Rule of Threes

"In a room sit three great men, a king, a priest, and a rich man with his gold. Between them stands a sellsword, a little man of common birth and no great mind. Each of the great ones bids him slay the other two. ‘Do it,’ says the king, ‘for I am your lawful ruler.’ ‘Do it,’ says the priest, ‘for I command you in the names of the gods.’ ‘Do it,’ says the rich man, ‘and all this gold shall be yours.’ So tell me—who lives and who dies?"
-George R. R. Martin, A Clash of Kings

It's a matter of mythology in The United States that presidents only serve two terms. Our founding father, George Washington, served two terms as president and then declined a third. Following his example, no presidents sought a third term until Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940. While FDR was one of the great presidents, he did violate an unspoken rule of American politics and the 22nd Amendment was passed soon after. And that's why our presidents are limited to two terms.

Twenty-Second Amendment
Section 1
No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.
Section 2
This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.

Get it now, before it disappears.

Like most mythology, there are some inaccuracies in this telling. Washington did care about the example he set as the chief executive, but he also had health issues. He'd die two years after leaving office.

Theodore Roosevelt, Ulysses S. Grant, and Woodrow Wilson all sought third terms, but none of them succeeded. Franklin Roosevelt apparently didn't seek a third term, simply letting the Democratic National Convention know he was "willing to serve if asked." He won on the first ballot.

But then, a popular, successful politician engineering an intraparty clean sweep that's "thrust upon him," is a great way to violate a political norm without looking like you want to violate a political norm. Is that what happened? I'm getting most of this information from Wikipedia^[1], so file it under "general knowledge" or "speculation."

Of course, the White House's current occupant, Donald J. Trump, wants a third term. We can assume this primarily because it's a thing which exists and which he doesn't have.

More specifically, he has mentioned deserving a third term because he lost the 2020 election. It wasn't that people liked him so much and their votes weren't counted. I would hope you forgive the presumption that if those words ever left his mouth they were incidental to the creation of a massive, unevidenced conspiracy necessary to salve his ego and use power to warp the consensus reality around him.

But even if there was some criminal wrong done against Donald Trump, a wrong we would consider egregious enough to outweigh a lifetime spent gathering bad karma, then–well, let's consider that crime for a minute:

 

 

In some fantastic scenario where the world's most powerful and entitled man was owed some remuneration, he would not, by fiat, be entitled to the title of "World's Specialist Boy" and a dragon, much less presidency of the United States.

If someone hits you with their car, you cannot take compensation in the form of fucking their husband or hotter-but-still-legal son. The United States justice system does not grant wishes^[2]. It is the logic of a child that it ever would.

But of course, this is grievance talk at a rally. In interviews he says he can't, but he'd like to, but "people" want him to, but… For anyone who has had the misfortune of hearing the president talk on any subject for any amount of time (Fig 2), you know this is how he talks.

 

Fig 2. "Will You Shut Up, Man?"

If it's something he wants, a cookie? He wants the cookie. He acknowledges he shouldn't have the cookie. He's entitled to the cookie. The people keeping the cookie are terrible people. America wants him to take the cookie.

It's something that inconveniences him? It's the worst ever. It's horrible. Like no one has ever seen. Terrible for everyone. America wants him to stop it.

It's something he did? It's the best ever. It's unbelievable. Like no one has ever seen. Great for everyone. The people are happy he did it.

This is clearly the logic of a mind whose only logic is bent and chained to service an insatiable set of base desires, but it does require some interpretation of his words. After all, he did technically say of a third term, "But it's something that, to the best of my knowledge, you're not allowed to do. I don't know if that's constitutional that they're not allowing you to do it or anything else." We can't just say "he wants to violate the United States Constitution and seek a third term" when we're interpreting what he's saying.

He also jokes about it. I've heard someone suggest he's just trolling. Threatening to violate the Constitution to get a rise out of those terrible Democrats. As the Last Sane Conservative in the United States, taking the Constitution lightly gets a rise out of me, too.

But then, I'm hardly under the impression Donald Trump gives a fuck about anyone who's not him. His id is the setup, and those powerless masses who know better are the punchline. The transgression is the catharsis.

There's an old saying, "many a true word is spoken in jest." If there's any honesty to be wrung from the current president, it's in his jest. I'd take the things he says before he laughs as more serious than the rest of what dribbles out of his mouth.

Again, while he is objectively a proliferate liar, that's still opinion. How else can we know he intends to run for a third term when he has–amidst ubiquitous contradictions–said he doesn't.

Well, there is THE HAT:

 

 

Dipshit ready on day one.

One of the hallmarks of latter-day United States governance is claiming damaging actions were justified, denying damaging actions altogether, or proposing that we, as a matter of course, compensate people millions of dollars to manage organizations they are simply too stupid to manage.

But this hat–sold for fifty five dollars because some of us have transcended "fucking moron" to become a "committed fucking sin against intelligent thought"–implies a level of premeditated, cock-in-constitution fuckery that, if there were a hell for unamericanism, would get you bumped to the front of the lines for penis flattening and bees with teeth.

When asked, the White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said, "But it's a cool hat and I suspect it will be highly popular!" and The Trump Organization, which is selling it, said nothing. So, y'know, "it'll sell." Above all else, realize these people have no spines, no real beliefs, and no protection against the fires of Hell but their provable lack of human souls.

In September of last year, Lindsey Graham–the Republican Senator who died while we were waiting for partisan Master Chief Mitch McConnell to die–said, "Trump 2028. I hope this never ends." He's also the guy who said, "All I can say is, 'count me out, enough is enough,'" on January 6th, 2021. Feckless to the end, and the Constitution cannot be served by the feckless.

Steve Bannon–full disclosure: he's on my vision board as I transition from middle age to seniority. Full head of hair and a slight alcohol bloat is attainable at my place in life–did a 40-minute interview with The Economist where he painted a picture of an America where Trump won 2028. Where, fantastically, Trump destroyed "corporatism" and reinstalled "capitalism." Where the MAGA movement seized institutions and made the Democratic party "more competitive."

Andy Ogles, who just lost his primary to continue being the representative for Tennessee's 5th Congressional District, introduced an amendment that would allow a president a third term…so long as their first two terms weren't consecutive. An amendment that went nowhere and would only allow one person to run for a third term: Donald J. Trump.

For those of us who are Constitution fans–"patriots," you might call us–it is heartening that these two out-and-proud grovelers and their closeted corpse are the strongest voices for extending the time our worst commander-in-chief has to do more Iran wars, more illegal tariffs, and more illegal vainglory.

But far worse than the loud and stupid are the quiet and cowardly. Here's a short segment of US Senator Chris Coons asking judicial nominees questions about law, including The 22nd Amendment:

Judicial nominees are nominated by the President, then the Senate reviews, and, if they approve, confirm the nominee. These people will be judges whose job is to knowledgably, neutrally–with more neutrality than I have exhibited here–read case law and render judgments. Even if it violates their political ideology. Even if it negatively affects them. Even if it makes a mass of idiots with more guns than emotional regulation angry.

Even if it makes the President of the United States angry.

These people seem to lack the knowledge and courage to do that. But Republicans in the Senate likewise lack the courage to send these nominees back and ask for more qualified ones. So these people–and many more like them–are being steadily injected into our judicial system.

So why? I threw out a pithy case for greed earlier, and of course that's a factor. Another factor is that we can't perp walk a president[citation needed], but we can a former president.

There is of course, the anxiety. The fear. A class of people are seeing the natural change in the social fabric to which they've become accustomed. And they demanded validation of their fears because it was easier than the discomfort and mild failures of learning a slightly different set of social rules. And so conservative media supplied that demand and created a reality where innocuous shit like "67," transgender people, and taxation were destroying America.

You can't save a sinking ship by throwing kids and trans people overboard. These folks would rather seize the wheelhouse and run the ship aground themselves than sit with uncertainty while a professional helmsman saves us all.

It's not one thing, but a lot of things. But if I had to guess at the big one; it's because he can. Like Vladimir Putin stealing a Super Bowl ring or Greg Abbot stealing a thousand-dollar pen, people with power will take things just because no one will stop them.

"How many divisions has the pope?"
-Attributed to Joseph Stalin

Man, history sure does have a way with Stalin's words, doesn't it?

The President has used his office to do a lot of illegal stuff. I say "illegal," because he did it, people said, "that's illegal," he continued doing it, someone took him to court, and then the court said "that's not legal," and then, regularly, he continued doing it.

That is, when The Supreme Court doesn't mistake him for a Make-a-Wish kid. The Court has formally shot down a lot of his moves, but quietly allowed a large number of them using an informal process called "the shadow docket." 80% of Trump's runs to the shadow docket have resulted in the court's assent. With no oral argument and no explanation.^[3]

That's the pattern. The man uses institutional power to do something and when there's some pushback, it's months later and the harm is done. Or the harm continues.

And that's when pushback comes. Sometimes it doesn't. We're replacing proven electromagnetic catapults on aircraft carriers right now because someone told him boiled water was better. We're paying $1.2 billion for German firm RWE to abandon wind projects in the US in favor of light natural gas infrastructure. Thousands of pages of documents were pulled from government websites in 2025 because he didn't like the inclusion or trans people or the results of studies^[4]. 

The administration will create some pretense, some comforting blanket that will allow business leaders, election boards, and secretaries of state hide under it and put his name on the ballot. The ones that don't will get sued and the case will run up to the Supreme Court's shadow docket to make sure an order gets made before the deadline for printing ballots. Opposing cases will move more slowly.

The Constitution doesn't defend itself. Like the flag, it's a symbol people in power are quick to cleave to when justifying their actions. But unlike the flag, reading it can belie those justifications.

That's only relevant if you care. If words have meaning. If people believe The Constitution, accept it, submit to it in obeisance. The Constitution is the fiat money of law; it matters because we think it matters. The gold^[5] standard of law is the law of the jungle, the domination of the strong by the weak. That's the alternative.

That suits the people who think they're strong. Physically. Financially. Politically. But Lindsay Graham was politically strong until he died. The United States was capable of dealing out incredible physical punishment until we started a war with Iran. And many ordinary folks were a lot wealthier before Donald Trump became President.

If that collective delusion we call The Constitution is to matter at all, if a society in which the strong kneel, willingly, to serve the weak, then we need to put aside our delusions of strength and reject the facile urge of a loud, persistent idiot to preside over his own failures indefinitely.

—
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
[2] Hold your fucking horsegirls. I'm getting to it.
[3] https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/supreme-court-abuse-shadow-docket-under-trump
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_government_online_resource_removals
[5] Gold is also fiat money. Just go with the analogy. No one knows what "water yuan" are yet.