A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

President-for-Life Donald J. Trump? I don't think so! (Photo Credit: NBC) On Quora, British member Steve Moreby asks: Is there any way that Donald Trump can have a third term? My reply: According to the United States Constitution, no. Amendment XXII (1952) Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.  But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term. Section 2. This articl

On Quora, member Kathy Houk asks: Do you agree that the longer Trump is in office he becomes less Presidential? My reply is: No. I do not agree that Trump is becoming less Presidential with the passage of time. Why? Because he never was Presidential, to begin with. Donald John Trump was not, as his supporters  and  detractors so often remind us, a conventional Presidential candidate who could be diplomatic, thoughtful, or genuinely interested in “making America great” for everyone. He was not a “career politician” who had mastered the ways of Washington DC or wanted to curry favor with the media or those voters who weren’t going to vote for him. In other words, he was determined to  be  Donald Trump, tough-talking real estate mogul, television personality, and proud spokesperson for the Birther conspiracy theorists. If you look at the highlights of Trump’s 2016 Presidential campaign, you’ll see that he was not interested in smoothing over his “tough guy from Queens

President Andrew Johnson being served with the summons of impeachment by Congressional Sergeant-at-Arms George T. Brown, as sketched by Harper's Weekly in 1867. (Library of Congress) If President Donald Trump were impeached and Mike Pence became president, how long would his term be? Would it be for 4 years or would there still be a 2020 election? First, let’s clear up certain misconceptions that are laid bare by the wording of the question. Impeachment does not mean “automatic removal of a Federal official by Congressional fiat.” It is a trial under specific conditions that have to be met Impeachment only results in removing a President or other official if, as implied by the term “trial,” if he or (eventually, she) is found guilty by the Senate It’s now late July 2019, and the 2020 election cycle is currently underway. As in, there is a group of aspiring Democratic Presidential candidates already jockeying for prominence and a decent shot of winning the nomination of

On Quora, Trump supporter Larry "Two Accounts" Walden asks this incredibly rude question about the Mueller Report and the Democratic Party: Now that the Mueller report has been finally investigating, do you think the Democrats are a bunch of clowns? Here's my reply: This question, in all frankness, is rife with far too many issues that make it hard for anyone to understand, much less answer it in a mature, rational way. The first half,  Now that the Mueller report has been finally investigating,  makes no sense whatsoever. The two-volume Mueller Report is not a sentient, self-aware entity that can conduct an investigation on its own; therefore, it can’t investigate anything or anyone. I’m guessing that what the Trump supporter who wrote this pseudo-question really meant to say is,  Now that the Mueller investigation has come to a close, do you think the Democrats are a bunch of clowns? Which, of course, brings me to the crux of the matter. Obviously, th

Former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III. (Photo Credit: Federal Bureau of Investigation) On Quora, Mike Demsky asks: Is Robert Mueller Really Pro-Trump? Former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III is a retired Marine Corps officer, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, a lawyer, and one of the most serious and professional law enforcement officials in the history of the United States. When he was asked to act as Special Counsel in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election, Mr. Mueller did so without a political axe to grind. He is a  conservative.  A registered Republican. Decent. Forthright. A man who upholds the motto of the agency he led for 12 years under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama:  Fidelity. Bravery. Integrity. I do not believe he went into the investigation thinking, “I don’t like Donald Trump. I will do everything in my power to slime him even though he is as innocent as a newborn baby.” Instead, Mueller and

Why was Nixon impeachable but somehow Trump isn't? The times, they have a-changed since the 1970s. There are various reasons as to why Richard M. Nixon was easier to consider impeachable in the 1970s and Donald J. Trump seems to be “untouchable.” The biggest factor is, of course, the differences in the political environment in which both Administrations existed. Nixon was elected in 1968 and took the Presidential oath of office on January 20, 1969, and was re-elected in November of 1972 and managed to stay in office until he resigned on August 9, 1974. Trump was elected in November 2016 in a vastly different electoral and cultural environment. Nixon’s Presidency took place at a time when the Internet was not quite a thing; a proto-Internet existed in 1969, but it was essentially limited to the federal government and academia. The Vietnam War and its divisiveness were sowing the seeds of social discord that made Trumpism possible. The war - which America was losing an

On Quora, Trump supporter Dan Lauffer asks: Why does the Left hate Trump and Christians love him? I hate insincere, loaded questions, especially those written by Trump-supporting individuals who are also self-described Christians, but I’ll try to explain this anyway. First of all, it’s not just “the left” that dislikes Donald John Trump. There are many millions of people - not just in the United States, but also around the world - who find Trump distasteful in every way possible. And it's not just liberals that don't like Trump; quite a few conservatives, among them columnist George F. Will, have left the Republican Party due to its embrace of "Don the Con."  From his aggressive “I’m from Queens, New York” mien, his constant bragging, his dishonesty, his pandering to his “base,” his total disregard for diplomacy, his hateful attitudes toward minorities, and his admiration for authoritarian leaders such as Vladimir Putin, Kim Jung Un, Jair Bolsonaro, and Rodri

Photo Credit: NBC Will Americans ask Trump to be a candidate for a third mandate even if it violates the constitution? Seriously? If by “Americans” you mean all U.S. citizens of legal age to vote and who actually participate in local, state, and nation-wide elections, of course not. If by “Americans” you mean  Trump supporters,  it greatly depends on how educated, ethical, and well-informed they are. I’m pretty sure that many Republicans would not violate the 22nd Amendment, the Constitutionally mandated two-term limit on Presidents that their own party introduced in Congress in 1947 and became the law of the land on February 27, 1951. After all, one of the alleged values that conservatives hold dear is the constitutionality of laws and upholding them, so it would be hypocritical (to say the least) if all of a sudden the vast majority of the GOP were to tear up the Constitution in order to, in effect, make Donald J. Trump President-for-life. I’m also certain that there i

What are your thoughts on Trump tweeting that four liberal congresswomen should go home to the countries from which they came when three of them were born in the US? Frankly, I am not surprised in the slightest. Donald Trump has a long history of saying insensitive, degrading, racist, and xenophobic remarks about people of color and foreigners who are not from mostly-white European countries. In an August 2016 Time magazine story, readers were reminded of how then-Candidate Trump expressed his views about Mexicans: Donald Trump  kicked off his presidential bid  more than a year ago with harsh words for Mexico. “They are not our friend, believe me,” he said, before disparaging Mexican immigrants:  “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” He’s also not shy about his feelings about American citizens whose skin tone is darker than his own orange-tanned epidermis. During the 2016 Presidential campaign, then-Cand