# Trump won't rule out 3rd term **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [March 31, 2025, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371 "2025-03-31T01:50:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 32
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/621 "2025-12-30T17:03:05Z")
Lots of body bags from Venezuela will be a bad look for a campaign. The thought that this mental deficient could send U.S. troops to their death needlessly, at the behest of oil companies, infuriates me. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/622 "2025-12-30T17:19:40Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > > [@Toxgoddess](#): > > > > Example from his first term: his coloring an American flag with schoolchildren. > > Unproven, and that means, to me, by itself, unlikely. See: > > [Snopes August 2018: Did President Trump Incorrectly Color the American Flag?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-flag-wrong-color/) Snopes seems to be going out of their way in the linked article to give Trump the benefit of the doubt. One of the photos _literally shows Trump coloring in one of the stripes of the U.S. flag with a blue marker in his hand_. (And this was before AI became ubiquitous.) Snopes take on this was as follows: > [@Snopes](#): > > We have been unable to so far identify the original source of this image or corroborate its authenticity. Yet, in another [photo](https://x.com/SecAzar/status/1033142676424679425) that was _ **posted on Twitter** _ by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, the president was shown with a blue marker on the table before him, along with a flag template in which the fourth stripe had been colored in blue. Snopes goes on to say: > [@Snopes](#): > > … But even if it is authentic and does show President Trump coloring one of the flag stripes blue, the context behind it is unknown. It is possible that the president was indulging or amusing one of the children around him by using a blue marker to color one of the stripes, rather than making an inadvertent error or acting out of ignorance about the flag’s design. Yeah right. 🙄 Like Trump has ever attempted to indulge or amuse anyone else in his life. And the picture shows him intently coloring in the stripe, not looking at anyone. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/623 "2025-12-30T17:48:12Z")
> [@robby](#): > > Snopes seems to be going out of their way in the linked article to give Trump the benefit of the doubt. Playing the ump. And even if Snopes was, seven years ago, implausibly going out of their way as you say, the still-alive minority of those who had dementia in 2018 do not talk, or post, as Trump does today. > [@robby](#): > > Like Trump has ever attempted to indulge or amuse anyone else in his life. He purposefully amuses his supporters at almost every rally. And Trump indulges Vladamir Putin whenever he talks to him. I do not mean to single anyone out, but posters here sometimes go to one of two extremes. One is to say Trump is a uniquely charismatic master of demagoguery without whom MAGA is nothing. The other is to say he is a senile idiot. The truth is in-between. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/624 "2025-12-30T17:52:01Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > One is to say Trump is a uniquely charismatic master of demagoguery without whom MAGA is nothing. The other is to say he is a senile idiot. The truth is in between. The truth is both. Trump is basically the evil version of Chauncey Gardener from _Being There_ - he’s ignorant and simpleminded but serves as a blank screen for his followers to project their own narratives about him - as a “strong man”, a “great patriot”, a “man of faith” etc. What people see in him is rarely something that is really there. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/625 "2025-12-30T18:20:23Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > > [@robby](#): > > > > Like Trump has ever attempted to indulge or amuse anyone else in his life. > > He purposefully amuses his supporters at almost every rally. I think it’s a stretch to say that he is purposefully amusing anyone other than himself at his rallies. He rambles, he digresses, he lurches from subject to subject. The closest he comes to purposefully doing anything is repeating anything that gets a positive reaction from the crowd. > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > …The other is to say he is a senile idiot. I don’t actually think Trump is senile. I think he is lazy and incurious. In the case of the flag-coloring, I think he knows the American flag has the colors red, white, and blue, but was not too concerned which color goes where—along with possibly conflating the U.S. flag with red and white stripes with the “Blue Lives Matter” [version](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_blue_line#Blue_Lives_Matter). ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/626 "2025-12-30T21:32:39Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Trump will try to make sure it is not a Democrat. [![](https://i.imgur.com/zgdvGeh.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/zgdvGeh.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/627 "2025-12-30T21:37:52Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > The truth is both. Trump is basically the evil version of Chauncey Gardener from _Being There_ - he’s ignorant and simpleminded but serves as a blank screen for his followers to project their own narratives about him - as a “strong man”, a “great patriot”, a “man of faith” etc. What people see in him is rarely something that is really there. Yes, this. For his followers he’s “all things for all people” because they ignore what he actually says and just project their fantasies onto him. Thus the infamous “face eating leopards” effect; all these people who voted for someone who was _obviously_ going to harm them, but are caught by surprise when it happens because they never listened to the actual words. Just their own fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/628 "2025-12-30T21:50:22Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Lots of body bags from Venezuela will be a bad look for a campaign. Yes, it would be. That is why there must be no cameras allowed. What, can you think of another way to prevent those body bags from being seen? ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/629 "2025-12-30T22:01:34Z")
I’m pretty much the opposite. The blatant criminality of the Trump administration fills me with dread. I keep thinking, “how can these guys afford to surrender the power that protects actions that would put anyone else in prison?” So Diaper Don not participating much in the success of his successor means to me that he’s simply not interested in something that will have no relationship to reality in January 2029. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/630 "2025-12-30T22:09:04Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > I’m pretty much the opposite. The blatant criminality of the Trump administration fills me with dread. I keep thinking, “how can these guys afford to surrender the power that protects actions that would put anyone else in prison?” This is what should keep us all up at night. The Trump administration is chock full of people who _cannot_ lose power in 2029, as in, they will suffer life-changing and possibly life-ending consequences if they leave office. And they have considerable power to achieve their ends. I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that they’ll succeed. But they will pull every lever they can get their greasy hands on, and probably invent a few new ones along the way. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/631 "2025-12-30T22:39:28Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I did see someone I don’t know with a MAGA hat on in a Mexican restaurant though. First one I’ve seen in years. I felt very sorry for the people that had to wait on him and felt like telling him to fuck off Whoa. I wonder just how much spit wound up in his enchiladas. ---
**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:** [December 30, 2025, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/632 "2025-12-30T22:42:12Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I wonder just how much spit wound up in his enchiladas. I wonder what-all was in the crema. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/633 "2025-12-30T22:42:40Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > This is what should keep us all up at night. The Trump administration is chock full of people who _cannot_ lose power in 2029, as in, they will suffer life-changing and possibly life-ending consequences if they leave office. And they have considerable power to achieve their ends. > > I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that they’ll succeed. But they will pull every lever they can get their greasy hands on, and probably invent a few new ones along the way. I keep coming back to this, the next few years are going to be… interesting, in the (fake, I know) Chinese Saying sense… ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/634 "2025-12-30T22:46:02Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Whoa. I wonder just how much spit wound up in his enchiladas. I didn’t think of that. But I bet none. These are good guys. They are human though, that’s something MAGA’s don’t understand. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/635 "2025-12-30T23:08:53Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > The blatant criminality of the Trump administration fills me with dread. I keep thinking, “how can these guys afford to surrender the power that protects actions that would put anyone else in prison?” This is a crucial concern for all of us. They CAN’T lose—and they never had any regard for actual laws to begin with. So their potential range of actions is alarmingly large. To accomplish this goal of forever power, they are likely looking to the lessons of the past. We know that several of them have an admiration for Nazism. One specific lesson of that group of 1930s power-seekers that the current ones may be operating on: The burning of the Reichstag. And this seems non-impossibly related to Donald’s recent remarks about his “ballroom”: > [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > Today I saw El Gordo rambling about the ballroom AGAIN, but this time I noticed he kept emphasizing how great it will be for “the inauguration”, and that it’s “bullet proof and drone proof”. How many people find this particularly chilling? I don’t like to come off as paranoid, but to me, that is dog whistley as hell. I agree. This is not something discussed in the public sphere at all, that I’m aware of: “we need to stop having Inaugurations at the Capitol.” (Even worried-about-bullets Donald conceded that his 1/20/25 ceremony could be at the Capitol, albeit indoors.) If “something” happened to the Capitol, something big, then Donald could achieve his dearest wish: martial law in perpetuity. And if the “something” were timed right, he could rid himself of quite a few annoying opponents. His ‘hold Inaugurations in the ballroom’ comments came out of left field for most of us. But maybe they are rooted in more wide-ranging speculative plans being tossed around in the inner circle. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/636 "2025-12-30T23:12:37Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I didn’t think of that. But I bet none. These are good guys. It’s my understanding that food sabotage by angry staff isn’t that rare, which is one reason I avoid restaurants. Spit in the enchiladas isn’t as disgusting as some other things I’ve heard of, like scrubbing out toilets with steaks. ---
**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:** [December 30, 2025, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/637 "2025-12-30T23:15:57Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > This is not something discussed in the public sphere at all, that I’m aware of: “we need to stop having Inaugurations at the Capitol.” (Even worried-about-bullets Donald conceded that his 1/20/25 ceremony could be at the Capitol, albeit indoors.) Maybe he was inspired by Zohran Mamdani’s decision to be sworn in as New York’s mayor in a private ceremony at an abandoned subway station. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/638 "2025-12-30T23:29:33Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > > [@jsc1953](#): > > > > Whoa. I wonder just how much spit wound up in his enchiladas. > > I didn’t think of that. But I bet none. These are good guys. They are human though, that’s something MAGA’s don’t understand. [Trump came close to winning Latino vote in '24](https://www.axios.com/2025/06/26/trump-harris-latino-voters-2024-election-pew) I know a Salvadoran immigrant, who is a Mexican restaurant part-owner, and voted for Trump. Someone might suggest that the owner isn’t the one spitting. But I’m on the trusting side here. And does the cook/chef even know who in the party ordered what, let along whether they share? ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/639 "2025-12-30T23:31:13Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Mamdani’s decision to be sworn in as New York’s mayor in a private ceremony at an abandoned subway station I heard about this just an hour or so ago—my first thought was ‘he’s worried about getting shot.’ I guess the ostensible reason for that location is that it (supposedly) symbolizes the priority ZM will put on “workers’ issues” (such as transportation). The Trump ‘ballroom’ idea does seem to me to be more about either rendering Congress semi-officially irrelevant, or (if evil plans are afoot) a necessity if the Capitol is simply unavailable. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371/640 "2025-12-30T23:34:39Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > The Trump ‘ballroom’ idea does seem to me to be more about either rendering Congress semi-officially irrelevant, or (if evil plans are afoot) a necessity if the Capitol is simply unavailable. Like the arch, it’s about creating a legacy. This is why so many Democrats will want the ballroom and arch torn down. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371.md?page=31) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-wont-rule-out-3rd-term/1016371.md?page=33)