Believe Trump

Yes, he's serious. About all of it.

Based on no special insight, I am going to assume many of you have heard of Calvinball. If you haven’t, let me briefly explain. Calvinball is the invention of Bill Watterson, or rather his comic strip character, Calvin, a precocious six year old, in the strip Calvin and Hobbes. In Calvinball, the rules are whatever Calvin says they are, with no limits on what he says*. “There is only one permanent rule in Calvinball: players cannot play it the same way twice.”

I think you know where I’m going when I say that President Donald Trump is playing Calvinball with our government, and by extension, the world. Many pundits, including some friends, like to parse what Trump says as trolling, or unserious fantasy. Zooming in to the trees can sometimes yield results, but when we look at the whole forest of what Trump says, we really need to just believe him.

Donald Trump mug shot at Fulton County Jail, August 24, 2023

Why? Let’s start. Voila, behold, res ipsa loquitur:

In 2020, Trump told rally-goers in Minden, Nevada, that he wanted a third term in office. CBS News recently reported about Trump bringing up the topic again.

"We're going to win four more years in the White House. And then after that, we'll negotiate, right?" Mr. Trump said at the time [in 2020]. "Because we're probably, based on the way we were treated, we're probably entitled to another four after that." It was unclear at the time if Mr. Trump meant what he said, but the comments stoked national discourse about whether he would, or could, truly attempt to flout the two-term limit.

In a recent phone interview with NBC News’ Kristen Welker, Trump said he was “not joking” about a third term. “There are methods which you could do it,” the president said. “It is far too early to think about it.”

Two things: One, Trump is right. There are methods, even legal methods (though hard, politically), to do what he wants. Two, Trump is lying. He thinks about it a lot. I’d say daily, or in a meditative fashion, like men think about the Roman Empire. Trump doesn’t want to give up the presidency. Believe him when he says he’s not joking.

Welker brought up some Putinesque scenario where Vice President J.D. Vance won in 2028 and then Trump, serving as vice president, ascended to the presidency again when Vance resigned or simply allowed Trump to run things. Ridiculous, you say. I agree that it’s probably not the way Trump would go about a third term, simply because, on its face, it is unconstitutional.

Count the ways.

“But there are others, too. There are others,” the president offered, but refused to elaborate. Clearly, Trump has been putting in the brain time to fashion his Calvinball rules regarding a third term, and beyond.

It’s not hard for even non-lawyers to understand how the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution fences in the presidency to two terms, or one and a half if the vice president becomes president and serves more than two years. As a parlor game, it’s possible to concoct a scenario where a president who has been elected twice then becomes president without being elected. For example, the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 presents a whole list of people who will become president if the sitting president is incapacitated, dies, or is removed from office.

The 12th Amendment bars anyone who is ineligible to serve as president from running as vice president on a ticket, or being appointed to that position by a sitting president in the event of the office of vice president being vacated. But it doesn’t bar a former president from taking a cabinet position, or being elected by the House of Representatives as Speaker of the House. So, yes, “there are others” is technically correct, if both the president and vice president positions are vacant, and a person who is ineligible to run under the 22nd Amendment happens to be Speaker of the House. I doubt the Supreme Court would see it that way, but, Calvinball.

The gist is: Trump wants to be president and remain so. He really wants to be president, and to never stop being president until he shuffles off this mortal coil. In 2020, Trump could not have been more clear about this. In 2021, Trump’s actions could not have spoken more loudly. Why should anyone not believe him?

The richest decanter of pure Trump, I believe, is distilled in his 1990 interview with Playboy Magazine. Here’s some stuff that our current president has been obsessing over for at least 35 years, spoken by his 1990 self.

What's the first thing President Trump would do upon entering the Oval Office?
Many things. A toughness of attitude would prevail. I'd throw a tax on every Mercedes-Benz rolling into this country and on all Japanese products, and we'd have wonderful allies again.

Hmm. Prophetic or what? Or this.

But if the grass ever did look greener, which political party do you think you'd be more comfortable with?
Well, if I ever ran for office, I'd do better as a Democrat than as a Republican--and that's not because I'd be more liberal, because I'm conservative. But the working guy would elect me. He likes me. When I walk down the street, those cabbies start yelling out their windows.

Perhaps Democrats who voted Republican is what propelled this man into office. It’s the working class, who have felt betrayed as the country careened into egghead politics, led by Barack Obama. But what do I know?

Do you think George [H.W.] Bush is soft?
I like George Bush very much and support him and always will. But I disagree with him when he talks of a kinder, gentler America. I think if this country gets any kinder or gentler, it's literally going to cease to exist. I think if we had people from the business community--the Carl Icahns, the Ross Perots--negotiating some of our foreign policy, we'd have respect around the world.

How about the Elon Musks? Just asking for a friend.

What would be some of President Trump's longer-term views of the future?
I think of the future, but I refuse to paint it. Anything can happen. But I often think of nuclear war. Nuclear war?
I've always thought about the issue of nuclear war; it's a very important element in my thought process. It's the ultimate, the ultimate catastrophe, the biggest problem this world has, and nobody's focusing on the nuts and bolts of it. It's a little like sickness. People don't believe they're going to get sick until they do. Nobody wants to talk about it. I believe the greatest of all stupidities is people's believing it will never happen, because everybody knows how destructive it will be, so nobody uses weapons. What bullshit.

This is the man who has unconstrained and complete, utter control of the entire nuclear arsenal of the world’s most advanced superpower. On how President Trump (from 35 years ago) would handle nuclear proliferation and our allies:

He would believe very strongly in extreme military strength. He wouldn't trust anyone. He wouldn't trust the Russians; he wouldn't trust our allies; he'd have a huge military arsenal, perfect it, understand it. Part of the problem is that we're defending some of the wealthiest countries in the world for nothing.... We're being laughed at around the world, defending Japan—

About toughness and charm.

You seem very pleasant and charming during interviews, yet you talk constantly about toughness. Do you put on an act for us?
I think everybody has to have some kind of filtering system. I'm very fair and I have had the same people working for me for years. Rarely does anybody leave me. But when somebody tries to sucker-punch me, when they're after my ass, I push back a hell of a lot harder than I was pushed in the first place. If somebody tries to push me around, he's going to pay a price. Those people don't come back for seconds. I don't like being pushed around or taken advantage of. And that's one of the problems with our country today. This country is being pushed around by everyone— About your own toughness....
Well, as I said, I study people and in every negotiation, I weigh how tough I should appear. I can be a killer and a nice guy. You have to be everything. You have to be strong. You have to be sweet. You have to be ruthless. And I don't think any of it can be learned. Either you have it or you don't.

“It.” Calvinball. Trump makes his own rules, yet he himself has not changed in nearly four decades. He wants to run the country like he said he would 35 years ago. Believe him.

So far, since winning the election in November, 2024, after never admitting publicly to losing in 2020, Trump has given us Kash Patel, Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, Pete Hegseth, and RFK-freaking-Junior in his cabinet. People everyone was saying would never get confirmed. They literally sailed through.

Trump’s critics like to focus on his lies and each individual act of perdition. That’s a two-edged sword, and can be a mistake, because it opens up the argument that this or that Democrat was worse. President Joe Biden was legitimately mentally impaired during his term as president. Democrats and their fellow travelers covered it up.

I saw a comment posted on X that for years, Democrats continually demanded Republicans run the moral equivalent of a saint. Here is how they treated Republicans. Ronald Reagan, “that tired old man we elected king.” (h/t Don Henley.) G.H.W. Bush, the guy who didn’t know what a supermarket is like. Bob Dole, a dweeb version of Newt Gingrich (could not be further from the truth).

Then Republicans ran Mitt Romney, who came straight from central casting as a saint, at least politically. And Democrats treated him as if he was satan, a dog abuser, and a misogynist, not to mention they did nothing to correct an incorrect view of Mormons by suspicious evangelicals. They won another four years of Obama. The day after Romney’s loss, Donald Trump registered Make America Great Again as his phrase. MAGA was born, because Trump of the 90s decided that Trump of 2012 had seen enough of this country going “down the tubes.”

Now the same Democrats who went along politically with the every 2012 hit against Romney hold him up as near perfect, while Republicans and others who joined the MAGA horde call him weak, a squish, an enemy. Time for Calvinball. Romney didn’t play Trump’s game, and Trump made him “pay a price.” But at least Romney got out with his soul intact. I can’t necessarily say that about Mitch McConnell.

In fact, the parade of 2016 Republican candidates is an interesting study in Trump “believe him” doctrine. Let’s start with the neo-sycophants. Sen. Ted Cruz sold his soul early and became a wraith bound to Trump’s shadow. Marco Rubio did better, but we will see if he can last. Ben Carson managed to stay respectable. Chris Christie pretzeled himself into irrelevance. Jeb Bush, who again? Rick Santorum, micro-huckster. Carly Fiorina, nobody. John Kasich, gone Kasich. Lindsey Graham knew when to get out early, and sits on Trump’s shelf like a discarded toy, ready for action when called. Rick Perry got played. Scott Walker found regret.

With the exception of Rubio, none survived 2016. In 2024, the outcome is less certain, but we don’t hear much from Ambassador Nikki Haley anymore. Ron DeSantis is running as his wife for another term as Florida’s governor. Vivek couldn’t handle sharing a stage with Musk and poofed away. Doug Burgum did well; as Secretary of the Interior, he’s number eight on the presidential succession list, right after Pam Bondi, the attorney general.

Trump’s world is about Donald Trump, and him alone. Calvin had Hobbes to play Calvinball with. Trump manages to play completely alone, surrounded by others who cheer every stupid new rule, and swear we will achieve our Golden Age by doing what 1990 Trump has planned for 35 years.

It will not be a kinder, gentler America. It will be the kind of America that deports people (not good people, but the law isn’t about good, it’s about process) without due process, and will never apologize or correct for it. It will be the kind of America that celebrates “free speech” except when it’s someone’s speech they disagree with. It will be an America quick to punish other nations, that trusts no ally, that focuses on “the nuts and bolts” of nuclear war (whatever that means).

It will be the America Trump has thought about, nearly to the exclusion of everything else, for 35 years. Of course we must believe him when he says he wants to be president for another term, and another, and another. Such pesky things like amendments to the Constitution are no match for Trump’s Calvinball.

It’s hard to amend the Constitution, on purpose. But apparently it’s even harder to stop a president, and one-time ex-president, from getting what he wants.

“We have to have Greenland.”

Listen, I am all for Greenlanders deciding for themselves what to do with Greenland. I am no big Dane colonial flag waver. Greenland belongs to Denmark no more than Iceland does, and Denmark released Iceland decades ago. I agree with arguments that Greenland is a North American island, and should align with North America, not continental Europe.

But the way Trump is going after Greenland is with a huge stick and no carrot.

“And I think we're going to get it, one way or the other,” Mr. Trump said. “We're going to get it. We will keep you safe, we will make you rich, and together, we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before. It's a very small population, but very, very large piece of land, and very, very important for military security.”

Whether Greenlanders want to be part of the U.S. or not is irrelevant to the president’s desires. He wants it. Why does anyone think he won’t do what he says to get it? Why does anyone think that Trump won’t order the military to assert control over Greenland and sign an executive order annexing it? Why does anyone think Congress won’t go along with it? Annexation of a territory by military conquest requires only a simple majority in a Joint Resolution. A treaty requires a higher bar for ratification in the Senate, and if it involves payment, the House must pass the funding bill. It’s literally simpler for the Commander-in-Chief to order the military to conquer a territory than to negotiate a “deal” for it.

And once Trump does the de facto act of conquest, and signs an executive order implementing military rule over the place, where American troops have quartered since World War II, who is going to vote down the Joint Resolution making that act de jure in the United States. And if it was so simple by executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America (which Google obediently renamed), how could other nations and multinational corporations seeking the natural resource riches of the island not simply bow before Greenland, U.S.A.? Greenlanders? What of them? And will we go to war with Denmark?

Trump wants Greenland and will take it. Believe him.

If this is what you voted for, the America Donald Trump of 1990 said he wanted, and is doing now, then you’re going to get everything you believed you’d get.

But if you are one of those who prefers to see the silver lining in what Trump does, measured by the ills and lies of the “other side,” then one day you’re going to see how Calvinball, Trump style, works.

It was never about you, anyway. It’s about the guy who wants you, begs you, to believe him. He’s going to do all the things he said he would do. If that’s not what you want, then you’re going to have to decide where you stop supporting the things you happen to like, and start believing Trump when he says things you think are silly, stupid, or incredibly dangerous.

But maybe it’s what you want. I’m just a guy who reads stuff. I don’t make the rules. It’s Calvinball.

SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS: You can follow us on social media at several different locations. Official Racket News pages include:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewsRacket
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/NewsRacket
Mastodon: https://federated.press/@RacketNews

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@theracketnews
David: https://www.threads.net/@captainkudzu71
Steve: https://www.threads.net/@stevengberman

Our personal accounts on the platform formerly known as Twitter:

David: https://twitter.com/captainkudzu
Steve: https://twitter.com/stevengberman
Jay: https://twitter.com/curmudgeon_NH

Thanks again for subscribing! Don’t forget to share us with your friends!

*Generally, Calvin makes the rules. There are times where the babysitter, or mom, get the better of him. If this happens, Calvin follows their rules, unless he can make a new one of his own. This analogy is more insightful than I originally thought.