‘Will run and win again’: Shocking Donald Trump photograph reveals end game
One shot of the US President has exposed his secret White House plans – and they could change American history forever.
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OPINION
Two men were found guilty of stealing a $10 million, fully-functional 18-carat gold toilet from Blenheim Palace in the UK last week.
The really shocking thing about it? Their names are not Donald Trump Junior and The Other One, or as it says on his birth certificate, Eric.
Because if anyone was going to have a gold loo, you would have thought it would be their father, whose taste in decor makes Versailles’ gaudy excess look like mid-century Scandi modern by comparison.
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Never mind.
Donald Trump has still managed to redecorate the Oval Office, really giving it the full Floridian OTT rich-dentist-on-his-third-wife, rococo-on-rococo makeover that is such an aesthetic crime the editors of World of Interiors are campaigning for his third impeachment.
But squint and look past the Midas touches, and there are huge clues about the President’s end game.
There are already plenty of signs that Mr Trump might not actually leave office when he is meant to in 2028, all but making him into, well, a king. (After all, he and Louis XIV have the same taste in end tables).
He’s already started talking about it.
Barely eight weeks since the inauguration, or what feels like 855 days, there is already substantial discussion that Mr Trump might serve a third term – or longer – and legal arguments are already being floated in Washington that could pave the way for him to in everything but name become a monarch.
And one picture from earlier this month, as he met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, perfectly sums up how Mr Trump views his tenure.
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Mr Trump’s Oval Office redo has seen a large gold medallion thingamy stuck on the fireplace, seven ornate and large gold vermeil urn-type things put on the mantle, and the introduction of gold curtains, golden cherubs above doorways, gold eagles on side tables, gold mirrors, a gold bar-like paperweight subtly bearing the word “TRUMP”, gold coasters on the coffee table, and a replica of the golden World Cup trophy.
He even now has a gilt TV remote control.
Also littering a table prominently placed behind the Resolute Desk is a golden urn that is part of a larger set of fruit baskets (no, I have no idea what that means either) and which was acquired by President James Monroe from France in 1817, which is just perfect.
That was during the brief Bourbon Restoration that briefly returned a Louis (XVIII, in case you care) to the throne before France ultimately did away with the monarchy for good.
Mr Trump clearly sees himself as a king of sorts, to whom the rules do not apply.
Rules like the 22nd amendment, which prevents any president serving more than two terms, with genuinely serious talk already happening in Washington about him staying in the White House beyond 2028.
There is the most delicious irony in the timing.
July 2026 will mark 250 years since America officially booted out King George III, and now they have just voted in a man who is currently wondering if it’s too early to be measured up for a crown.
He is not shy about it.
After a win over congestion pricing in New York last month, he posted: “Long live the king!”
Added to which, Mr Trump’s appetite for power – and Fillets-O-Fish – knows no bounds.
(Seriously. His standard Macca’s order is two Big Macs, two Fillets-OF-Fish, and a chocolate thickshake).
In November last year, he told Republicans: “I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say, ‘He’s so good we’ve got to figure something else out’.”
In January, he commented: “It will be the greatest honour of my life to serve not once but twice — or three or four times”. (Though he then did add, “Nah, it will be to serve twice”).
And in February, the 78-year-old asked during a high-profile meeting, “Am I allowed to run again?”
It turns out a third term is not that mad or as freakishly remote of a fringe notion, because it’s a scenario that is already being talked about by Mr Trump’s most famous adviser – and it has legal scholars sweating under the pits.
Experts believe there are a few ways he could bypass the current term limit and effectively never leave office.
Steve Bannon, the Victor Frakenstein to Mr Trump’s monster who masterminded his 2016 win and was a first term adviser, has already called it.
“I’m a firm believer that President Trump will run and win again in 2028,” Mr Bannon told NewsNation last week.
Asked how they would get around the current rules, the right wing firebrand said: “We’re working on it … I think we’ll have a couple of alternatives”.
“We’ve had greater long shots than Trump 2028, and we’ve got a lot of stuff we’re working on there. We’re not prepared to talk about it publicly, but in a couple of months, I think we will be.”
There were also signs of a wider grassroots push for a third Trump term at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the Coachella for men named Brad who think women have gotten a bit uppity.
Stickers were being handed around which read, “Finish The Job: Trump 2028” and a Republican group appeared called “Third Term Project”, whose banner portrayed Mr Trump as Julius Caesar and read, “For Trump 2028 … And Beyond!”
(Subtle, guys. Old mate Julius had the Roman senate declare him “dictator for life”. Though did anyone tell them that barely a month later, he was assassinated by a group of knife-wielding senators?)
In January, Congressman Andy Ogles, a Republican, proposed amending the Constitution to allow Mr Trump a third go-round in the White House.
Other possible avenues that Mr Trump could pursue include him running as Vice President in 2028 and then the “President” resigning on day one, which would be perfectly legal.
After all, he has held a vice-like grip on his party for nearly a decade now, so finding a willing lackey would be easy.
Another idea would see the former reality TV host simply installing a puppet candidate whom he would completely control from behind the scenes, which is exactly what his old mate Vladimir Putin did in Russia in the early 2000s.
Another option put forward by Politico would see him simply running again “on the bet that a pliant Supreme Court won’t stop him”. (He did appoint three of the Justices, after all, and they ruled in his favour to save him from being prosecuted for the January 6 insurrection).
The simplest idea of them: Mr Trump might just refuse to leave the White House full stop, a fleshy refusenik squatting in the West Wing.
The test then would be to see if the military would capitulate and let him and his cherubs stay put – or whether they would intervene.
Terrified yet? You should be.
This is not just idle speculation, but a conversation that is being had by legal academics and Republican fixtures.
Another motivating factor – if a Democrat won in 2028, a future Justice Department could attempt to revive and refile charges over January 6 or whatever nonsense he might get up to over the next four years too.
What else is he going to do with his twilight years? Endlessly play rounds of golf and mournfully trail about Mar-a-Lago trying to find a hiding Melania?
Perhaps fundamentally: Mr Trump is a grabber – of “p**y” and power and other people’s plates. So why not the Presidency?
As Louis XIV might say, “Vive le Fillet-o-Fish roi”.
Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles
Originally published as ‘Will run and win again’: Shocking Donald Trump photograph reveals end game
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