What Is the Talk about Trump Serving a Third Term?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns the possibility, constitutionality, and morality of Donald Trump running/serving a third term as President of the United States. This topic has been in the news recently because several reporters began asking Trump if he wanted a third term. Virginia Allen posted an article on this topic at The Daily Signal. 

According to Cornell law professor Bill Jacobson, Trump cannot constitutionally run for a third term. However, there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that prohibits him from serving a third term as president.

The 22^nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is clear that no one can be elected to the office of the president “more than twice.”

“But there’s nothing in the Constitution that prohibits someone from serving a third term,” said Jacobson, founder and publisher of Legal Insurrection. If another candidate won the presidential election, and Trump was his or her vice-presidential running mate, that candidate could step aside after winning the race and allow Trump to take over, according to Jacobson, who was quick to add he doesn’t endorse such an action.

While a deal made with a running mate for Trump to serve a third term “does not violate the Constitution,” Jacobson says, it “might violate the spirit of the Constitution.

The intent of the 22^nd Amendment is “that we not have a permanent president,” Jacobson said, adding that because of that, serving a third term “might be subject to challenge,” adding: It might be subject to what was the original meaning of these terms. But on its face, there’s no barrier.

Reporters brought the topic to Trump, but Trump said that he is “not looking at that.” However, this is not the first time that this topic has been brought to a U.S. President.

In October 2023, Howard J. Klein of Lakewood Ranch, Florida, wrote in a letter to the editor of The Wall Street Journal that former President Barck Obama could run as the vice-presidential candidate with then-President Joe Biden. “Mr. Obama would constitutionally succeed to the presidency – without election – if Mr. Biden were to vacate the office,” Klein wrote.

The 22^nd Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1951 in the wake of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s election to four terms in 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944. Congress approved the 22^nd Amendment on March 21, 1947, then submitted it to the state legislatures for required ratification. The ratification process was completed on Feb. 27, 1951, when the required 36 of the then-48 states (before Hawaii and Alaska joined the union) had ratified the amendment.

As we can see, it is possible and constitutional for Trump to serve a third term as POTUS without running for the office. However, I do not believe that it would be morally correct because dishonesty would take place at some point along the way.

Reporters would surely ask the presidential candidate if he planned to vacate the office and let Trump become President. If they said yes, at least some of the people would not vote for them. If they said no, at least some of the people would feel betrayed when it happened.

I voted for Trump three times, and I believe that he could go down in history as the “Greatest President of All Time” – especially if the United States annexes Alberta or all of Canada or Greenland or all three. Still, I do not think that he should serve a third term because of his age.

Trump is currently 78 years old and will be 79 in June 2025. This means that he will be 82 going on 83 in January 2029. I think that an 82-year-old man who has already served two terms as POTUS – even a man as energetic as Trump – should be allowed to enjoy his last years in peace.

How Can I Help to Gather the Elect?

My Come Follow Me Studies for this week took me to Doctrine and Covenants 29 in a lesson titled “Jesus Christ Will Gather His People.” The lesson was introduced by this information. 

Even though the Church of Jesus Christ had been organized in 1830, many gospel truths were still yet to be revealed, and several early Church members had questions. They had read prophecies in the Book of Mormon about the gathering of Israel and the building up of Zion (see 3 Nephi 21). How would that happen? The revelations Hiram Page claimed to receive speculated on that subject, which only increased members’ curiosity (see Doctrine and Covenants 28). Other people wondered about the Fall of Adam and Eve and spiritual death. The Lord welcomed these questions in 1830, and He welcomes our questions today. “Whatsoever ye shall ask in faith,” He told the Saints, “being united in prayer according to my command, ye shall receive” (Doctrine and Covenants 29:6). In fact, as the doctrinally rich revelation in Doctrine and Covenants 29 shows, the Lord sometimes responds to our questions by giving us truth and knowledge far beyond what we ask.

There are numerous principles taught in this scripture block. Here are the principles:

(1) Heavenly Father has a plan for the salvation of His children (Doctrine and Covenants 29), (2) Jesus Christ invites me to help gather His people before His Second Coming (Doctrine and Covenants 29:1-28), (3) “All things unto me are spiritual (Doctrine and Covenants 29:31-35), and (4) Jesus Christ redeems us from the Fall (Doctrine and Covenants 29:36-50).

I feel prompted to discuss principle #2, Jesus Christ invites me to help gather His people before His Second Coming (Doctrine and Covenants 29:1-28). The first seven verses of this section are as follows.

1 Listen to the voice of Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, the Great I Am, whose arm of mercy hath atoned for your sins;

2 Who will gather his people even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, even as many as will hearken to my voice and humble themselves before me, and call upon me in mighty prayer.

3 Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, that at this time your sins are forgiven you, therefore ye receive these things; but remember to sin no more, lest perils shall come upon you.

4 Verily, I say unto you that ye are chosen out of the world to declare my gospel with the sound of rejoicing, as with the voice of a trump.

5 Lift up your hearts and be glad, for I am in your midst, and am your advocate with the Father; and it is his good will to give you the kingdom.

6 And, as it is written—Whatsoever ye shall ask in faith, being united in prayer according to my command, ye shall receive.

7 And ye are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect; for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts;

8 Wherefore the decree hath gone forth from the Father that they shall be gathered in unto one place upon the face of this land, to prepare their hearts and be prepared in all things against the day when tribulation and desolation are sent forth upon the wicked.

9 For the hour is nigh and the day soon at hand when the earth is ripe; and all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and I will burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that wickedness shall not be upon the earth;

10 For the hour is nigh, and that which was spoken by mine apostles must be fulfilled; for as they spoke so shall it come to pass;

11 For I will reveal myself from heaven with power and great glory, with all the hosts thereof, and dwell in righteousness with men on earth a thousand years, and the wicked shall not stand.

In verse 2, Jesus Christ speaks of gathering His people “as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings.” This comparison should tell us of the love that Jesus Christ feels for each of us. A mother hen gathers her chickens under her wings to protect them from danger.

The verses listed above give us answers to important question, such as who will be gathered (the elect, v. 7), what it means to “gather” to Christ (hear His voice and keep your heart soft, v. 7), and why we gather to Him (to be prepared for the day of tribulation and desolation, v. 8).

President Russell M. Nelson said, “Now the gathering takes place in each nation. The Lord has decreed the establishment of Zion in each realm where He has given His Saints their birth and nationality” (“The Gathering of Scattered Israel,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2006, 81). The Gathering of Scattered Israel

When Is the Best Time to Marry, Have Children, and Retire?

Families, communities, states, and nations are stronger when individuals get married, have children, and retire at the “best age”? Pew Research Center wanted to know what the “best age” is, and Kelsey Dallas reported on the research. 

Pew asked people across 18 mostly middle-income countries for the best age to retire and learned that the magic age is 57.9 years old. Pew reported, “Country averages for the ideal retirement age range from early 50s to early 60s – that is, 52.1 in Columbia to 62.7 in Nigeria.”

Pew also asked about the right age to marry and have children. According to Dallas, “The average answer for the ideal age to get married is 25.9 … and the average answer for having your first child was 26.”

My husband retired at 55 years of age – in the middle of the range. We married earlier – age 22 years – and welcomed our first child later – at age 27 – than the average in the survey.

Pew also asked about the relationship to religion and its affect to people’s answers. “People who say religion is very important in their life tend to suggest marriage and parenthood at a younger age, compared with people who say religion is only somewhat, not too or not at all important to them,” researchers wrote.

You may be interested in how the United States fared in the survey. It was not one of the 18 countries in Pew’s main report, but Pew took “a separate online survey among 3,600 U.S. adults.”

“Anywhere from about a third to half of Americans say there is no best age to achieve these milestones. Among those who say there is a best age, many say it’s idea to get married, have a child and buy a home between the ages of 25 and 34. And 45% of Americans say the best age to retire is in one’s 60s,” Pew found.

I want to remind my readers of posts from this time last year about the success sequence. The success sequence is a formula showing that important life events must be done in a specific order to achieve financial stability and success. That sequence is: (1) obtain at least a high school education, (2) be engaged in higher education or find a full-time job, and (3) wait until marriage to have children. 

Research shows that following the success sequence significantly increases the chances of avoiding poverty. Statistics show that 97% of Millennials who followed the sequence are not poor by their late twenties to early thirties.

The survey and the research show parents should instruct their children about the appropriate time and sequence to get their education, get married, have children, and retire. By doing so, they can strengthen their family, community, state, and nation.

Why Is DEI Dying?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is the approaching death of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) program. President Donald Trump ended federal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the federal government by signing an executive order. Many companies followed his example. It was as though Trump turned on the light, and the cockroaches scattered.

John Stossel wrote about the coming demise of DEI in so many companies, the latest being Disney after “squandering $270 million shareholder dollars on a moronic new version of ‘Snow White,’ joined the mob of companies dropping DEI programs.” He asked the question, “Why?” and then answered his own question: “The problem is that DEI programs were captured by activists who obsess about victimhood. They divide people more than they empower.” 

Stossel learned that activist Robby Starbuck is behind the companies quitting their DEI programs.

Before Trump ended federal DEI programs by executive order, Starbuck ended them at some companies merely by using the power of speech. His strategy: warn companies that he’ll tell his social media followers what stupid things they do.

Remarkably, that worked!

After he criticized John Deere on Twitter for encouraging “preferred pronouns” and holding woke diversity trainings, John Deere quickly dropped those policies.

Toyota, Target, and Harley Davidson did, too.

“Why did they listen to you?” I ask.

“We go to them like any other investigative journalist, and we say, ‘Hey, we have a story we’re working on.’”

Then, if they don’t change their policies, he goes public – posting the policies and his criticism on YouTube, Twitter, etc.

One week after he posted that Toyota sponsored pride parades and divided workers into identity-based groups such as LGBTQ, black, and Christian, Toyota stopped sponsoring LGBTQ events and opened employee groups to all workers.

Coors has been requiring DEI trainings and donating to pride events. All it took was Starbuck looking into the company, and they stopped.

So did Jack Daniels, McDonald’s, Walmart, AT&T, Lowe’s, and Ford….

In my years of reporting, I’ve never seen changes this fast.

DEI activists are angry about it.

The president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation says, “We will not be erased!”

“What existed before DEI?” replies Starbuck. “Did black people not exist before that?”

On “The View,” host Sunny Hostin claims, “This will specifically harm women … African Americans and Latinos.”

“What she’s actually saying is that minorities are not going to be able to get jobs if the sole thing you’re looking at is merit. The way I was raised, you call that racism,” replies Starbuck. “She’s being racist.”

I push back:

“They’re just saying, ‘We have a history of disadvantage. We were slaves in this country.’”

“None of them were,” he points out. “I’m Cuban. I could say my family went through this and that. I didn’t go through it. I’m not going to claim their disadvantage as my own.”

“We’re not going to fall for the same stupid stuff anymore. We’re going to judge people based on merit.”

I agree with Starbuck. Each one of us should be judged on our personal merit – not on race, ethnicity, sex, religion, or anything else besides merit. All of us are blessed with personal characteristics and talents. Those who work hard to gain knowledge and to develop skills should be richer in money and blessings than those who sit around doing little or nothing.

Why Is Greenland So Important to the United States?

Americans did not hear much about Greenland until the inauguration of Donald Trump. Since then the topic has been in the news numerous times. Last Friday, Vice President JD Vance led a delegation to visit a U.S. military base in Greenland. While speaking to military troops, Vance called “for an American partnership with the people of Greenland to counteract Russian and Chinese influence in the region.” George Caldwell at The Daily Signal reported the following. 

The vice president chose as his backdrop the Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, where the Space Force has missile-warning and defense systems, as well as space-surveillance sensors for tracking objects in space. He cited the base as an example of Greenland’s strategic importance.

“If a missile was fired from an enemy country or an enemy submarine into the United States, it is the people here before us who would give notice to our brave men and women further south in the United States to let people know what was coming and, God willing, to try to shoot it down and prepare for it.”

Vance also drew attention to Russian and Chinese influence in the Arctic, which he says justifies the need for increased U.S. attention to Greenland.

“We know that Russia and China and other nations are taking an extraordinary interest in Arctic passageways, in Arctic naval routes, and indeed in the minerals of the Arctic territories,” he said.

“We need to ensure that America is leading in the Arctic, because we know if America doesn’t, other nations will fill the gap where we fall behind.”

Vance also accused Denmark of neglecting the welfare of Greenland and not allowing it to have self-determination, thereby threatening America’s interests.

“If Greenland doesn’t have self-determination, if the people of Greenland have their future controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, it’s not going to make their lives better off, and most importantly, it’s going to make American and … world security much, much weaker.”

Was the Signal Chat A Mistake or A Political Tool?

Democrats – and by extension America’s enemies – were handed a gift last week when Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, exposed breach of security of the Trump administration. Earlier in March 2025, Goldberg was accidentally added to a conversation on Signal between senior national security officials that should have been confidential.

The U.S. officials included on the call were Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of Defense Pet Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. They were discussing sensitive – not classified – military plans about an imminent attack against Houthi rebels located in Yemen.

Democrats and their allies in the media have made a big deal about the breach of security, acting as though it was the worst thing that has ever happened in America. The fact is that the mission went off without any loss of life or equipment, and it has been declared to be successful. Democrats forget the terrible things that happen under their direction – Bengasi where an ambassador was killed and Afghanistan where we lost 13 military members during the withdrawal to name just two. They jumped all over Trump and Republicans even as the Trump administration is working hard to clean up messes all over the world that happened during the Biden administrations.

The bottom line is that the Signal discussion was either classified, or Goldberg should be charged with sharing classified information with the general public. He is a dirtbag for staying in the discussion when he understood what it was, and he is a bigger dirtbag for using the discussion for political purposes.

The mistake should not have happened. Goldberg should not have been added to the chat. Someone in that group chat should have noticed that the conversation was veering close to classified material. A positive thing for Goldberg is that, for whatever reason, he did not disclose the information until after the mission was completed. However, Yassin Fawaz, a contributor on American Thinker, added other information and made an interesting point. 

The fact that Goldberg was added to this chat was an unfortunate mistake, but the way The Atlantic and its allies have handled the leak is telling. This wasn’t a situation where a massive intelligence breach occurred because of a careless or malicious act by the Trump administration. Instead, it was a technical error – someone mistakenly added Goldberg to the group chat. However, while Goldberg may have been initially added by mistake, his decision to remain in the group was neither accidental nor innocent – it was a deliberate and malicious act. His continued participation in the conversation suggests an intent to exploit sensitive information, reflecting a deeper agenda to undermine the administration. [Emphasis added.]

It is crucial to recognize the broader context of what’s going on here. The real issue is not the accident that led to Goldberg’s inclusion in the chat but the weaponization of this mistake by the media and individuals who seem intent on destabilizing the administration. Goldberg and The Atlantic have taken this unintentional error and turned it into an attack on Trump’s leadership, yet this leak serves a greater purpose in their eyes: advancing a narrative that undermines America itself. [Emphasis added.]

It’s important to note that mistakes happen. Even highly secure systems can be vulnerable to human error. Imagine, for instance, if a government official had mistakenly dialed Goldberg’s number while discussing the plans – he could have simple overheard the conversation. The fact that Goldberg was added to the chat doesn’t change the fact that the leak serves a greater narrative – one that is critical of the Trump administration, portraying it as chaotic and incompetent.

Yet, the true nature of this leak isn’t about the technical mistake; it’s about how certain individuals are taking advantage of this mistake to push an anti-American agenda. The media and their allies in the political establishment have jumped on the opportunity to embarrass the administration, but this leak was not an act of exposing government wrongdoing – it was about creating a false narrative of disarray. Goldberg, with his anti-Trump stance, turned a minor oversight into a major scandal, amplifying it for political gain. In doing so, he isn’t just criticizing an administration; he is actively attempting to weaken the nation’s standing on the global stage…. [Emphasis added.]

Goldberg and The Atlantic may be quick to point out the leak, but they are silent on the larger picture. The Trump administration’s actions have consistently protected American interests, restored the military’s strength, and ensured that the U.S. has a more prominent position on the world stage….

This leak, and the media’s sensationalism around it, is not just about a mistake – it’s about undermining the Trump administration and American power…. [Emphasis added.]

This leak, while unfortunate, should serve as a wake-up call not just to the Trump administration but to the American public. The real threat here is not the leak itself, but the way it is being used to push an anti-America narrative. The true objective of the individuals behind this story is to create a divide, to paint the Trump administration as inept, and to erode the trust Americans have in their government. [Emphasis added.]

It’s time for the American people to see through this….

We must see the Signal leak for what it truly is: a political tool designed to create chaos and promote a narrative that undermines American leadership. Rather than focusing on sensationalizing the leak, it’s crucial to recognize the broader context. The Trump administration has delivered real results for the country, and its leadership continues to be a force for positive change in the world. [Emphasis added.]