Dave Weigel. The great Dave Weigel at semafor. Breaking a big story. The lead story over at Semafor. Wait for it. Republican voters now 5347. Support President Trump running for a third term. I kid you not. Told you this day was coming. [00:00:17] Of course. So that, of course, is Steve Bannon just delighting in the fact that the GOP is choosing its love for Dear Leader Donald Trump over their supposed respect for the Constitution. And despite the fact that it's the most clear thing in politics [00:00:33] that Trump cannot run for a third term, they're like, yeah, no, he should. Actually, we would prefer that. And of course, Steve Bannon wants that. Dude hates democracy. He would love to set it aside and rule forever with Donald Trump. But thankfully, while Republicans narrowly want Donald Trump to run for a third term, [00:00:52] everyone who is not a Republican absolutely despises the idea. And so only 27% of the country at large, which is less than what I consider to be like the MAGA base even of like 3,233%. So not even all of them think he should. Only 6% of Democrats think he should. [00:01:10] Maybe they think they're being clever and they think that he would lose, I don't know, 17% of independents. So here independents as in so many things in polling these months, I don't know if you've noticed the pattern. Independents look way more like Democrats than they do like Republicans in this. [00:01:26] 53% of Republicans think he should run. Now, a slightly different question is do you think he will actually run? And they're both Democrats and independents are more likely to say yes than Republicans are exactly half of independents. And the majority of Democrats think that he will. [00:01:43] And if they think that, maybe that's because, you know, Trump constantly says that he's going to and all of his supporters, like Steve Bannon, keep saying that he should, and they all seem to love the idea of it. That said, it doesn't mean that it's going to happen. Even if Donald Trump did want to run again in 2028, there is an obstacle to that. [00:02:01] It's that he would have to live that long. And so it might not actually happen. But there does seem to be a growing desire on the right for it to happen. - What do you think? - Yeah. So unfortunately, I again, share a part of Steve Bannon's opinion, [00:02:18] which is told you. Yeah. He wants to run. Bannon wants him to run. A bunch of Republicans want him to run. They don't respect the Constitution at all. The part I obviously disagree with is that he should run. No, he should not run. Ridiculous. So look, we're doing a but I'll give you some nuance on it. [00:02:36] First of all, we're doing a poll on t t.com. What do you think about Trump running for a third term? A if he gets a constitutional amendment, it's fine. B if he tries without an amendment, he's an un-American piece of you know what? Sees a plus B a rare answer for us. [00:02:51] And then D is, who cares about the Constitution? Let's just start making up laws. Okay, so some of you, I guess, might be in that category, including Steve Bannon. So, look, guys, there is a way to get past the constitutional, [00:03:09] block on running, more than twice. And that is a constitutional amendment, so good luck. Nobody's stopping you, and that's perfectly legal. Go for it. Okay, now you're going to need three quarters of the states to ratify. And if you think you're going to get 13 blue states to say, oh, yeah, let's just. [00:03:28] But by the way, I mean, maybe you would because then Obama would be back in the game. Right? So be careful what you wish for. But anyways, in a realistic world, of course that's not going to happen. So if you're not going to do it the legal way, I have a question. [00:03:43] What way are you going to do it? Because the Constitution is not unclear about this. It is crystal clear. And so, you know, if you want here I'll tell you. Okay. Graphic three how is this for clear section one of 22nd amendment. [00:03:59] No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice. The end. Okay, so what are you gonna do? So the only other option is to be lawless, to destroy the Constitution. And that means you hate America. And you. [00:04:14] You hate our system. I don't mean the system that the establishment has one of corruption. We don't like that either. I mean, our constitutional republic. So I need you to be honest about it. Like MAGA prides itself on, saying whatever the hell they want, right? And sometimes that winds up being a decent thing when they, you know, [00:04:32] flip on Epstein and some, as we described earlier in the show. Now, you know, challenging Israel a lot of times it's disastrous when they're super honest. But here, tell us, what's your honest plan? Is it to break the law? Is it to burn the Constitution? Is it to say that you don't care about the Constitution or this country, [00:04:48] and you just like to have an authoritarian form of government? That's what the left was worried about. And it sounds like with Steve Bannon and Donald Trump. But now 53% of Republicans are going, yeah, screw the Constitution. Who cares? I mean, you're telling on yourself. You're proving us right. [00:05:06] So, unfortunately, this is exactly what we worried about. Last thing for me, for now is guys, I debated, I don't know, half a dozen, a dozen, a lot of conservatives right before the election about Trump versus Kamala Harris. [00:05:22] And my main argument to them was he does not value the Constitution at all. He said to terminate it after he lost in 2020. And and obviously after he lost, he tried to basically do a coup to get back in charge because he doesn't care about democracy and he [00:05:39] doesn't care about the Constitution. That was a rare thing from the Democrats. That was not just a talking point. It was actually true. Right? And they said, oh no, no, no, he'll respect the Constitution. He loves the Constitution. And here we are going, oh, who cares what the Constitution says? I want to be in charge. And by the way, tons and tons of right wingers going power is power. [00:05:59] Who cares about America? Who cares about. They don't say, who cares about America or democracy? Although some of them now do say like democracy. No, no, no. We're a republic. Wink wink wink. Like no, brother. But republic means democracy. Democracy is within a constitutional republic. That's so like. [00:06:14] You think you're being clever, but what you're doing is you're setting up an excuse to go authoritarian. So if you hate democracy or you hate America, or you hate our Constitution, be honest about it. Don't be a little bitch and pretend that you don't hate it, [00:06:30] because you obviously do. And you value Trump more than you value America. So do us the favor of being honest. All right? Nina, what do you think? I mean, yeah, we're a nation of laws until we're not. You know, I love that talking point that the right uses on other things, [00:06:45] particularly at this point. Immigration. We're a nation of laws, you know, or law and order, but that goes right out the window when it comes to whether or not president. President Donald J. Trump should run for a third term without following the pattern that you laid out. [00:07:02] Which which would make it legal is to have that the constitutional convention and amend the Constitution. So they basically saying no worries. And, you know, absolute power corrupts absolutely. And it really people get inebriated by it. It is very seductive. [00:07:19] And we're seeing this play out in real time where these same people, I bet you are the people who are about law and order in other places and other phases in this, in this country, but not when it comes to this. They are absolutely willing, it seems, to defy the United States Constitution. [00:07:37] And in the same my final point, in the same way that I think Trump continually making a joke of it, sort of normalizes it for a lot of regular right wingers. Trump also seems to be feeding off of them, too. I mean, twice in the last week he's like, you know, some people call me a dictator, but if I stop crime, am I really a dictator? [00:07:54] Maybe it's a good thing to be a dictator or whatever like that for him. Like even that's pretty open. Like sort of talking about maybe our system of government isn't what it once was. Yeah, he always does. Sorry. Nina, what were you gonna say? No, it's just it's seductive. [00:08:09] And that's why he's he's he's priming the pump, if you will. Yeah. You know, to to John's point. Yeah. I was going to say testing the waters. Same thing. Right. So like. Yeah, the right wing will often excuse it with oh, he's just trolling. He's just having fun with it. Oh you guys are falling for it. ET cetera. No, he's testing the waters. [00:08:27] So that's why he says, no, I'm not a dictator. But some people are saying they want a dictator. Some people think that dictator would handle crime better. Right. That's his way of testing the waters. Right. I don't know if I'm going to run for a third term, but I could. I could do whatever I want. The president could do anything he wants. [00:08:42] It's not true. That's not our system. Right? So. And by the way, if you think, oh, he's just trolling, you guys are being ridiculous, then why did 53% of Republicans say that they want him to do it? Are they trolling too? Okay, that's a very convenient excuse. [00:08:58] Whenever you get caught being un-American, every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his wings. Totally not true. But it does keep you updated on our live shows.