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Comment by komali2 | Hacker News Reader

> Then the insurrection failed, the ex-president faced a criminal investigation and prosecutors put him on trial for plotting a coup.

The Americans impeached this president once and nothing happened, and then also didn't they find him guilty of a ton of other crimes, and nothing happened?

Do Americans have optimism that Trump won't be their first dictator for life and will actually face consequences for his crimes? As for me I'm so confident that Trump is America's last president that I'm trying to find ways to put money on it.

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> The Americans impeached this president once and nothing happened,

Twice; there have been four impeachments of US Presidents, two of which were of Donald Trump during his previous term.

> Do Americans have optimism that Trump won't be their first dictator for life and will actually face consequences for his crimes?

I'm pretty confident that he WILL be a somewhat [0] dictatorial leader for life, but I think there are pretty good odds that this does not involve exceeding the maximum term limit set by the 22nd Amendment.

[0] somewhat only in that I don't think the total destruction of institutions that would make it an absolute dictatorship rather than an aspirational one that still struggles against things like courts that, while mostly tame, still give some effect to Constitutional rights and limits is likely to be completed before Trump is, though not for lack of trying.

I'm curious what makes you believe Trump won't attempt, and succeed, to exceed the term limit set by the 22nd Amendment? There's a pretty obvious loophole with the word "elected," so he can circumvent by preventing elections.

I'm also just not sure where faith comes from that the constitution won't at this point just be interpreted per the needs of the administration, or simply ignored with no consequence.

> I'm curious what makes you believe Trump won't attempt, and succeed, to exceed the term limit set by the 22nd Amendment?

I think the sentence in which I express that is pretty clear on why (emphasis added): “I'm pretty confident that he WILL be a somewhat dictatorial leader for life, but I think there are pretty good odds that this does not involve exceeding the maximum term limit set by the 22nd Amendment.”

I'm with you. America is already a failed state, a dead man walking, and people are still pretending like it can be fixed. There's only one way this country can be saved and, regardless of the process to get there, it would culminate in a new constitution.

> There's only one way this country can be saved and, regardless of the process to get there, it would culminate in a new constitution.

NYT op-ed from 8/14 agreeing: "Abolish the Senate. End the Electoral College. Pack the Court. Why the left can’t win without a new Constitution."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/opinion/trump-democracy-t... https://archive.is/uNIPL

> impeached this president ~once~ twice.

With two acquittals in the Senate.

He wasn't found guilty of many other crimes at all, because Americans (with less experience in such matters) didn't understand the need to move fast. In the most severe case IMO, where he tried to subvert the Georgia election, the indictment came down almost three years after the crime.

> Do Americans have optimism that Trump won't be their first dictator for life

Yes! It's a very real and very big concern, and preventing it from happening is my primary political commitment for the next four years, but I'm pretty confident we'll succeed. I really want people to understand that when you declare he's already the dictator and nothing can change that, you are taking Trump's side, even if you shake your head sadly while you say it.

> I really want people to understand that when you declare he's already the dictator and nothing can change that, you are taking Trump's side, even if you shake your head sadly while you say it.

I've heard people say this before but I don't understand how it's not just sticking one's head in the sand.

However I'm not suggesting it's unavoidable, I'm just not seeing how avoiding the situation is possible given the strategies currently being used to prevent it (impeaching him, charging him with crimes, protesting, having your democrat governors make funny tweets).

But, you say you have a political commitment to try and prevent it, so I defer to your knowledge - what's the game plan?

The strategies currently being used did prevent it in 2020. Trump announced that he was going to steal the election, spent 2 straight months focused exclusively on making it happen, sent a mob into Congress to try and force their hand, and none of it worked. The point of the protests and the tweets is to make sure that Republican decisionmakers understand in 2026 and 2028 what enough of them understood then: Trump is not actually very popular, he doesn't embody the will of the American people, and his power fundamentally depends on a critical mass of people who don't like or respect him but acknowledge his democratic legitimacy.

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