| President Biden will always defend American democracy and the institutions that our nation was founded on. Meanwhile, Donald Trump, who’s repeatedly promised to be a dictator on “day one” if elected and warned of a “bloodbath” if not, continues to give election deniers and insurrectionists a platform — from installing dangerous conspiracy theorists to leading “election integrity” efforts at the RNC and promising pardons for January 6 insurrectionists. Democracy is at stake this November and if Donald Trump retakes power the survival of our democracy will be at risk.
Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of bending our institutions to serve a third term if he retakes power.
Politico: “Former President Donald Trump on Saturday floated the idea of a third term if he wins in November.
“‘You know, FDR 16 years — almost 16 years — he was four terms. I don’t know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?’ Trump quipped at the National Rifle Association annual meeting, speaking before a crowd of gun rights supporters.
“Some in the crowd shouted in response: ‘Three.’
“It’s not the first time Trump has mentioned extending his stay in the White House, an idea he suggested while on the campaign trail in 2020.”
MSNBC: “Five years ago this month, Trump retweeted Jerry Falwell Jr. — before his ignominious fall from grace — arguing that the president deserves a six-year first term ‘as payback for time stolen ’ by the investigation into the Russia scandal. Trump echoed Falwell’s sentiment in a pair of tweets an hour later, writing that nefarious forces ‘have stolen two years of my Presidency that we will never be able to get back.’”
Forbes: “President Trump said Saturday that he plans to ‘negotiate’ to run again in 2024 if he wins reelection in November, his latest in a series of comments that have alarmed critics who say he has little regard for constitutional boundaries.”
Trump refused to pursue a peaceful transition of power in the last election, instead inciting a violent assault on our Capitol, and is leaving the door open for political violence if he loses.
ABC News: “Former President Donald Trump is playing down but not ruling out the possibility of political violence if he loses the November election.
“‘I don’t think we’re going to have that. I think we’re going to win,’ Trump told Time magazine in a cover story published on Tuesday.
“He had been asked about an earlier comment to Time that ‘I think we’re gonna have a big victory and I think there will be no violence’ — but ‘what if you don’t win, sir?’ the Time reporter said.
“‘If we don’t win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election,’ Trump went on to say.
“He has previously warned of problems if things go wrong for him, writing on social media last year, before he faced any of his four criminal indictments, that ‘false’ charges against him would bring ‘potential death & destruction.’”
Associated Press: “President Donald Trump on Wednesday again declined to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the Nov. 3 presidential election.
“‘We’re going to have to see what happens,’ Trump said at a news conference, responding to a question about whether he’d commit to a peaceful transfer of power. “You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster.’”
CNN: “Trump has previously refused to say whether he would accept the election results, echoing his sentiments from 2016. And he has joked – he says – about staying in office well past the constitutionally bound two terms.”
Trump’s campaign is centered around using the government to serve himself instead of hardworking Americans.
The Atlantic: “Late Friday night, the former president of the United States—and a leading candidate to be the next president—insinuated that America’s top general deserves to be put to death. That extraordinary sentence would be unthinkable in any other rich democracy. But Donald Trump, on his social-media network, Truth Social, wrote that Mark Milley’s phone call to reassure China in the aftermath of the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was ‘an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH.’”
New York Times: “Donald J. Trump and his allies are planning a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government if voters return him to the White House in 2025, reshaping the structure of the executive branch to concentrate far greater authority directly in his hands. […]
“Mr. Trump and his associates have a broader goal: to alter the balance of power by increasing the president’s authority over every part of the federal government that now operates, by either law or tradition, with any measure of independence from political interference by the White House, according to a review of his campaign policy proposals and interviews with people close to him.”
Washington Post: “Trump says on Univision he could weaponize FBI, DOJ against his enemies”
“In public, Trump has vowed to appoint a special prosecutor to ‘go after’ Biden and his family. The former president has frequently made corruption accusations against them that are not supported by available evidence.
“To facilitate Trump’s ability to direct Justice Department actions, his associates have drafted plans to dispense with 50 years of policy and practice intended to shield criminal prosecutions from political considerations. Critics have called such ideas dangerous and unconstitutional.”
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