OPINION | This article contains opinion. This site is licensed to publish this content.
It is hard to doubt the impact that an impeachment inquiry has on the productivity of a presidency. With Trump first having to fend off congressional Democrats and their desire to have him removed from office, he is being forced to divert attention that could otherwise be spent restoring America’s standing in the world, better trade deals, or further lowering historic unemployment levels.
Democrats are preventing Trump’s ability to govern through a theatrical impeachment process, but they are within their legal means to do so. So what legal recourse is there for Trump to take to make up for lost time?
An idea from a Wall Street Journal op-ed includes amending the Constitution to allow Trump—and future U.S. presidents who find themselves in a similar situation—to serve a third term in the White House.
Any president who is impeached and acquitted should be permitted to serve a third term, writes William Mattox https://t.co/1nNkJF0GoY
— WSJ Editorial Page (@WSJopinion) October 24, 2019
William Mattox, a James Madison University resident fellow, compared the idea to a football coach being able to challenge an on-field call from a referee. In an op-ed titled, “Impeachment Needs a Replay Booth,” he said if the call (or the impeachment process) turned out to be wrong (and the president is acquitted), then there ought to be a remedy.
“Why not amend the Constitution so that any president who is impeached and acquitted is permitted to serve a third term?” Mattox asked in the WSJ op-ed. “That would allow him to make up for the time lost advancing the agenda that voters elected him to enact. It would preserve impeachment for genuine offenses but discourage its use for disputed ones and for mere politics. Absent such an amendment, and in an era when government is divided more often than not, impeachment seems likely to become an increasingly common means of opposition.”
“True, my amendment would open the possibility of a 2024 election that forces Americans to choose between Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. But it is likelier to give members of Congress a much-needed reminder that their main job is legislating,” he added.
President Trump previously echoed the idea of him getting more time in the White House due to the Russian investigation. He shared a post from Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. who said Trump should be given two extra years as a consolation for time missed with the investigation, MSN reports.
He once jokingly tweeted a gif which suggested he could remain in office past 2044.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2019
Trump also said, at various times, that he could serve beyond just two terms in office.
The Washington Examiner and the Washington Post have more on why Trump jokes about wanting to serve more than two terms.
