Petulant Dan Goldman Beclowns Himself With Resolution Holding Trump to Two Terms

The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution came about following President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s precedent-shattering third and fourth terms in the Oval Office. Concerns that someone could try to become a president for life, Republicans and some Democrats drafted the amendment, which established the tradition of two presidential terms into law.

It reads:

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 article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.

On Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump made a quip about the possibility of seeking a third term in office. “‘I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say, “He’s so good we’ve got to figure something else out,”’ Mr. Trump told Republicans, who appeared to take it as a joke,” reported Annie Karni in the New York Times.

It’s not the first time Trump has tossed out humorous cracks about a third term, but it was a joke. It wasn’t some indication that the wheels are in motion for Trump to subvert or violate the Constitution. But that didn’t stop Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) from making a fool of himself once again with a resolution stating that Trump can only serve two terms.

We are a nation of laws, not kings.

The 22nd Amendment is clear that no person can be elected President more than twice.

Any attempt by Donald Trump to do so is blatantly unconstitutional, and I call on my colleagues – D or R – to stand by their oath to defend the Constitution. https://t.co/OqYQ7axuFa

— Rep. Dan Goldman (@RepDanGoldman) November 13, 2024

Goldman sees himself as some sort of force to try to keep Trump in check — as if the voters didn’t vindicate Trump with a hefty election victory.

“Mr. Goldman’s resolution is an early indication of how Democrats may try to hold Mr. Trump accountable and defend democratic institutions with Republicans headed toward full control of Congress and few guardrails remaining to rein him in,” Karni writes.

Good grief, Trump will be 82 when he leaves office after this upcoming term. At that age, I can’t imagine him wanting to run again. And for all his bluster, Trump does respect the rule of law. A legitimate attempt at a third Trump term doesn’t seem likely.

Besides, where was Goldman when Barack Obama joked about his desire for a third term? In a 2020 appearance with Stephen Colbert — a meeting between two of the most insufferable people on the planet — Obama mused about wishing he could install a proxy to serve as his third term. Snopes transcribed the statement:

I said this before. People would ask me, "Knowing what you know now, do you wish you had a third term?" And I used to say, "You know what? If I could make an arrangement where I had a stand-in, a front man or front woman, and they had an earpiece in and I was just in my basement in my sweats looking through the stuff, and then I could sort of deliver the lines, but somebody else was doing all the talking and ceremony, I'd be fine with that.” Because I found the work fascinating. I mean, I write about the... even on my worst days, I found puzzling out, you know, these big, complicated, difficult issues, especially if you were working with some great people, to be professionally really satisfying. But I do not miss having to wear a tie every day.

Might as well add Obama to that resolution, Danny Boy. Then again, one could argue that Joe Biden was that third Obama term, but that’s another discussion for another day.

This stunt of Goldman’s is nothing short of foolish political theater. He thinks he’s being noble and holding the president-elect accountable, but he’s revealing his true colors: petulance and snottiness.