# Trump is dying **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [August 27, 2025, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520 "2025-08-27T07:09:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 172
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3425 "2026-07-28T01:42:21Z")
Trump staying in power after his term expires would be a black swan event, but it wouldn’t be impossible. Unlikely, but possible. He already attempted a coup once. He might try it again, and if the military backed him up he could succeed. It would mean the end of the U.S. as a constitutional republic. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3426 "2026-07-28T01:54:44Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > That would be the same Constitution he violated (see Emoluments Clause, referenced above) with zero consequences. You’re conflating “things he shouldn’t be able to do but does anyway” with “things he cannot do”. He can get away with violating the Emouluments Clause because the Constitutional remedy for violating it is impeachment and Congress refuses to impeach. He cannot magically extend his term past his Constitutionally ordained end date, because that is self-executing and instantaneous - at 12 PM on 1/20/2029, Donald Trump ceases to be president and someone else becomes president, whether because they were elected or because there’s a vacancy and the Presidential Succession Act, which is also self-executing, kicks in. He has no affirmative power to contravene that and Congress cannot through inaction cause it to not happen. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3427 "2026-07-28T02:17:06Z")
I think you need to read more history. Maybe start with first-century Rome, and the Avignon papacy. Those guardrails hold _until they don’t._ Now, I don’t think Trump will last two more years, and I don’t think he can manage campaigning in the meantime, so I’m not worried about this particular hypothetical scenario. But saying a president just can’t overstay his term is naïve. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3428 "2026-07-28T02:41:54Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > No paths. I agree with you but only because I think he is going to die sooner rather than later. Trump has declared several times, including recently, that he thinks he is owed another term. Is he allowed to do it? No. But when you’re a celebrity they let you do it. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3429 "2026-07-28T03:00:45Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Donald Trump ceases to be president and someone else becomes president, whether because they were elected or because there’s a vacancy and the Presidential Succession Act, which is also self-executing, kicks in. He has no affirmative power to contravene that and Congress cannot through inaction cause it to not happen. I understand where you’re coming from. I simply don’t have faith that a significant number of my fellow citizens and Republican politicans wouldn’t either shrug their shoulders and live with it or actively cheer for Trump staying in office. I would have found such an idea utterly ridiculous in 2016, but my faith in my fellow citizens and our institutions has been shaken. The idea of Trump serving a third term is ridiculous, even if he was of sound mind and body, but then we live in ridiculous times. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3430 "2026-07-28T03:07:22Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I understand where you’re coming from. I simply don’t have faith that a significant number of my fellow citizens and Republican politicans wouldn’t either shrug their shoulders and live with it or actively cheer for Trump staying in office. It’s not gonna be up to them. At 12 PM on 1/20/2029, Trump declaring “I’m still president” is trumped by President Pritzker declaring “Officer, get these squatters out of my house”. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3431 "2026-07-28T03:14:00Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > There’s not ANY avenue for him to be president again. Well, given a track record of not accepting the inconveniently bleeding obvious … > [@President Joe Biden and the runup to the 2024 election](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-joe-biden-and-the-runup-to-the-2024-election/954384/1548): > > He’s not dropping out. Period. … I’ll consider the potential for the unconstitutionally bleeding hypothetical as being non-zero. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3432 "2026-07-28T03:30:08Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > President Pritzker declaring “Officer, get these squatters out of my house”. Trump: Oh, yeah? You, and what army? ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3433 "2026-07-28T03:32:06Z")
I don’t want to speak for @Smapti , I’ll just say the way I’m reading his statement is that at 12 PM on 1/20/2029, Trump _will_ constitutionally, lawfully cease to be president. Based on the unending fuckery, it’s not 100% that he’ll remove the offending bodies - republicans and his own fat ass- but that doesn’t make him president still / again. If the hypothetical were to happen, he would be a _coup leader_ and the revolution(?) will officially have begun. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3434 "2026-07-28T03:34:40Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Trump: Oh, yeah? You, and what army? Pritzker: “The United States Army. They work for me now.” > [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > . If the hypothetical were to happen, he would be a _coup leader_ and the revolution(?) will officially have begun. That is also correct - if Trump holds power over the organs of state after 1/20/2029, it is not because he is President of the United States, it is because the Union has dissolved and he is the leader of a rebel faction attempting to overthrow the lawful government. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3435 "2026-07-28T03:36:49Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Pritzker: “The United States Army. They work for me now.” Only, Kegsbreath is systematically purging any officers who are not loyal to Dear Leader. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3436 "2026-07-28T03:38:16Z")
He’ll have to get started about 30 years ago. There isn’t anyone who’s gone through the academy and spent decades serving under Republican and Democratic administrations long enough to earn flag rank and be good at their job who’s going to choose personal loyalty to Donald Trump over their oath to the Constitution. But at this point we’ve gone from “Trump finds a way to stay president” to “Trump starts a civil war and declares himself king”. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3437 "2026-07-28T03:44:50Z")
Hell, there is hardly any _junior_ officer that has any respect for 45 or Kegsbreath. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3438 "2026-07-28T03:55:23Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Hell, there is hardly any _junior_ officer that has any respect for 45 or Kegsbreath On that you’re likely wrong. The military has a much higher rate of MAGAs than does the general population. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3439 "2026-07-28T03:58:34Z")
For the record, I saw that the fascist boot-licker and génocidaire made a comment, but I did not read it. Subsequent replies by other posters and what I can infer from them of what this individual (a disingenuous fuckwit, on top of his many far more serious faults) said in reply have led me to believe I made the right call. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3440 "2026-07-28T04:01:57Z")
I can confidently affirm that many in the office corps have zero respect for 45 and Kegsbreath. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3441 "2026-07-28T04:13:26Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > He’ll have to get started about 30 years ago. Not really. We know Trump will make a shitty plan, declare it to be the best thing ever (because he “thought” of it) and then go ahead and do it regardless of consequences. This is why the US is at war with Iran right now. If there is one thing we know about Trump, it is that he has no interest in consent. Telling him he can’t do something is more likely to make him want to do something. And he really wants this. He really needs this. Rarely has he experienced a penalty for trying anything _up to and including raping children_ so if he decides to squat in the White House while the increasingly compliant media continues to sanewash him and broadcast his “doubts” about the election, then that is the world we will live in. But, all gods great and small willing, he will not live to see that day. > [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Hell, there is hardly any _junior_ officer that has any respect for 45 or Kegsbreath. He doesn’t need the entire military, he just needs a garrison at the White House and it’s already there. The bunker is being built right now and according to Trump, there will be a drone port in there. We already know from several bombings in South America that Trump loves “push this button to kill someone”. He is as prepared as a narcissist with undiagnosed ADHD can be. Obviously anyone who tries to tell him he has to leave is a traitor and will be treated as such. The US military does not have a course of action to follow if/when an insane President wipes his ass with the Constitution. There’s no mechanism in place for coup duty and no mechanism for someone to assign that duty to them. So in the hypothetical where Trump stays alive that long, I would predict that the military is going to do _absolutely nothing_. They will, in the manner of Merrick Garland, declare themselves politically neutral and they will not get involved. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3442 "2026-07-28T11:06:16Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > long enough to earn flag rank and be good at their job who’s going to choose personal loyalty to Donald Trump over their oath to the Constitution. You’ve read about what Hegsbreth is doing to promotion lists, right? The new definition of ‘good at their job’ starts with ‘loyal to Donald Trump’. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3443 "2026-07-28T11:42:49Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > > Trump: Oh, yeah? You, and what army? > > Pritzker: “The United States Army. They work for me now.” Trump: “Yeah, yeah - tell it to the Marines.” ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520/3444 "2026-07-28T15:41:34Z")
Okay, people, let’s get away from pie in the sky for a sec. To me, the operative question is “how does someone’s name get on the actual physical or electronic BALLOT where the voter chooses the president?” What agency, local, state, political, or other organization or individual makes that decision? _That is where the rubber meets the road._ If that decision is under the authority of someone in state government, then Red state party/county/precinct/election officials at the point where ballots are composed and finalized could VERY WELL decide to put trump’s name on their area’s ballots. Who’s going to stop them? Or his minions could promote him as a write-in candidate. And then there’s the next hurdle of the Electoral College and bought-and-paid-for electors. Yeah, that failed last time…but is it going to fail again? It’s smarter to take the position that trump _could_ figure out some way, even if “illegal” (Ha! He scoffs at that word!) than to say (as we’ve said many times and been proven catastrophically wrong every time), _“Nah, even HE couldn’t get away with that!”_ KWIM? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520.md?page=171) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-dying/1022520.md?page=173)