Can Trump Run For A Third Term?

Written By Leeja Miller

Sources:

Transcript:

Hi welcome to Why, America? I’m Leeja Miller. Trump abused his power in a lot of new and shocking ways this week, we are not surprised by this. Nevertheless we must continue to pay attention and call it out because say it with me “this is not normal.” Today I’m answering some of your most pressing questions from this week in the news. We’ll cover the $230 million dollars Trump is claiming his own justice department owes him and why that’s deeply fucked up. Then we’ll discuss the $300 million dollar privately funded demolition and rebuilding of the East Wing of the white house and why that’s deeply fucked up. And then we’ll cover Steve Bannons declaration that Trump will run for and win the presidency in 2028 and why that’s say it with me deeply! Fucked! Up! Plus I’ll attempt to give you some words of hope and encouragement at the end. We have fun here.

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Trump has claimed that the DOJ owes him $230 million dollars. This stems from 2 Federal Tort Claim Act claims that Trump has filed against the DOJ regarding investigations into Russian collusion during the 2016 election and the search and seizure of items at Trump’s Mar a Lago resort in 2022. The Federal Tort Claims Act is an important act to know given the clearly illegal, abusive tactics being perpetrated by the government over the last 10 months against immigrants and US citizens. This Act is likely to come up a lot moving forward. The act gives private individuals the right to make tort claims against federal government actors. A tort is a civil action, so this is not a criminal complaint based on crimes, it is a civil action where a person can claim monetary damages due to some injury they received at the hand of the person they’re suing. That injury can be physical but also injury to property, emotional injury, etc. So you file what’s called a Form 95 with whatever agency the person who injured you is working for, and in that form you make your claim known and lay out your evidence. The agency then has 6 months to respond, either denying the claim or approving the claim and reaching a settlement. If they don’t respond that is seen as a denial. Once that claim is denied, you can then file a lawsuit in federal court basically going over the head of the agency and asking a federal judge to make a judgment and grant you relief. These cases are EXCEPTIONALLY hard to win. The vast majority of people do not. They never hear from the agency and then, if they do file a case in court, which is unlikely, they rarely prevail. And this is in large part due to discretionary function immunity.

Not to get too deep into the weeds, but discretionary function immunity basically means that you cannot recover money from the government if the federal actor was acting in their official capacity in a discretionary way–basically were they making a choice, based on their role and following official regulations, when they did the thing you’re complaining about? It’s a bit convoluted, unnecessarily so frankly, but it gives a LOT of leeway for federal officials acting in their official capacity. If they are told by regulation that they must act one way but they act contrary to that regulation, then you’d be successful in your lawsuit against them. But if Congress and the agency meant to give them discretion to make decisions and in making that decision it led to your injury, then you cannot successfully sue. It’s meant to protect federal workers from being retaliated against for their work. But if they were going against regulations, if they didn’t have the leeway to make a decision the way they did, then you could recover monetary damages. This is a really high bar and very few people are able to successfully sue the federal government and receive money damages. As the New York Times recently pointed out, that is true especially for the many people being caught up in ICE dragnets, being abused by DHS officers, and attempting to file federal tort claims against those actors. Not only do they have to wait six months while DHS refuses to respond to their claims, they then have to file lawsuits, which are expensive, and then they likely won’t win.

This is the process Trump is using and claiming that the DOJ owes him 230 million dollars in tort damages for the 2016 Russian interference probe and the 2022 mar a lago documents search and ensuing litigation. He’s claiming intrusion on seclusion, malicious prosecution, and abuse of process. For the mar a lago documents probe alone he’s claiming $15 million in legal costs, plus punitive damages of $100 million dollars on top of that. He filed his claim in August 2024 and the DOJ did not respond within the six month timeframe. So he was able to initiate a lawsuit in February 2025 but conveniently he is now president. He never initiated a lawsuit for his 2016 claims either. But according to the Federal Tort Claims Act, it is the person making the claim against the government that can determine that any failure to respond within 6 months is a denial of the claim and move forward with litigation. So as far as Trump is concerned, he can consider his complaints to still be open and on the table for the DOJ, which then gives his own goons who he placed in charge of the DOJ the power to negotiate with him, a claimant against the DOJ. And the Justice Department manual delegates the negotiations of any settlement against the department for over $4 million dollars must be finalized by the deputy attorney general or associate attorney general. And who is the deputy attorney general? Todd Blanche, the man who served as Trump’s defense attorney in his criminal trial, the one where he was found guilty on 34 felony counts. That’s the man who now gets to approve of whether or not $230 MILLION taxpayer dollars should go into the pocket of the president of the united states. The conflicts of interest are breathtaking. Trump acknowledged as much when he was talking about this the other day, promising to give the money to charity. Considering he steals money even from his OWN charities, I’m not holding my breath on that one. And even so, that is taxpayer money meant to fund the government, not meant for the president of the united states to willy nilly decide to give away to private nonprofits, which would probably end up being the heritage foundation or one of the nonprofit legal organizations working to undo voting rights laws or something. And conveniently, attorney general Pam Bondi fired the top ethics advisors to the DOJ earlier this year. So there’s no one to tell the administration no. Representatives Jamie Raskin and Robert Garcia have formally launched an investigation into the matter as part of the House Oversight committee but that is likely to go nowhere. I know brazen disregard for ethics or laws is par for the course of this administration but it’s still important to point it out whenever it happens, so that’s what I’m doing here. The president of the United States is negotiating with his own Department of Justice to pay him a settlement worth $230 million taxpayer dollars.

In another abuse of power that seems relatively small compared to other things going on in the world but which is still so brazen and shocking that we should still pay attention to it, yesterday Trump had the entire east wing of the White House torn down so he can build a garish 90,000 square foot ballroom in its place. The pictures he waved around for reporters to show what the interior will look like look straight off an AI generated pinterest board. The new East Wing will be behemoth compared to the west wing or even the White House itself which is a paltry 55,000 square feet. Prior to its demolition, the East Wing served as the entrance for visitors, and housed offices including for the first lady. Jackie Kennedy spent a lot of time and resources renovating much of the white house and the east wing, and the Jackie Kennedy garden along the colonnade that led to the East Wing has also been demolished. Interestingly, there was also a bunker below the East Wing, that’s where Vice President Dick Cheney was rushed on 9/11. The bunker was originally built for FDR during World War II, and it’s unclear the fate of that bunker in all of the demolition, though Trump is a rich person who rubs elbows with other rich people so I can’t imagine he would pass up an opportunity to have a bunker, if anything it wouldn’t surprise me if they expand the bunker so he can invite all his billionaire friends over during the nuclear annihilation of the planet.

Proponents of the renovation whine that this expansion was badly needed because large state dinners couldn’t be accommodated by the existing structure and instead required, god forbid, a tent outside where the many state dinner guests had to, say it ain’t so, piss in porta potties like plebians. Even still, architecture groups called for caution and extensive reviews of any potential changes to the east wing, until Thursday when Trump was like NAH bring in the bulldozers. According to reporting from the New York Times, quote “The American Institute of Architects noted over the summer that although the project would be privately funded, the White House was not a private building. “The historic edifice at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is the People’s House, a national treasure and an enduring symbol of our democracy,” it said in a statement in August, after the proposal was revealed. “Any modifications to it — especially modifications of this magnitude — should reflect the importance, scale and symbolic weight of the White House itself.”” And let’s talk about who’s funding this, because it’s a doozy, but I also wanted to pause on the statement that the White House is an enduring symbol of our democracy. I don’t know that everyone would agree with that but I don’t think we should avoid acknowledging that whatever the White House means to you, it is incredibly symbolic that Trump would brazenly demolish a large chunk of it in order to build a ballroom for him and his friends, with no input from the public or anyone interested in preserving the character and history of the White House. Truly a metaphor for the wrecking ball his administration has taken to the established institutions in this country, and not in the way he promised, not in a way that drained the swamp. Which is made incredibly obvious by the people who have funded this massive $300 million dollar renovation of the quote unquote “people’s house.” The White House released its list of donors who are helping to fund the project. The list includes Amazon, Google, Apple, Coinbase, Comcast, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Palantir, The Lutnick Family (Howard Lutmick is the US Secretary of Commerce but that’s probably fine!!), and the Winklevoss Twins, these two creeps who founded the crypto platform Gemini, to name just a few. Basically, if you want an in with Trump and likely favor in the future for all those sweet sweet government contracts worth billions of dollars, it helps to throw a couple million at this ballroom project. And the president of the National Mall foundation, the nonprofit in charge of overseeing the renovation project, is Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets. Can’t see a problem with that. Just like Trump claimed, I’m sure Johnson is also “really good at ballroom.” Despite Karoline Leavitts claims that Trump is committed to being transparent about the funding, it is unclear how much each donor gave to the ballroom situation and what they expect to receive as a result, but it doesn’t take a fortune teller to guess why, I don’t know, a government contractor like Palantir with zero experience in ballroom would randomly be so interested in the project. Luckily every lawyer and ethics advisor in the federal government has been canned so we’ll never know!

Okay and then the most ominous question y’all have been posing relates to Trump’s ability to hold office for a third term. This is based on an interview Steve Bannon, far right commentator and Trump advisor, made to the Economist that dropped yesterday. [insert clip]. Ominous. “At the appropriate time we’ll lay out the plan” like this is some authoritarian scheming. And maybe it’s just meant to scare us or rile us up, Trump has been joking about Trump ‘28 for a while now, he even sells hats that say it. When he claims there are “many different alternatives” it is unclear what he means. I’m a lawyer, I have a pretty good grasp on the Constitution and various laws, etc., and just from a legal analysis point of view it appears to me that the “many different alternatives” are not based in law. Meaning they would likely be illegal. But I’m sure they’ll try anyway. I’m not a psychic, I don’t have a crystal ball, a lot of you frequently ask me to predict the outcomes of things, unfortunately nobody can, in part because of how deeply secretive this administration is, and it’s getting worse as they kick reporters out of the Pentagon and generally refuse to provide information about their covert activities.

Just so we’re clear, Trump holding a third term is not legal. And this is not a situation where I need to do some digging into Supreme Court precedent and show you the various pronged tests required to determine whether or not he’s eligible. This requires, frankly, zero legal analysis or even a law degree. You simply need to be able to read english. And in fact, I know the literacy rates in this country, so let me just read it for you, the constitution is incredibly clear on this. The 22nd Amendment says, and I quote, “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” What’s cool about the way our system of government is set up, is that what the constitution says is supreme law of the land. Congress can’t pass a new law that says actually Trump gets a third term!! They could pass a new amendment to undo the 22nd Amendment, but that would take years and a high level of consensus among Congress and among the states and that simply will not happen, there is no world where that is a possibility.

One other possibility that has been floated is for JD Vance to run for president in 2028 with Trump running as his VP, and then hand the power over to Trump. Then, technically, Trump only won two elections, he didn’t have to run again. And JD Vance is just enough of a sniveling affirmation seeking loser that he might do it. I imagine how that would work is Trump would run as VP, and then under the 25th Amendment Vance could write a letter to Congress making the declaration that he’s unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, which would then transfer the power to Trump as Vice President. However, JD Vance is kind of being groomed to carry the Trump baton into the future after Trump finally succumbs to the sweet embrace of death, and so getting him elected only to hand the power over to Trump would then kneecap JD’s ability to serve as president and continue the regime in the future.

Also the 12th Amendment explicitly says in its very last line quote “No person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the United States.” So despite the fact that many people have touted this succession plan for getting Trump back into office as a handy little “loophole” it turns out the loophole doesn’t exist. And the next in line of succession is the Speaker of the House and then the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. But then 4th in line is Secretary of State. So in some absurd unrealistic world, Trump could be appointed to Secretary of State and then everyone in that line could resign from the presidency until it got to Trump. But then he wouldn’t be on the ticket, they’d have to spell out for his followers that that was their plan, it doesn’t really make sense. The most logical plan is that they would ignore the constitution, as they have tended to do thus far, and just do it anyway. And who’s going to stop them? Any challenge to the election would have to wind its way up to the Supreme Court. That being said Amy Coney Barrett, when asked to weigh in on the 22nd Amendment term limits has admitted that the 22nd Amendment is pretty clear. Anyway, it’s an incredibly convoluted plan, I’m not sure that there’s a way they could really have that play out in a way where they could legitimately claim that he was democratically elected. And as much as they are interested in breaking and ignoring the law, they are generally pretty interested in making it at least SEEM like they care about the laws and the constitution, in order to lend legitimacy to Trump’s rule. So Trump 2028 I really don’t see how it would work.

My one theory, and again this is JUST a theory I do not have a crystal ball, but MY theory is that it would be Marco Rubio to run for President in 2028, potentially with JD Vance again as VP. He’s already run for president before, he has the name recognition, but he doesn’t quite have the pizazz that Vance has, which I mean as an insult to both of them. Marco walks around with fear in his eyes, he doesn’t exactly illicit confidence. JD Vance is smart and articulate and evil in a way that makes up for his lack of charisma which makes him a better candidate to continue the fascist project long term, so getting him elected only to hand the baton to Trump doesn’t really make sense when he could instead run after Trump is dead, which if that hasn’t happened by 2032 I’m calling witchcraft. Rubio can be the president in name only and easily and meekly hand the reigns over to Trump. He wouldn’t have to invoke the 25th Amendment or succession, he could just name Trump as an advisor and lie down and let Trump do all the talking while Stephen Miller and Russell Vought and all the other goons do their work in the background. Bannon has promised that Trump will run in 2028 and if he does run again he will win again, claiming that it would actually be easier in 28 than in all the other years. He’s probably right on that if the gerrymandering continues as planned and the rest of the voting rights act is gutted by the Supreme Court later this term. That could solidify Republican majorities in states across the US and effectively nullify democratic votes for huge portions of the population. If they somehow manage to communicate that Rubio would be president in name only and Trump would still be calling the shots, that might be enough to get across the finish line, along with all the other ways they’ve undermined the vote over the last few years. With any luck, Trump will be dead by 2028 and this won’t be a possibility. If we’re being realistic, I think Bannon was just saying that to rile people up and I don’t think there is any feasible way that Trump would literally be on a presidential ticket, as President or VP, in 2028. But like any good succession after a populist dictator dies, the Republican party will do everything in its power to replicate that populism in a successor. History has shown that doesn’t tend to work, however. So, to recap, no I don’t think Trump will run for a third term, yes I think he will be heavily involved in the 2028 election, no I do not hold out hope that, no matter the outcome of the 2028 election, he will cede power passively, unless it’s to a fellow MAGA protege that will keep him at their elbow so he can continue calling the shots until he dies. No, I do not think the 2028 election will be a free and fair election. The way things are going a lot of the democrat opposition will be gerrymandered out of existence or intimidated into silence.

Which brings me to the final question I wanted to answer, and that is how do I stay sane and hopeful while also staying deeply informed about the existential crisis facing this country, day after day, week after week. A lot of you are feeling hopeless and like none of this matters and like you don’t know what to do. I hear you and I have definitely felt it too. I have found a balance where I make sure to take a day or two off every week from reading the news. Like no news, no reddit, no tiktok, no twitter, no instagram, we’re compartmentalizing, we’re focusing on hobbies and friends and family. But then the rest of the time I am locking in and paying attention to the news. Because I’ve found if I try to go longer periods of completely checking out it actually makes me feel more insane because I don’t have a grasp of what’s going on, so it all feels Really Bad and it feels so huge and ominous and unknown. And keeping an eye on the news for me means reading actual articles and listening to podcasts from experts I trust, like Strict Scrutiny or Heather Cox Richardson, people who provide balanced, level headed commentary and analysis. I am not reading the comments. I repeat I am not reading the comments! Whether thats on reddit or tiktok or wherever, I have found I feel MUCH worse and much more overwhelmed if I am consuming both the news and then also peoples’ real time reactions to the news all at the same time. It’s too much. The important part is the news itself, and then I need to personally react to it, I cannot take in everyone else freaking out. Okay and then honestly thank you because having an outlet like this show and like my substack really helps me to process what’s going on and to feel like I’m doing something small about it every day. It makes me feel like I have a voice and that has been truly an invaluable way of keeping myself sane, so thank you for your support and your viewership. So that’s the sanity piece of it, but staying hopeful is a little different. I think staying sane is one ingredient in hope, for sure. I think I stay hopeful because I have studied history. Specifically, I have read about the rise and fall of fascism in Europe in the 20th century, for that I recommend The Anatomy of Fascism by Robert Paxton, and I have read about the lead up to and aftermath of the US Civil War, for that I recommend Until Justice Be Done by Kate Masur. Learning about history puts things into perspective, and it puts time into perspective. We have experienced revolutions here, we have experienced civil war, we have experienced fear and deep division and monumental cataclysmic history shaping change. And life has gone on. People continued living their lives through it all. And eventually the worst passed. And we have never achieved the pluralistic democratic ideals that people fighting for equality have envisioned, but we have moved closer. The backlash, even the current one that feels so final and all encompassing, is often a sign of the progress that has been made. Whether that's getting closer to voting rights for all or electing a black man to the White House, progress has been made. Going to law school also helped. People work their entire careers to see a handful of cases move through the courts to hopefully change laws to serve people better. It takes patience. It’s a long game. There is no instant gratification in movement building, and there is a lot of disappointment. Because this country, no country but this country specifically, will never fully live up to the ideals that a lot of progressives wish it did live up to. The outcome of any movement in history, from the Revolution to abolition to the civil rights movement, the outcomes have NEVER lived up to the highest hopes of the people creating the movement. They have always pushed for more, they have always been just a little disappointed. It’s not possible, in a country this large with over 330 million very diverse people living in it, for the laws and the government and society at large to fulfill the wishes of every person living in it. That’s kind of how government works, you create cooperation and compromises to ensure that a group of people can tolerate living under one roof. But the work is in continuing to show up to make it better, to get closer to that ideal. And there will be setbacks. And disappointment. But you keep showing up and doing the work anyway because you believe in the vision. And I think acceptance of that fact is very powerful. It builds resilience and that is exactly what we all need to survive this and even thrive despite all of this. So I encourage you to keep showing up, in whatever small way you can, I will do my part to continue showing up for you week after week right here.

If you have a question you’d like me to answer in a future video, comment QUESTION in all caps along with your question so that I can see it from amongst the trolls.

And if you’d like to support my work, consider joining here on YouTube by clicking the big join button below, or supporting me over on Patreon, patreon dot com slash Leeja miller, where you get access to all these episodes completely ad free. Thank you to my multi-platinum patrons Marc, Sarah Shelby, Art, David, L’etranger (Lukus), Thomas Johnson, and Tay. Your generosity makes this channel what it is, so thank you!

And if you liked this episode, you’ll like the one from Wednesday about whether states can arrest federal agents.

Leeja Miller
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