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"Trump’s Third Term Twist: Could He Rewrite the Rules and Reign Again?" · Gil I Am

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good day, ladies and gentlemen. This is Gilgiory with a
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: curious tale that's stirring the pot in Washington and beyond.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: This is to day's moment of truth. Now picture this
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Donald J. Trump, the man who's never been shy about
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: shaking things up, eyeing not just a second term, but
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: a third. That's right, a third term. Something we haven't
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: seen since Franklin Roosevelt shuffled the deck back in the forties.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: But hold on to your hats, because the Constitution's got
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: a little something to say about that, or does it.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Let's dig into this story step by step and see
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: what's cooking. The twenty second Amendment, ratified back in nineteen
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: fifty one after FDR's four term marathon, says, plain as day,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: no person shall be elected to the office of the
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: President more than twice. Seems air tight, doesn't it. Two terms,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: eight years and you're done, pack your bags and head
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: back to civilian life. But here's where the plot thickens.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Trump's already had his first go round from two thousand
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: seventeen to twenty twenty one, and now, as the calendar
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: flips to March thirty first, twenty twenty five, he's gearing
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: up for a second shot in the upcoming election. If
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: he wins, that be term number two, fair and square.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: So how in the world could he even dream of
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: a third? Well, folks, that's where the whispers start and
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: the legal minds get to tussling. First off, let's talk
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: about what's fueling this fire. Trump himself hasn't been shy
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: about dropping hints. Back in twenty twenty, during his first term,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: he'd toss out quips at rallies, half joking, half testing
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: the waters, about sticking around for twelve years, maybe more.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: We'll drive them crazy, he'd say, with that trademark grin,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: and the crowd would roar. Fast forward to today, and
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: some of his loyal lieutenants are picking up the tune.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: They're not just whistling Dixie. They're pointing to a couple
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: of loopholes that might just crack the twenty second Amendment
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: wide open one theory floating around as the non consecutive gambit. See,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: the amendment doesn't say those two terms have to be
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: back to back. Trump served once stepped aside in twenty
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: twenty one when Joe Biden took the reins, and now
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: he's itching to return if he wins in twenty twenty
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: four excuse me, twenty twenty five election cycle. That is,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: he'd serve from twenty twenty five to twenty twenty nine.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Then suppose he sits out again, let someone else warm
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: the Oval office chair for four years, and comes back
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: swinging in twenty thirty two. That'd be his third term,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: but not consecutive. The amendments wording doesn't explicitly forbid it,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: and that's got some folks raising their eyebrows. Could he
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: pull it off? Well, he'd be eighty six years old
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: by then, older than Biden is now, but age hasn't
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: stopped him from barnstorming the campaign trail yet. Now here's
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: another twist the repeal brigade. There's a murmur among some
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Republicans and a few constitutional scholars who love a good puzzle,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: that the twenty second Amendment itself could be scrapped. Amending
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: the Constitution's no picnic, mind you. It takes two thirds
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: of both the House and Senate, or a convention called
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: by two thirds of the states, and then three quarters
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: of the states to sign off. That's a tall order
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: even for a deal maker like Trump. But imagine the scene,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: a GOP controlled Congress, a fired up base, and a
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Supreme Court that's shown it's not afraid to rethink precedent.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Trump wins in twenty twenty five, and his party keeps
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: the momentum. They might just try to rewrite the rule book.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Stranger things have happened in this town. And then there's
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: the wild card, the vice presidential play picture this Trump
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: wins his second term, serves until twenty twenty nine, and
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: then hands the baton to a loyal VP, say a J.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: D Vance or a Christi Noem. That VP runs in
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty eight, wins and keeps Trump close as an advisor,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: maybe even a special envoy with a fancy title. The
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: twenty second Amendment only limits elections to the presidency, not influence.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Could Trump pull the strings from the shadows for another
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: four years. It's not a third term on paper, but
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: it did sure feel like one to his fans and
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: his foes. Of course, the naysayers are plenty, and they've
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: got their own ammunition. Legal eagles like Lawrence Tribe, that
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Harvard professor who's seen every constitutional trick in the book,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: say the twenty second amendments intent is crystal clear two
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: terms period, consecutive or not. They argue the founding fathers
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: and the folks who wrote the amendment after FDR to
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: keep any one person from hogging the spotlight too long.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: And as for repeal, good luck getting thirty eight states
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: to agree on anything these days, let alone handing Trump
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: an extra lap. The courts, they say, would likely slam
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: the door shut if it ever came to a challenge.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: But let's pause for a moment and consider the man himself.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump's never been one to play by the usual script.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: He thrives on the improbable, winning in twenty sixteen when
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: the polls said no way, surviving scandals that had sink most,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: and now eyeing a comeback at an age when most
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: folks are kicking back with a lemonade. If anyone's going
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: to test the edges of the twenty second Amendment, it's him.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Whether it's a non consecutive run, a push to repeal,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: or a shadow presidency through a loyal VP. The ideas
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: are out there, buzzing like bees in a hive. And
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: here's the kicker folks. Public appetite. Trump's base, those red
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: hatted flag waving millions might just cheer him on for
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: a third term. Rules be damned. Polls today in the
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: spring of twenty twenty five show his popularity still a
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: force to reckon with if he delivers promises in a
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: second term, jobs borders America first. Who's to say the
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: people wouldn't demand an encore. Democracy is a funny thing.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: It bends to the will of the crowd, sometimes more
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: than the parchment it's written on. So could Donald Trump
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: run for a third term? The law says no, the
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: loopholes say maybe, and the man himself says, well, he's
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: not saying much yet, just smiling that smile. It's a
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: tale of ambition, ingenuity, and a constitution that's tougher than
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: nails but not quite bulletproof. This is Gil. Have a
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: great day.