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For months, President Trump complained and tweeted about what he called an unfair investigation into the "witch hunt" led by Russia, which absorbed nearly half of his presidency.
Now, the president has presented a possible solution: two bonus years.
Trump during the shared weekend a tweet from Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, in which Falwell praised Trump for "no obstruction, no collusion" and a booming economy, before adding: "Trump should have 2 years added to his first term as a refund of the time stolen by this corrupt coup d'etat. "
Officials from the White House and other relatives of the president said he was joking and that he did not like to increase his first four-year term by 50% – an extension that violate the Constitution and have no historical precedent.
Trump's proposal, however, was suggested while Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Also voiced concern over the president's potential refusal to accept the legitimacy of the president. a Democratic victory in the presidential election of 2020, stressing that it was important that the Democrats win "big" country of such a result.
"We have to vaccinate against that, we have to protect ourselves against that," Pelosi told the New York Times.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Speaks at a press conference at Capitol Hill on May 2nd. (J. Scott Applewhite / AP)
The remarks underscore the real concern of the country's factions that Trump – who has repeatedly complained about a "rigged" election in 2016 – may decide to challenge the legitimacy of the election in 2020 if he is defeated or otherwise pleads for an extension of the term.
"All he says is a test ball – even his jokes are essays," said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor at the University of New York who studies authoritarian rules. "But if you look at what he's joking about, it's always like that: it's the extension of his rights, it's the violation of freedoms. And the authoritarians continually test the boundaries to see what they can get, and all that he does, is a challenge for the Democrats to prepare an answer against him. "
Trump supporters say the president is merely provocative, expressing his real anger over the extent to which the investigation of Robert S. Mueller III's special adviser on Russia has consumed his presidency. The White House assistants and other friends say they have not heard Trump privately discuss the possibility of extending the term of office – it is often a harbinger that he is seriously organizing a controversial action.
Senator Lindsey O. Graham (R-C), when asked about Trump's suggestion that he would still have two years in office, chuckled, saying, "I think all people are crazy."
"When it comes to Trump, people need to remember a bit," said Graham, who added that when he had jokingly suggested that Trump be re-elected for a third term, "people have become crazy ".
Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton speak at the last presidential debate in Las Vegas on October 19, 2016. (Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty Images)
Senator John Cornyn (R-Tex.) Suggested that the tweet be considered as an example of Trump's sober mind, but also that he reflects a deeply angry President by the way in which the Russian investigation has darkened his presidency .
"The president has a kind of arid humor," Cornyn said. "He obviously understands that this is not possible, but I hear that there were two years of distractions based on unfounded claims. So again I understand his frustration. "
Falwell himself said in an interview Monday that he and Trump had never discussed the subject before and did not talk to each other after the president shared his tweet. He said that he thought it needed a day of checkup for those surveyed by a special board, but understood that Trump would not extend his current two-year term.
"I know that there is no constitutional mechanism to add a few years to his term, but he really deserves to be compensated, so it was a little ironic," he said. Falwell.
More generally, the idea that the special advocate's investigation resulted in two "stolen" years of Trump's presidency has already become a re-election argument for Trump and his allies.
On Sunday, Trump tweeted about his "tremendous success" as president, despite the fact that "they stole two years from my (our) presidency (Collusion Delusion) that we will never be able to come back."
And in a statement Monday, Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh wrote that Trump "has been ruthlessly pursued for a good two years and has again won huge winnings for the American people."
"The fact that he has managed to deal with unprecedented partisan attacks is absolutely an argument for his reelection," said Murtaugh.
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley also replied: "What a hilarious irony to think that it is the Democrats who refuse to accept the results of a free and fair presidential election in 2016, refuse to accept the clear results of a report of nearly 400 pages that showed no collusion. and no obstruction, but now they have the audacity to question the president "to accept the results?" – give me a break. "
During the 2016 campaign, Trump frequently denounced the "rigged" election without providing any evidence and repeatedly refused to pledge to accept the results if the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was to go ahead. ;carry.
At the final debate in Las Vegas, for example, when asked if he would accept the results on polling day, Trump twice objected and concluded, "I'll tell you that at time. I will keep you in suspense. Clinton called his response "horrifying", and accused him of "denigrating our democracy".
Even on polling day, Trump remained uncommitted, hinting in two radio interviews that he might dispute election results if they were too close.
At the time, Trump's rhetoric had pushed some of his supporters to talk about revolution, calling for a "coup d'état" and a "bloodshed," and saying that if she won, Clinton should be removed from office "by all means necessary".
Addressing the House Oversight Committee in February, Michael Cohen – the former Trump lawyer who went to prison on Monday for violations of campaign funding and tax evasion – a expressed his fear that Trump could again play with not accepting the unfavorable results of the elections.
"Indeed, given my experience of working for Mr. Trump, I am afraid that if he loses the election in 2020, there will never be a peaceful transition of power, and that's the only way to go. That's why I've agreed to appear before you today, "Cohen told the committee. .
The president – who won the electoral vote but lost the popular vote to Clinton – has also repeatedly stated, without proof, that "millions of people" voted illegally in 2016, which cost him the vote popular.
"In addition to winning the constituency after a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally," wrote the president-elect of the time a tweet of November 2017. He made a similar statement in 2018, falsely claiming that "millions and millions of people" had illegally voted "many times".
Trump was so furious at not having won the popular vote that he instructed Vice President Pence to lead a presidential advisory commission on the integrity of elections to investigate what he said. called a massive election fraud. The commission finally dissolved in the face of legal challenges and internal quarrels, producing no evidence of widespread fraud. In a statement announcing the dissolution of the group, Trump nevertheless cited "substantial evidence of electoral fraud".
In other cases, Trump has adopted a lighter tone more clearly. At an in-house fundraiser held in his private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in March 2018, Mr. Trump spoke at the recent power consolidation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, urging that the latter was now "president for life".
"I think it's great," Trump said. "Maybe we'll have to give it a try someday."
Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) Stated that he was not amused, calling it "extremely offensive to the President of the United States to make such statements, even if they are supposed to to joke".
"When you look at people who have used authoritarian practices that destroyed democracies, they used excuses to stay in power," Cardin added when asked why he thought such remarks were dangerous. "It may be joking, but you're not doing it as a joke yet."
Falwell, the man whose tweet was at the origin of the whole drama, said he was not afraid Trump would try to upset the country's electoral system. He recalled that he had reminded the Conservatives that the Conservatives feared that former President Barack Obama would not leave the White House after two terms, but this concern was unfounded.
"I have always known that the Constitution would prevail and we are still a country of laws," he said. "I think people at both extremes, left and right, tend to be a little hysterical when someone who is in power does not like them, and I think that's all that we see."
Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
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