Perspective all should take into consideration

[Jherrith]

Do you think Trump will try to repeal the 22nd Amendment such that he could serve an indefinite number of terms as POTUS?


James Payne, Anglican Priest & Parish Rector; Seminary Prof.
Updated December 5, 2017· Author has 506 answers and 362.3K answer views

No. This came up repeatedly during the Obama Administration. Some conspiracy theorists on the right kept suggesting that somehow Obama would change the law to run for a third term,. Despite his popularity, this was never going to happen.

A lot of posts on Quora discuss passing constitutional amendments as if it is easy- like a city changing its zoning ordinance.

One of the lasting legacies of the Founding Fathers is the full implication of the Social Compact theory enshrined in the Constitution. Washington, Jefferson and the others worked hard to build a system with lots of checks and balances to prevent mob rule, (pure democracy) on the one hand, and a tyrannical oligarchy on the other. They deliberately made it very, very difficult to change the Constitution and upset the balance they achieved via separation and diffusion of power.

The Constitution is the Supreme law of the land. Within its boundaries, changing laws is a very straightforward process. A bill ( or bills) must pass the House and Senate, be reconciled of any differences, and signed by the President.

But to change the Constitution is intentionally super hard to do. It requires that the bill in question pass both houses of Congress by a 2/3 majority in each house of Congress, It must then be approved by a 3/4 super majority of the states. There are 50 states and 99 state legislatures ( Nebraska is not bicameral) Thirty eight states must pass a resolution affirming the proposed amendment. That usually means both the state house of representatives and senate have to approve the measure and send it to the governor to sign. Any break in that chain stops that state from ratifying the proposed amendment. Right now only 9 states have both houses controlled by Democrats and only 16 governors are Democrats. Obama never sought, nor would any request have been approved. A 3/ 4 majority is a very high bar that requires a consensus to have formed on an issue. No brainer amendments pass quickly. Controversial issues do not pass at all.

That is the reason the U.S. Constitution has been amended so few times and is the oldest functioning constitution in the world.

Whenever the Constitution has been circumvented, like the crisis over slavery in 1860 - 61, which became a civil war, or abortion 1n 1973 ( polarizing society into almost equal factions to the present day) with attempts to impose change from the bench, it has caused serious problems in American society.

As for Donald Trump. He will not seek a third term. Maybe not a second term. After all, Trump does not enjoy full support even from GOP office holders and it is inconceivable that the laborious process to allow for a third term to be possible could be seriously begun, much less completed. And giving the polarization of the country and close election of 2016 the proposed amendment could not pass the Congress. Can anyone see a scenario in which 26 Democrats in the Senate would vote out a bill to amend the Constitution to allow Trump a third term? Or Obama before? Although in recent years the left has weakened the rule of law, our Constitution still works.

So there is zero chance Trump will stand for a third term.

[Jherrith]

Do you think Trump will try to repeal the 22nd Amendment such that he could serve an indefinite number of terms as POTUS?

Michael Berglund, Not an expert in politics. I just find it interesting.

Answered March 21, 2018· Author has 296 answers and 901.5K answer views

I know that most of the answers here have looked at the question? Can Trump repeal assuming he would want to or even attempt to.

My answer here is going to be based on the actual question

Do I think Trump will try to repeal it so he could serve indefinitely as POTUS?

No.

I understand that there are a bunch of folks out there that hear President Trump talk and it's like nails on a chalkboard and you find his words disgusting. But, unlike many people, President Trump says things he really never intends to do and he does it for a variety of reasons. In this case, he said it as a joke (amidst a lot of comments that were obvious jokes) made to the Gridiron Club Dinner talking about President Xi Jinping President for life status and how he'd like that.

For all of you who decide what to be concerned about because of what Donald Trump said (at some point either as a Presidential candidate or as President), you need to know this about him. He says stuff for a variety of reasons:

He says things as a negotiating ploy. He starts with the extreme so he can get something. (e.g. deportation force of 11 million illegal immigrants, 45% tariff on China, etc)
He says things to get people to the bargaining table. Saying he's going to tear up agreements (e.g. NAFTA, etc).
He says things to fluster the media and suck the oxygen out of the room. He did this to 16 Republican Presidential candidates. They couldn't get their message out because the media was spending all their 24/7 news channels discussing all of the extreme stances that Donald Trump would say.
He says things to rattle his opponents and force them into a personal argument with him rather than one on policy (e.g. Lying Ted, Crooked Hillary, Crying Chuck, etc). They are also meant to coalesce his base.
He loves hyperbole. He says best ever and worst ever when it's obvious that they really don't apply. You can say he's exaggerating but this is part of his grandiose, bigger-than-life persona.
I could totally understand if his misuse of words to achieve his goals bothers you. If you say what you mean and mean what you say kind of person, I could see all of the above being really annoying. But just don't use ALL his words as a prediction of what he's going to do.

It's not going to give you an accurate prediction and you'll spend a great deal of time fretting over something that's never going to happen.