Re: [OT] Trump's third term

On 2025-03-30 11:30 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

2025-03-30 10:05 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

 

I see that Trump has mused about running for a third term. This CBC
article explains why that couldn't happen and suggests that this puts an
end to the discussion.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-third-term-president-constitutional-1.7497480

 

For some strange reason - ignorance, I expect - they complete ignore a
perfectly legal way to get Trump a third term: amend the 22nd amendment
to increase the number of terms or repeal that amendment altogether.

 

If I remember correctly, he'd need to get the approval of 3/4 of the
states and 2/3 of both chambers of Congress to agree and they'd only
have a set number of years to do it but if Trump really is as popular as
he thinks he is, that should be quite possible.

 

The set number of years was a characteristic of specific amendments
proposed in Congress but not others. It's not clear if that's
constitutional.

 

Fair enough. I was remembering the ERA which *almost* passed but fell
slightly short. As I recall, they gave it an extra few years but it
still fell short.

 ERA may have passed as additional state legislatures voted in favor
after the expiration.
 

Good luck to Trump on his quest to become dictator.

 

Was FDR a dictator when he ran for his third and fourth terms?

 There are historians who have argued that FDR was part of the pre-WWII
trend of countries that had been democracies turning toward autocracy.
Also, FDR never told the voters that he was way too sick to be president
when he ran for that fourth term.
 

Roosevelt running for a fourth term when he was at death's door was, of course, morally wrong. So was Wilson failing to resign when he was massively incapacitated for many months during WWI and simply let his wife run things. Unfortunately, both acts were perfectly legal. Maybe the laws - or even the Constitution - should be amended to force every Presidential and VP candidate to pass a thorough medical (and mental) exam before they can be put on a Presidential/VP ballot and also pass an annual physical. That would have forced Wilson to resign in favour of his VP and FDR could never have run for the fourth term (and maybe the third if his condition was sufficiently obvious that early).
Of course steps would have to be taken to ensure the neutrality and objectivity of the physical and mental exams, at least as far as possible. If a single doctor did both exams and he/she was a fanatical supporter or opponent of the candidate, the exam results would surely be regarded as dubious at best.

For the record, I'm not wishing for Trump to become a dictator or
president-for-life.

 I never believed you were.
 

. . .

Thank you for that :-)
--
Rhino