TRUMP TAPS RFK, GAETZ, TO SEE IF GOP WILL LIMIT HIS DICTATORSHIP - 11.15.24

will not compromise. He is not playing three dimensional chess. These creatures and the other psychotics have been chosen because they are unacceptable, because they are unqualified, because they are unbalanced. This is Trump saying he doesn't care about any of that.

Trump does not think he's overplayed his hand. Trump knew the House Ethics reporting to Gates' sex life was going to come out, as it already did yesterday when ABC reported that the woman who testified to the House hearing said she had sex with Gates when she was seventeen.

Trump doesn't care. Trump cares whether or not she was hot, just like his only reaction to the RFK Junior Olivia Newsy story was to consider consoling her ex fiance in an entirely different way, though he cares about one thing. If he ever answers a media question again, he will say the ABC leak about Gates or the full committee report if it leaks, is fake and it's a witch hunt, and they are all lying, and only he tells the truth,

and ultimately it's just another attack on him. And he is going to make it and the Kennedy nomination into a life or death loyalty test for his cult and his slaves. And as much as I hate every last Republican lawmaker, I almost feel sorry for them. Right now. Trump is going to demand they approve Gates as Attorney General and Kennedy at HHS and maybe Patel at FBI. Any way, or at minimum, he's going to demand that the Senate gets out of the way with recess appointments

instead of hearings. That's the plan. The plan is I decide, and you do what I say. We are already here. This is the fork in the fascist road. Deliberately choose people with no morals, no qualifications, and no qualities except absolute fealty to the dictator that insist that everybody say they're great let's salute them. Same for this woman Gnome, same for the disgusting Gabbard, same for this pig Hegsith, same for him naming all his personal attorneys to key

roles at DOJ, and it will probably work. It has so far. The Republicans in charge of this country got to be in charge of this country by not caring about this country, nor caring about anything else but power. If it doesn't, If there really are thirty votes against the nomination of Matt Gates in the Senate, and there actually is a hearing and Matt Gates actually is defeated, then there is an entirely new ballgame in this country. Then Trump has been humiliated and defeated entirely by his

own side. And Republicans, whether it is four of them or forty of them, will have set boundary or maybe more than boundaries. Once the momentum of a dictatorship in the formation is stopped, it can be destroyed. This could be existential for Trump. It is amazing that this perverted, slimy, pompadored defeat Madison Cawthorne wannabe and the rotting, literally worm eaten corpse of Robert F. Kennedy Junior could unintentionally be

the things that preserve or destroy American democracy. But that's where we're going, and we don't have far to get there. Oh and by the way, that rule, do not obey in advance. First the Washington Post obeyed in advance. Now it's CNN. Oliver Darcy of Status Report Now says the new boss of what used to be a news network has told a company wide town hall that CNN will not revert back to the wall to wall coverage of the Trump White House that defined it in it it's previous.

Life go deeper, he said. According to Darcy and Report on the impact that policies decided on in Washington have on the rest of the country, there's more to life than these inside the Beltway stories like the destruction of democracy. The new boss is named Mark Thompson. He has another wash out from the toxic world of British journalism where they could not care less. He is a Matt Gates, Bobby Kennedy, Cash Patel kind of guy in terms of what he cares about in life, not being what he

does for a living. He's not a journalist. He's a man who bosses journalists. If this were the summer of eighteen sixty three, and there had been a CNN Mark Thompson in charge of it, would be saying less gettysburg mate, less civil law, more about the price of firewood, and the next tour of the singer Jenny Lynde, the future of the that's just a story. So if after this slitmus test, I'm Trump and I'm appointing not my horse like Caligula, but my whores, you will still obey me

and approve them. If it's not Trump that has been destroyed, but democracy, we then move on to the next step. Trump then confirming in the near future that no Wednesday in front of the House Republican Caucus, No, he was not joking. He believes he is entitled to a third term and you are going to give it to him.

And I have a lot about that story. It is a House bill, and the Republicans control the House, and so it will not pass the House because Republicans in the House have even fewer morals than Republicans in the Senate. But at least Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman has stood up

and said this. He has proposed a formeral House resolution quote which would reaffirm that the twenty second Amendment is explicit in prohibiting presidents who have served two full terms from running for the presidency again, and condemned President Elect Trump's frequent statements suggesting he could serve past the end of his most recent term. What we need, what we really need is that statement proposed and passed in the

Senate while the Senate is still in Democratic hands. But I'm sure that before doing that, Senate Judiciary Chairman Durbin would need to study those words for thirty to forty years. In any event, do not sleep on the Trump third term idea. I'm begging you. After Congressman Goldman introduced that measure, he was greeted by a surprisingly large arge number of reactions from the left that mirrored the reactions that I got yesterday to my coverage of Trump's slow burn towards

running for a third term. If he isn't dead by then, he's joking. He's joking. He's not joking. He's not joking. He's running. He's president again for a third term. That's the sequence. The gist of the reaction to this is, why are you wasting time on this topic when it's a moot point? And the twenty second Amendment to the Constitution limits the president to two terms. Well, sir, the Constitution also bars anybody who participated in an insurrection from

serving in office. The fourteenth Amendment is explicit about that. In fact, the fourteenth Amendment was used in New Mexico against one of the January sixth gang. And yet here we are the head of that gang. Trump set to be sworn in as president sixty seven days from now. The Supreme Court will say what the twenty second Amendment to the Constitution actually says, and of course it will have been Trump who will have told them what to

say it actually says. And since last spring, the fascists have been field testing exactly how best to go around the twenty second Amendment and get Trump, if he isn't dead by then, a third term. The headline last spring in the magazine The American Conservative Trump twenty twenty eight. The sub headline to this piece, the twenty second Amendment is an arbitrary restraint on presidents who serve non consecutive

terms and on democracy itself. The Republicans started joking and tweaking and triggering the left with variations on this theme. Ever since Trump himself mused in two thousand and eight that he was owed to third term because during his first term, he had been preoccupied with defending his you know,

crimes against the United States of America. Then there was the joky animation, the Trump twenty twenty campaign banner, followed by a Trump twenty twenty four campaign banner, fooled by a Trump twenty twenty eight campaign banner, followed by a Trump twenty thirty two campaign banner, and on and on and on until it was a one hundred and two year old Trump running in twenty forty eight, and nobody was wondering if he'd be dead by then and running

from a coffin, because after all, it was just a joke. They're only doing this to own the Libs. Except that's not what they're doing, quoting author in the American Conservative Peter Tungeit, I swear to God that's his name. T N g u E Tte quoting Tunget on Trump. His re emergence as the Republican nominee in twenty twenty four

is a triumph of democracy. Not only did Trump secure the nomination following his defeat in twenty twenty a rather incredible feat in and of itself, but did so in spite of every obstacle the mainstream media, the Republican establishment, and the law fair apparatus have put in his way. You see where this is going. Trump overcame obstacles, or if you prefer, Trump overcame the law and the constitution, and Trump overcame mediocrity and weaponized stupidity and hatred inside

his own party. Therefore, the constitution shouldn't apply to him. He's spatial, especially that part of the constitution that has those pesky term limits in it. That twenty second Amendment shouldn't apply to him. Republican primary voters quote chose him, writes mister Tung It in the American Conservative quote because they damn well felt like it. That's the American way. The twenty second Amendment. You get two full terms or one and a half if you're serving out another president's term.

Quote sounds reasonable enough, especially in light of FDR's hold on the office. Yet those who supported the amendment more than seventy years ago could not have foreseen the prospect of a one term president who lost the office but who later regained it in a subsequent election. The author then immediately cites that exact thing happening. He immediately mentions the time that that exact thing happened when Grover Cleveland, the ex president, came all the way back to being

president again in eighteen ninety two. And the author also leaves out in this idea that nobody could have foreseen anything like Trump that while he may see this as something from prehistory when dinosaurs still had the vote or something, the twenty second Amendment was in fact introduced by a Michigan congressman named Earl Mitchener. Earl Mitchener was sixteen years old and already preparing for University of Michigan law school

when Grover Cleveland was first elected. Earl Mitchener, in just his lifetime, not only saw Cleveland re elected after four years in the wilderness, but he'd also seen former President Theodore Roosevelt try for a third non consecutive term in nineteen twelve. He had seen the Republican bid to draft former President Calvin Coolidge to run for a third non consecutive term instead of President Herbert Hoover. In nineteen thirty two.

He had seen Hoover himself try for nomination for a second non consecutive term in nineteen thirty six and again in nineteen forty. Owen Mitchener has also seen Franklin Roosevelt run for a third term and get it, and run for a fourth term and get it. And he'd seean William Jennings Bryan get the Democratic nomination in eighteen ninety six and nineteen hundred and having not had enough to run for it again in nineteen hundred and eight, and even begin to try to get it again for a

fourth time in nineteen twelve. Mitchner, the congressman behind presidential term limits, only saw all that unfold in one lifetime. But nobody could have foreseen an ex president regaining the White House other than everybody who did. As to the audacity that the Constitution would prohibit his trumpness from running again in twenty twenty eight, even though he's so special, quoting mister tunget again, this is plainly unfair, even though the uniqueness it bestows upon him. He was elected, He

was not reelected. He tried to overthrow democracy failed even at that. Well, that's rather akin to, you know, we should break the rules for him. He shot a guy

on Fifth Avenue and they all applauded. The author promptly uses for support for his argument two two term presidents who each said something doubting the twenty second Amendment and the quote artificial limits it places on voter choice, even though those two presidents were Reagan, who love him or hate him, did win two landslides, and Barack Obama, who won the twenty first century equivalent of two landslides, while Trump won once with a minority of the popular vote,

and then this month produced the fiftieth biggest popular margin of victory in history, or if you prefer, the fifth smallest. But to quote mister Tungett again, Trump, however, makes an even more forceful ethical argument against the twenty second Amendment

and for its repeal. If a man who once was president returned after a series of years to stand again for the office and proves so popular as to earn a second non consecutive term, as Trump seems bound to, to deny him the right to run for a second consecutive term cuts against basic fair play. Unquote ah, the basic fair play argument Alexander Hamilton thought that up, if I recall correctly, or was it George Hamilton quote? If by twenty twenty eight voters feel Trump has done a

poor job, they can pick another candidate. But if they feel he has delivered on his promises, why should they be denied the freedom to choose him once more? Unquote Well, if he really has delivered on his promises, what makes you think they will get the chance to deny him another term or a fourth one after that. But that's besides the point. Just for the moment, this is Trump's legal looking version of trying to stay in office for life. We'll get to the illegal point later on. I'm sure

there follows in this piece some hurried sophistry. Quote don't let questions of Trump's age in four years fool you? And his ability to walk in a straight line, and how in twenty thirty two he'd only be eighty six, I mean true, he'd be spray tanned, rested, and ready having not used his brain in more than twelve years. The best part of the American Conservative piece by mister tungueit positing Trump deserves a theoretical third term even though

it's you know, unconstitutional. Is how fluidly this idiot, having not come close to proving his case, then concludes he has utterly proved his case in a slam dunk, and

so you better shut up and enjoy it. Quote. Conservatives have gritted their teeth for years as the left, in their hatred of Trumps, attempted to pervert the meaning of the twenty second Amendment unquote, which Democrats haven't, because nobody has previously raised the possibility that the twenty second Amendment, which precludes a third term, actually encourages the third term. Only this guy, mister Tungeit. It's interesting, by the way, that a man named Tungeit would use the phrase gritted

their teeth. Democrats have not tried to pervert the meaning of the twenty second Amendment, because if they had, they would have found a pretext to run Obama for a third term in twenty sixteen, or in twenty twenty, or you know, this month or four years from now. Quoting again, The case for repealing the twenty second Amendment is far more straightforward. As with prohibition, it is simply a matter of finding the will to get rid of a bad

idea that needlessly limits American's freedom. Trump twenty twenty eight exclamation point. So this guy is saying it would be a triumph of the will, triumph of the Will. Oh yeah, like the Lanny Riefenstahl Adolf Hitler film from nineteen thirty five. Got it well, I know, can't spell triumph of the Will without Trump. Where you might ask in this article is the process by which the twenty second Amendment is repealed? Well, sir,

there is none. The Roberts Court disqualifying vote against the fourteenth at its invention of a non existent congressional action to implement the fourteenth Amendment, when in fact the fourteenth Amendment insists there must be congressional action only to override it. That is shown as the green light for a very

simple Republican plan. If Trump isn't dead by twenty twenty eight, and they want to run him again, as he doubtless will want to run again, and the plan is this, they just do it, and then they dare you to sue. They run him. They to again use the author's phrase, run him, because they damn well feel like it. They string out the nominating process just long enough so that the court cases don't really become relevant until late spring or summer, and when the Supreme Court finally gets around

to it in July or August. Right at twenty twenty eight convention time, the Court will have to tisk tisk the political system and say that to strike Trump from the ballot at such a late date would be an unthinkable denial of the rights of millions of fascists, some of whom were five when he first declared for the domination, to vote for him again. Because well, because of the constitutions, no fair rule. But certainly, you say, if suddenly Trump can run for a third term, the third term thing

would not apply just to Trump. The Republicans have missed the small detail, haven't they. Suddenly Barack Obama, who would be sixty seven in twenty twenty eight, and Bill Clinton, who would still be two months younger than Trump, they would be eligible to run for their own third terms. Ah, not so fast. What the Trumpsts are setting up is a Supreme Court ruling that only presidents who have served

two non consecutive terms can seek a third. Literally, the only other person in human history this would apply to would be Grover Cleveland. Grover Cleveland was a Democrat, but he's been dead since nineteen oh seven. So even if we dig them up and run them for a third non consecutive term, he'd be almost as mental and confident

as Donald Trump is. Now, remember, before you get lost in Gates and the rest of these idiots and the next Trump outrage, that Trump declared he was running for reelection literally before he was sworn in in twenty seventeen. He will probably be more circumspect this time, because this is a big deal. Even the New York Times would probably notice that him going for a third term would be the absolute point of no return towards dictatorship. Probably

they'd notice. But Trump is building towards it. And if this thing in the American Conservative is not enough of a warning, there are other articles springing up online with ambiguous titles, and when I say ambiguous, I mean not at all ambiguous titles like the twenty second Amendment doesn't say what you think it says. These articles offer not only ways to ignore the twenty second Amendment, but additional workarounds, like electing a different Republican ticket in twenty twenty eight,

the Lurelin Wallace option. You elect two other idiots president and vice president, and then you make Trump Speaker of the House, which is legal, and then you get the newly elected Republican president and vice president to both resign, making Speaker Trump president still for a third term. These compared to the twenty second Amendment stuff read like rejected scripts from the West Wing. But then again, so does all of American political history since the year twenty fifteen.

The point of this is, yes, Gates is a disaster. Gabbard is worse, bad enough that our European allies are already murmuring that they would have to stop sharing intelligence with the Director of National Intelligence in this country. Hegsith is ready to deploy US troops against US citizens on US soil. These are all true things, but don't take your eye off the big ball. Trump's mission, his sole purpose, his only means of staying literally alive, is to find

a way to stay in office forever. Period. And Peter tung its essay in The American Conservative was the sound of Trump's GPS being switched on to help him find that. And if you need one last confirmation of that, of the importance of this, of how it is not a moot, point of how the twenty second Amendment will be reread to indicate that it's about making lollipops illegal, if that's what Trump wants it to say. If you want one last confirmation here it is Lisa Needham at the site.

Public notice connected the final dots. Remember the name of the magazine that mister Tungitt wrote this for, The American Conservative quote. The American Conservative is a partner of Project twenty twenty five. As promised, at least two countdowns a week going forward, Mondays and Thursdays. Definitely more as circumstances warrant and permit. This was one of those circumstances. You're welcome. The next scheduled edition is Monday. Until then, I'm Keith Aulderman.

Good Night and good luck. Countdown with Keith Alderman is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.