You know he's not planning on leaving after 2028, right?

[Tommy Carcetti]

Someone who is now openly seeking to persecute his political opponents is not someone who is planning on relinquishing power democratically. Not even to someone of his own party if he or she is elected democratically.

He said he wanted to prosecute people who opposed him, and mentioned Comey by name. He did.

He said he wanted to get media figures who criticized him taken off the air, like Jimmy Kimmel. He did (at least temporarily.)

He said he would not accept the result of an election if it did not favor him. In 2020, he refused to accept his loss.

He told groups like the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by" if he lost in 2020. They did.

So when he keeps on "joking" about wanting to be President past 2028, he's not joking. He literally has "Trump 2028" hats on display at the White House. And whether it's trying to push some bullshit claim that he's entitled to a 3rd term, or simply ignoring the transfer of power altogether, he doesn't have any designs on wanting to step down from his throne.

The only way I see him not wanting to press on indefinitely is if God willing his diet finally catches up to him at long last and we see a well-deserved coronary event. And while we see pictures of him and hope that he continues to deteriorate, absent that type of game-changing event I don't see him wanting to relinquish anything.

We have already crossed the level into authoritarianism. Right now we are at least at the level of Orban's Hungary, and it will only get worse.