| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a political shapeshifter who morphs into whatever suits Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. On Sundays, we look at the major themes of the week past and how they will define the week ahead. Sign up for the daily newsletter here. Do you have fifty bucks and no shame? Then this can be yours from the official Trump Store! [1]  Source: Trumpstore.com Now as we all know, the idea is impossible, right? Right?? Right??? The 22nd Amendment states quite clearly that a president may serve only two terms. [2] Yet President Donald Trump has said he is "considering" seeking another term — and there are a few (improbable) scenarios: - Plan A: Having the 22nd Amendment repealed
- Plan B: Getting elected as, say, JD Vance's vice president in 2028 and then booting Vance to the curb.
- Plan C: Getting anointed speaker of the House and then booting, say, Vance and his vice president to the curb.
But, hey, those are about as probable as a president more or less inviting a violent crowd to use the Capitol hallways as a restroom, and then later pardoning the defecators. Other than presidents, there are plenty of other jobs I think should have term limits: Supreme Court justices, tech CEOs, football coaches, football announcers, great bands, bad bands, hair bands, perhaps even humble newsletter writers. But you know who shouldn't have them? The least popular folks in America: members of Congress. Honestly. "Support for imposing term limits on the US Congress is gaining steam, with at least half a dozen state legislatures approving resolutions urging a cap on service in the House of Representatives and the Senate," writes David Drucker. Well, we could hardly do worse, right? Um, actually, we probably would. "Rather than making members of the House and Senate more responsive to the voters, term limits would shift power from veteran, experienced lawmakers to unelected staffers, executive branch bureaucrats and K Street lobbyists, none of whom would be subject to term limits," adds David. "Just ask longtime political operatives in California, who have watched firsthand the impact of term-limits on the state legislature." Then again, "We could do worse!" isn't a ringing endorsement, especially in the eyes of Kathryn Anne Edwards. "For Republicans, President Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' is creating what amounts to an existential crisis. For half a century, Republicans have been committed to the policy of lower taxes to aid the economy — impervious to any evidence that tax cuts are inefficient and prohibitively expensive," she writes. "At this point, to walk away from the bill is to abandon their economic raison d'etre. Yet in the grand scheme of economic policy, their struggle — even this bill — is almost meaningless. Because regardless of Republicans' commitment to tax cuts, higher taxes are coming." GOP legislators also have an odd strategy for an unpopular majority in an unpopular legislative body: More of the same! Consider, for example, yet another attempt to kill the Affordable Care Act. Ron Brownstein says Republicans tried to repeal the Obamacare the last time Trump was in office. That famously didn't work. Eight years later, they're at it again with a slightly subtler tactic. "The plan that passed the House last month, and the version advancing in the Senate, both avoid the head-on assault seen in the 2017 legislation," he writes. "Instead, the GOP is applying a death-by-a-thousand cuts strategy that bleeds the ACA and Medicaid." Lisa Jarvis has more on the Medicaid front. "Republican lawmakers claim their proposal to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid is designed to protect the country's most vulnerable ... In reality, anyone who relies on public insurance could be affected, including about 37 million kids, nearly half of all American children," she writes. The obvious result: "Worse health for our children, both in the near term and in their futures."  Another big job in Washington that doesn't have term limits is that of vice president. Yet JD Vance seems to have a different sort of term limit: one on his own beliefs. "In his short political career, Vice President JD Vance has already proven himself to be a political shapeshifter who morphs into whatever suits his political ambitions. It's how he went from being an anti-Trump CNN commentator to President Donald Trump's second in command in just eight years," writes Nia-Malika Henderson. "Now he is ditching another persona, that of the anti-interventionist, as he tries to sell Trump's strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities to a skeptical MAGA base and equally skeptical public." Vance might want to find a stance and stick to it, or Trump 2028's Plan B is in big trouble. More Top Hat Reading: What's the World Got in Store ? - ECB Sintra forum, June 30: Trump Doesn't Always Chicken Out — John Authers
- US jobs report, July 3: This Time Is Different for the US Economy — Conor Sen
- Independence Day, July 4: Juneteenth Celebrations Are an Act of Defiance — Nia-Malika Henderson
Nia-Malika isn't the only one to take note of Vance's shapeshifting. "The America First rhetoric of Vice President JD Vance in February has been politely forgotten in the face of what seems like a flip away from the MAGA world's splendid isolation," Lionel Laurent writes. "After all, Trump has let bunker busters fly; he has publicly laid claim to making 'the world' safer; and he has displayed the kind of credible deterrence Europeans crave as Russia continues to bomb Ukraine. 'Chapeau,' as the French say." Hmmm, sometimes chapeau means "Well Done!" Sometimes it's just a hat. Which are we dealing with here? Based on their behavior at the NATO summit last week, the European allies are willing to take their hats off — although probably not in exchange for those "Trump 2028" monstrosities. "National leaders who may have wondered what life was like under a Roman emperor now know from experience. As they struggle to do business with the most powerful man on earth, they are obliged to abase themselves, to pander, to profess assent when privately many dissent," writes Max Hastings. "Like it or not, Trump is apparently unchallenged master of the richest nation on earth. He is being indulged by Congress and the Supreme Court in exercising dictatorial powers for making war, and much else. The rest of us must parley with Trump, or forfeit his indispensable support." This is hardly the moment for NATO to be in disarray, what with a war in Ukraine, another in the Middle East, and one brewing in the western Pacific. But don't fret, says Hal Brands, the alliance has seen worse. "NATO's history is an odd combination of epic, history-changing achievements and existential crises," he writes. But can it survive the permanent state of crisis that is Donald Trump? Hal thinks it is possible: "The most critical question of the coming years may be whether Trump finally accepts the argument that persuaded his predecessors — that NATO, for all its burdens and frustrations, really is indispensable for the world, and for America, too." Let's hope it doesn't take a third term for Trump to get the message. Notes: Please send jolis chapeaux and feedback to Tobin Harshaw at [email protected]. |
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