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Historian: Trump's Third Term Yearning May Provoke 'January 6 Scenario'

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump once again flirted with the idea of running for a third term, not ruling it out entirely in an NBC News interview.

But on Monday, presidential historian Tim Naftali told CNN that after the ratification of the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, term-limited presidents have no legal way to stay in power. He pointed out that short of the arduous process of amending the Constitution (which involves getting two-thirds support among state legislatures and two-thirds support from both chambers of Congress), Trump will have no choice but to leave the White House in January of 2029.

"President Trump does not have the Constitutional cards in this case," Naftali said. "There are only two scenarios by which you could constitutionally alter the the Constitution and allow him to run for a third term, and they both involve finding 38 states. Donald Trump knows that there aren't 38 red states."

CNN host Brianna Keilar then asked Naftali about the scenario in which Trump could mimic Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister under Dmitry Medvedev and ran the government behind the scenes before once again ascending to the presidency for yet another term. Keilar posited that Trump could run as Vice President JD Vance's running mate in 2028, only for Vance to then resign if elected and allow Trump to once again occupy the White House for four more years. However, Naftali threw cold water on that idea.

"The 12th amendment of our Constitution stipulates that no one can be a vice presidential candidate if they're not Constitutionally eligible to be president," he said. "That kind of Putin-Medvedev scenario is not possible in our country."

But the historian and New York University associate professor then pivoted to what he viewed as the most pressing question, which is: "Why is he talking this way?" Naftali explained that Trump "knows he doesn't have 38 states" and said that his talk of a third term has just three possible explanations. He added that the third option had particularly dark implications.

"One: Political theater. Donald Trump likes attention. He likes the fact we're talking about him right now. Maybe he's also hoping some people are going to say some things that are a little bit outrageous, which he can use to fundraise," he explained. "Number two, we're living in a in an increasingly evident culture of impunity. The president is using fear to get his way with universities, to get his way with law firms, to get his way with Congress, to get his way with Canada and Greenland and Panama and Ukraine. He's on a roll. And so why not talk about what he really wants, which is to stay in office as long as he can? The third is the January 6th scenario that the president, when he was in his first term, was capable of pushing for an unconstitutional and/or illegal way of staying in office. And maybe he is signaling to his supporters: 'Start thinking about ways we can stay through 2028 and 2029.'"

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Karoline Leavitt

White House Pushing Smear Campaign Against Atlantic Editor (And His Wife)

As part of ongoing efforts to escape the growing scandal around leaked war plans, Donald Trump’s White House has now resorted to attacking the spouse of The Atlantic's editor Jeffrey Goldberg, who broke the story.

During her daily press briefing on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt opened a new front in the White House effort.

“If this story proves anything, it proves that Democrats and their propagandists in the mainstream media know how to fabricate, orchestrate, and disseminate a misinformation campaign quite well,” Leavitt said. “There’s arguably no one in the media who loves manufacturing and pushing hoaxes more than Jeffrey Goldberg. Goldberg is an anti-Trump hater. He is a registered Democrat. Goldberg’s wife is also a registered Democrat and a big Democrat donor who used to work under who? Hillary Clinton.”

Leavitt did not offer any evidence that Goldberg makes up stories. In fact, a past Goldberg article that Trump has complained about for years—that Trump called dead veterans “suckers” and “losers”—was later verified by Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly.

Goldberg is married to Pamela Ress Reeves, a policy strategist. Her big sin, according to Leavitt, appeared to be her work as director of the State Department’s International Fund for Women and Girls, under the department’s secretary at the time, Hillary Clinton.

The Trump administration and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency have cut funding for vulnerable women and children around the world.

Leavitt joined the Trump team after praising a January 6 insurrectionist as a “hero” and promoting conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election.

In her new position, Leavitt has repeatedly lied on Trump’s behalf. Despite bipartisan uproar about Trump’s decision to pardon January 6 convicts, including many convicted of violent crimes, Leavitt said it didn’t cause much controversy. She followed that up by pushing the falsehood that the Biden administration spent $50 million on condoms for the Gaza Strip, and by awarding a right-wing hoaxer with a pass to the briefing.

The administration is clearly aware the scandal is a problem.

The party has gone after the issue with gusto, alongside their allies at conservative media outlets like Fox News and Newsmax. But instead of coming clean about what was disclosed, firing involved parties, and working to provide a full accounting, the Trump team would rather smear reporters and their closest relatives.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Alina Habba

Belligerent Trump Lawyer Habba Named US Attorney In New Jersey

President Donald Trump has named his former personal attorney Alina Habba, who has been serving as White House counselor, the interim, or acting, United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Habba immediately lashed out at the Garden State’s top Democrats.

Trump said the he is also nominating the current acting U.S. Attorney, John Giordano, who has been in that role for a mere three weeks, to a new post: U.S. ambassador to Namibia. Giordano is listed as a member of the White House Historical Association.

Habba, who recently faced backlash for suggesting that veterans dismissed from federal jobs may be “not fit to have a job at this moment,” quickly went on the offensive against Sen. Cory Booker and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (video below), claiming they have “failed the state of New Jersey.”

Telling reporters that “there is corruption, there is injustice, and there is a heavy amount of crime right in Cory Booker’s backyard and right under Governor Murphy,” Habba vowed, “that will stop.”

“I look forward to working with Pam Bondi and with the Department of Justice and making sure that we further the president’s agenda of putting America first, cleaning up mess, and going after the people that we should be going after, not the people that are falsely accused,” she said, a possible reference to the numerous state and federal charges Trump had faced until winning back the White House.

Politico describes Habba as Trump’s “legal attack dog.” Trump remains a convicted felon after being convicted by a jury in the State of New York on 34 counts of business fraud in what prosecutors said was an effort to influence the 2016 election.

The New York Post’s Manhattan courts reporter Molly Crane-Newman noted on Monday that “Habba’s behavior during Trump’s defamation trial last year was so far outside the bounds that Judge Kaplan threatened to imprison her.”

The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reported that “Habba previously represented Trump in the New York civil cases where he was ordered to pay $450m for inflating his net worth and $83m for defaming E Jean Carroll.”

“In 2023, a federal judge also ordered Trump and Habba to pay $1m in sanctions for filing a frivolous claim against Hillary Clinton and others, calling the lawsuit ‘a hodgepodge of disconnected, often immaterial events, followed by an implausible conclusion,'” Lowell added.

Critics blasted the decision to name Habba.

Talking Points Memo founder and editor Josh Marshall appeared to compare Habba to an underboss in the Mafia, writing: “lol Alina Habba is now the capo of New Jersey.”

Former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner wrote, “I served as an AUSA in the District of NJ from 2001-04.”

“I’m disgusted by this,” he said, adding: “Caligula’s horse would have been a better choice.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Stifling Dissent, GOP Ejects Lawmaker From Trump Speech

Stifling Dissent, GOP Ejects Lawmaker From Trump Speech

Republicans showed their intolerance for dissenting viewpoints once again, this time during President Donald Trump’s primetime speech broadcast across the world.

Speaker Mike Johnson had Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas removed from Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night after Green dared to object to Trump as he began to speak.

Green stood up as Trump began, asserting that Trump had “no mandate” for several of his recent actions—seconds after Trump claimed that his small electoral victory was a “mandate” for sweeping changes.

Johnson angrily banged his gavel and ordered Green to “take your seat.” He then called in the sergeant at arms to forcibly eject the Democratic congressman.

The move was unusual and serves as further evidence of Republicans using political power to silence dissenting views. When Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina infamously yelled “You lie!” during former President Barack Obama’s speech in the same room in 2009, Wilson was notably allowed to stay.

This wasn’t even the first moment of the night when Republicans refused to tolerate dissent of any kind.

Earlier in the evening, as Trump entered the room, Republican Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas ripped a sign reading “This is NOT normal” out of the hands of Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico.

Republicans only value one kind of speech: their own.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

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