings or yell about space lasers. For what it’s worth, MTG never believed any of that nonsense, just like she’s not really sorry.

Now, read closely:

This public rift between Greene and Trump marks a brewing fissure in the GOP. When asked what caused the break, Greene pointed to the battle over releasing documents tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“Unfortunately, it has all come down to the Epstein files, and that is shocking,” Greene said.

The Georgia lawmaker said she doesn’t believe Trump is implicated in these files.

In line with our previous discussion, Trump’s staunchest MAGA allies are demanding a release of the Epstein files while simultaneously denying that Trump could be implicated in them. That’s not the source of the rift.

They just think he’s a coward.

All this clarifies further what’s really going on with the split. It’s unlikely that MAGA will ever truly recognize that their leader is a predator. It’s more likely that they’ll believe he was compromised and scared into helping with the coverup.

Thomas Massie and Nancy Mace have made similar statements, declaring that Trump will be gone in 2030, and that their own reputations and political careers matter more now. In essence, Trump has served his purpose. He is no longer useful to MAGA, especially if he’s now helping protect predators.

That’s the story.

Trump isn’t likely to leave office calmly. His narcissism dictates that he do everything possible to stay in office until he dies. While liberals have largely dismissed the idea of a third term, legal scholars warn us against complacency. In one analysis, legal experts run through several scenarios in which Trump could bypass the 22nd Amendment that technically bans him from running again.

Legal analysis shows that it’s actually quite common around the world for presidents to overstay their terms. They cite Vladimir Putin as a prime example of someone who has managed to bend laws to stay in power for an extremely long period. We know Trump looks up to Putin and sees himself in that light.

In fact, Trump would probably regard it as a deep personal failure if he couldn’t find a way to stay in office beyond a second term.

If Putin could do it, why not him?

It’s how narcissists think.

Trump could install a puppet president. He could push for a constitutional amendment. He could also appeal to the Supreme Court for an interpretation that renders it meaningless. He could also delay elections, via war or a national emergency. They all seem unlikely until you look at the success rates, and they range from 60 to 100 percent. The Supreme Court has already ruled that presidents are immune from prosecution for “official acts” they take while they’re in office.

Just to revisit what that means:

A right-wing 6-3 majority held that presidents hold broad criminal immunity for acts committed under presidential authority, even if those acts would be otherwise illegal under U.S. statutes. This extreme decision also held that there is a presumption that official acts that supported unofficial criminal activities could not be used as evidence of those crimes in court. This immunity—found nowhere in the U.S. Constitution—is a dangerously vague principle created out of whole cloth by Chief Justice John Roberts’ court, flouting the core tenets of America’s foundational fight for independence against a tyrannical monarch.

That ruling also gives a sitting president broad authority to use the Department of Justice essentially however he wants, with “exclusive authority and absolute discretion” to decide what crimes to investigate and who to prosecute.

Has everyone really forgotten all this?

So, Trump enjoys a situation that no other president before him ever has, not for the last several generations at least. It would be foolish to assume he wouldn’t exploit his enormous new powers to stay in office indefinitely.

Here’s Trump saying it in his own words:

“Christians, get out and vote. Just this time,” Trump told the group. “You won’t have to do it anymore, you know what? Four more years, it’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.” You got to get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not going to have to vote.”

Trump lies all the time, but we know he’s always telling the truth when it comes to his intentions to destroy what’s left of democracy. If he’s telling us how cruel and ruthless he’s going to be, you can believe him then.

Here he is at the end of October:

“I have my highest poll numbers that I’ve ever had, and, you know, based on what I read, I guess I’m not allowed to run. So, we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Gyeongju, South Korea.

Mainstream media has chosen to interpret that statement as a denial that he’ll seek a third term, but that’s not exactly reality. When Trump says, “we’ll see what happens,” that’s his way of saying he’s going to try something.

And then there’s this:

Way back in January, a representative named Andrew Ogles from Tennessee introduced a bill that amends the 22nd Amendment, allowing Trump a third term. It’s a real thing, and the media haven’t covered it at all. The bill is just quietly sitting in limbo, with no real commentary. Sure, it sounds nuts. Andrew Ogles is the same guy who proposed carving Trump’s face on Mount Rushmore.

Remember, MAGA Republicans constantly push the window to the right with crazier and crazier ideas. It’s their strategy. They push the discourse so far, the other crazy things they propose sound halfway reasonable by comparison.

That’s the strategy.

Meanwhile, the Trump Organization has indeed started selling 2028 campaign hats with copy that reads, “Rewrite the rules with the Trump 2028 high crown hat.” An article in Axios describes an entire team dedicated to creating a legal framework for Trump to seek a third term, and you can bet they’ll leverage his unprecedented powers granted to him by our corrupt Supreme Court.

Honestly, look at the last forty or fifty years. George Bush served as vice president for two terms and then one term as president. His son, another George Bush, served for two terms as president. Bill Clinton served two terms as president, and half the country was ready to elect his wife for two terms. Given all that, the 22nd Amendment might look like a rather flimsy thing waiting to be tipped over. Can we really say this rule has served the true spirit of what it intended? It didn’t stop 20 years of a Bush dynasty. It wasn’t going to stop 16 years of a Clinton dynasty. Before Trump entered the picture, it looked like we would be choosing between a Clinton and a Bush yet again.

I’m not saying the amendment means nothing, but I’m saying that we didn’t get here by accident. We’ve been bumbling toward this for a while...

Some very arrogant folks have dismissed the third term talk as a “distraction.” Honestly, it’s hard to know what’s a distraction anymore.

Maybe that’s the point.

In the Trump strategy playbook, everything is a distraction. Everything is the point. Everything is the strategy. They pursue every option. If one of their crazy corrupt schemes works, then they win anyway. And when you really think about it, a lot of their crazy corrupt schemes simply take corrupt American politics as usual to one new level of absurdity. It simply removes one more veil.

Trump could very well seek a third term. His Project 2025 backers might even want him to keep holding rallies until he drops dead. Then someone like JD Vance will take over. It would be an excellent way to kill a Republican primary and make sure Vance becomes the nominee, without having to actually win anything.

It sure sounds familiar.

Remember, everything MAGA does sounds like a conspiracy. Everything they do sounds like a bad movie plot that’ll never happen.

Until it happens.