WASHINGTON DC – California Governor Gavin Newsom, a leading early runner in the race for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, has warned Americans this week that he is not convinced they will ever be given an opportunity to vote for him, or perhaps for any of his party rivals.
“I don’t think Donald Trump wants another election,” Newsom told a summit in Sacramento hosted by the website Politico. “This guy doesn’t believe in free, fair elections,” he added, warning that when Trump spoke of extending his presidency into an unconstitutional third term, he should be believed.
“You think he’s joking about 2028?” asked Newsom, revealing that Trump supporters had sent him dozens of “Trump 2028” hats after being irked by the governor’s relentless use of his social media account to troll the President. “The rule of law is being replaced by the rule of Don,” insisted Newsom.
His argument is finding greater resonance at the end of a month in which Trump has repeatedly indicated a desire to remain in office beyond January 2029, and even taken visitors to the White House – including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – to the complex’s gift shop where a wide range of “Trump 2028” merchandise is now on sale.
Trump has also voiced claims about the powers of his office that not even his boldest predecessors would have articulated. “I have the right to do anything I want, I’m the President of the United States,” he told reporters during a televised cabinet meeting on Tuesday. He was dismissing suggestions that the law constrained him from deploying national guard troops on the streets of American cities, as he claims to be planning in the weeks ahead.
“The line is that I’m a dictator,” Trump said of his critics. “But I stop crime. So a lot of people say ‘you know, if that’s the case, I’d rather have a dictator….Most people say…if he stops crime he can be whatever he wants’.”
What Trump plainly covets is an-all powerful presidency that dominates over the other branches of government – the legislature and the judiciary – deemed co-equal with the executive by America’s founding fathers. His continuing flirtation with a third presidential term has resulted in some of the President’s advisers suggesting that the constitution’s two-term restrictions can be overcome.
Steve Bannon, the President’s former political adviser who remains close to the White House, has suggested that Trump has “several options” to serve a third term in office. Some Republicans have proposed that Vice President JD Vance – or another pliant official – would run atop the Republican ticket in 2028, with Trump seeking the vice-presidency. On day one in office, the elected president would then immediately resign in favour of Trump, propelling him back into the Oval Office. Far fetched? Certainly. Illegal? Probably. But the idea is finding purchase among some Maga grassroots supporters.
Even more worrying for the Democrats was virulent language used this week by Stephen Miller, the President’s deputy chief of staff, to describe the Republicans’ opponents. Speaking on Fox News, Miller, who serves as Trump’s unofficial chief ideologue, launched a furious assault on the Democratic Party.
“The Democratic Party does not fight for or care about or represent American citizens,” he thundered. “It is an entity devoted exclusively to the defence of hardened criminals, gangbangers, and illegal alien killers and terrorists.” He went on to call the party “a domestic extremist organisation…it disgusts me”. Taken to its logical conclusion, Miller’s train of thought could eventually see White House efforts to restrict the Democratic Party’s activities.
Across the board, Trump is seeking to remake the government in his own image, and provoking ongoing tests of his authority. Lisa Cook, the governor of the Federal Reserve whom Trump claimed to have “fired” earlier this week, launched a lawsuit against him on Thursday accusing him of “unprecedented and illegal” activity aimed at undermining the independence of the US central bank. Her move sets up a legal showdown with the White House, after Trump claimed he had “cause” to fire her over entirely unproven allegations that Cook engaged in mortgage fraud.
Day after day, the President continues to flex his muscles, diminish the role of Congress, ride roughshod over the traditional independence of institutions including the Federal Reserve and the Department of Justice. This week, Newsom started fund-raising, with a dramatic message to Democrats. “God help us if we’re not successful,” he wrote.
