During a bombastic speech in Dallas, GOP frontrunner asks: ‘Are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?’

Donald Trump flirted with the idea of being president for three terms – a clear violation of the US constitution – during a bombastic speech for the National Rifle Association in which he vowed to reverse gun safety measures green-lighted during the Biden administration.

“You know, FDR 16 years – almost 16 years – he was four terms. I don’t know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?” The ex-president and GOP presidential frontrunner said to the organization’s annual convention in Dallas, prompting some in the crowd to yell “three!” Politico reported.

Trump has floated a third term in past comments, even mentioning a prolonged presidency while campaigning in 2020. He has also tried distancing himself from this idea, telling Time magazine in April: “I wouldn’t be in favor of it at all. I intend to serve four years and do a great job.”

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    Obama was lucky to win his second term. His approval rating was already underwater and only Romney’s own unlikeability saved him.

    Either way, this was a man who had functionally checked out back in 2014. He didn’t want a third term.

    • candybrie@lemmy.world
      0·
      6 months ago

      And Trump is even more unlikable than Romney. No one has really been running terribly likeable candidates lately.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
        0·
        6 months ago

        And Trump is even more unlikable than Romney

        Not according to the last two election vote-counts. That’s been a problem for the GOP for a while. Anyone they throw up against Trump is too much of a corporate stuffed shirt or hick blowhard to top Trump’s NYC Diva Energy. He’s got a cult of personality in a way guys like DeSantis and Cruz and Romney could only dream of.

        • candybrie@lemmy.world
          0·
          6 months ago

          It cuts both ways, though. Sure, it gets his fans out in record numbers, but it also gets people who hate him voting in record numbers, too. I don’t think we’d have had that 2020 turnout for Joe Biden without Trump.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
            0·
            6 months ago

            Sure, it gets his fans out in record numbers, but it also gets people who hate him voting in record numbers, too.

            When Bidencrats are concentrated in a few large states and Trumpies are diffused across a larger number of pivotal swing states, the electoral math favors the Republicans. And as Biden’s own approval ratings crumble, people who would normally turn out to hate-vote against Trump are demoralized.

            I don’t think we’d have had that 2020 turnout for Joe Biden without Trump.

            Trump won more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016. And Biden only clinched the nomination by 40,000 votes across three swing states (all three of which he’s currently trailing Trump in today). He was running a tighter margin than Hillary enjoyed in 2016.

            Combine this with Republicans ramping up disenfranchisement efforts, fascist policing of minority communities, a chronically struggling economy, and a President whose declining health inhibits his ability to campaign, and I seriously doubt Biden will see 2020 turnout a second time. Meanwhile, Trump is once again poised to break GOP turnout records.

              • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
                0·
                6 months ago

                Obama was marginally more popular than Biden back in 2016, when Biden was significantly more popular than Hillary.

                But in 2024, Idk. Neither of them have aged well.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
        0·
        6 months ago

        Obama’s final presidential approval rating in 2017 was 59%

        Obama’s approval rating in 2012 was 46%. He recovered in 2016 as we came out of a mini-recession.

        So much for “checked out in 2014”.

        He spent less time campaigning for Hillary Clinton than Biden or Sanders and gave up fighting for his judicial nominees back in January. He’s been on permanent vacation ever since.