A former top conservative federal judge has warned that the country must take seriously Donald Trump’s talk about seeking an unconstitutional third term in office.
Judge J. Michael Luttig, who was nominated by former President George H. W. Bush to serve on the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote a scathing piece for The Atlantic suggesting that Trump has already taken steps in his second term to ensure he never relinquishes power.
“With his every word and deed, Trump has given Americans reason to believe that he will seek a third term, in defiance of the Constitution,” Luttig wrote. “It seems abundantly clear that he will hold on to the office at any cost, including America’s ruin.”
The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution bars anyone from serving as president for more than two terms, with Trump currently 10 months into his second and final one. However, Trump and his allies have suggested there may be ways for the 79-year-old to seek a third term in 2028.
Speaking aboard Air Force One on Monday, Trump admitted he would “love” to violate the Constitution by running for a third term. Top Trump loyalist Steve Bannon also told The Economist that there are “different alternatives” that could allow the president to run again in 2028, without offering details.
One theory—that Trump could run as a presidential candidate’s running mate in 2028, who would step aside once in the White House to allow him to return as commander-in-chief—was dismissed as “too cute” by Trump on Monday.
Luttig, who testified before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, warned that Trump’s authoritarian pursuit of “absolute power” in his second term is paving the way for him to try to remain in office indefinitely.
He cited Trump’s use of the U.S. military to carry out personal vendettas in Democratic-led cities, efforts to eliminate birthright citizenship, and the conservative-majority Supreme Court giving the president its “imprimatur to continue his power grab.”
“Trump has always told us exactly who he is. We have just not wanted to believe him. But we must believe him now,” Luttig wrote.
“If America is to long endure, we must summon our courage, our fearlessness, our hope, our spirited sense of invulnerability to political enthrall, and, most important, our abiding faith in the divine providence of this nation.
“We have been given the high charge of our forebears to ‘keep’ the republic they founded a quarter of a millennium ago. If we do not keep it now, we will surely lose it,” he added.
The judge reiterated his warning about Trump’s march toward totalitarianism during an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Tuesday.
“Donald Trump has seized near absolute unchecked power in the United States—unchecked by either Congress, the Supreme Court, the several states, or the media itself,” Luttig said.
“There’s no question at all that, as of today, Donald Trump has all the power he would ever need to run for a third term and be seated as the next president, whether or not he actually won that election.”
When contacted for comment, a White House spokesperson referred the Daily Beast to Trump’s comments about how he’d “love” to run for another term.
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