Don’t Make an Idol out of Donald Trump

Guest post by Josh Marshall, Editor of Talking Points Memo

Apr 02, 2025

The following Message brought to you by the Constitution

April 5 will be remembered the way Woodstock was remembered. And YOU have a chance to be there. Democracy is NOT a spectator sport.

💥💥💥 DONT MISS April 5 “Hands Off” 🧨🧨🧨

🙋‍♂️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️ Gigantic nationwide demonstration! 🙋‍♂️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️

on the National Mall and 657 local demonstrations.

Click this link to find a “Hands Off” demonstration near you. https://handsoff2025.com/

Amid the chaos and cacophony of Donald Trump’s second term, we’re sucked into this new mini-debate over a potential Trump third term. NBC News got the ball rolling with a headline that read: “Trump won’t rule out seeking third term in the White House, tells NBC News ‘there are methods’ for doing so.” They were roundly criticized for that framing and other news organizations did better by putting the matter more squarely in their headline. For instance, there was The Washington Post, whose headline ran “Trump suggests ‘methods’ exist for bid for unconstitutional third term.”

That’s better, certainly. But there’s only one proper response to all these comments: “No, you’re not.”

Full stop. That’s the whole response.

As a factual matter, I very much doubt even this degraded Supreme Court would go for this. Far more importantly, I do not think the American people would stand for it. I also very much doubt several key swing states critical to the 2028 election would place him on their ballots in obvious defiance of the Constitution. It is critical, simply critical, to remember that it is not solely the courts or the Supreme Court who decide the meaning of the Constitution and enforce its rules.

But the facts of the matter are not the only or even the main issue. This is a predictable and consistent pattern we must be deeply familiar with by now. Someone asks — or Donald Trump asks to be asked — a question about his doing something which is either outrageous, illegal, impossible, etc. The response is always some version of “I can if I want to …” or “I’m considering it … ” or “I’m not ruling it out …” or some version of “Many people want me to…”

And we’re off.

The device is simple and straightforward: an invitation to imagine that the only thing that matters is Donald Trump’s will, what he decides, what he wants to do, what he claims he can do, etc. etc. This simple dynamic is the only thing that matters. It is a public spectacle of angst, terror, sadness around the power of Donald Trump’s will. You’ve seen it playing out over the last couple days. New headlines: He says there are “methods”! “He won’t rule it out!”

Seriously, stop doing this! Not just the press but individual people who will make the decision about the future of this country.

I mean, if this is you, get a hold of yourself.

Is there any act, emolument, benefit, power … anything you’ve ever heard or could even imagine Donald Trump unilaterally “ruling out” for himself? The whole idea is absurd. Of course he doesn’t do that. This is a grasping, predatory and power-hungry man. We know this by now. We also know that perhaps even more he is someone who wants to be the center of attention, someone who wants his will to be the center of attention. It’s like this magic trick he does which get lots of otherwise sensible people to just immediately fall into line.

It’s exhausting.

Am I sure that in response to this post some will say, “But who’s going to stop him???” … “Hahaha, there’s no law!! Don’t you know that by now???” or all the other sudsily cynical rejoinders luxuriating in a perverse impotence. Or perhaps some people are focused on those obscure law professors who’ve come up with this or that workaround. All of these ripostes are no more than taking inchoate fear and transmuting that emotion, that posture of demoralization, into what looks like an argument. But it’s not. It’s just fear, self-flagellation in worship of powerlessness. People do this and they become Trump’s own taskmasters ushering people into deeper and deeper circles of demoralization.

The first thing to do if you’re interested in saving your country is to adopt a posture of cool defiance toward those who would destroy it or pervert it into a mockery of itself. I can’t tell you what is going to happen tomorrow or next year or a decade from now. I can only say what I think is likely. Predicting the future isn’t something anyone is terribly good at. It’s also one of the least important things we do. What is important is the posture we adopt toward the unknown. Don’t make yourself an idol of Donald Trump’s will. When you do this, that is exactly what you’re doing.

There’s only one proper response: “No, you’re not.” Full stop. End of story.

__________________________________________________________________________

Guest posed by Josh Marshall, editor of Talking Points Memo. You can contact him at joshtpm@protonmail.com.

As Time Goes By

Discussion about this post