Over the past 19 months, so many parallels have been drawn between the actions of Vladimir Putin and those of Donald Trump that I’ve lost count. There were, for example, the illegal wars they each started and can’t find their way out of, the crackdowns on free speech and journalistic independence, the financial corruption, and the free rein being given to law enforcement agencies to interpret the law any way they choose — though admittedly, none of those are new or surprising in Russia.

But Trump obviously admires “strongmen” leaders, and seeks to emulate them whenever possible. And now, it seems, he may be contemplating trying yet another move of Putin’s . . . the one that has kept him on the Kremlin “throne” for the past 26 years, and could continue for another decade (barring a coup or a fall from the window of a tall building).

So bear with me, please, through this little review of Vladimir Putin’s seemingly endless terms as president of the Russian Federation, as it may shed light on Trump’s insistent teasing that he could run for a clearly unconstitutional third term. I’ll try to be brief.

When Boris Yeltsin suddenly resigned the presidency of Russia in 1999, his then Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, properly stepped up to complete his term. Putin then ran in the next scheduled election in 2000 and won. At the time, the Russian Constitution allowed two consecutive four-year presidential terms, and in 2004, Putin was re-elected for another four years.

His Prime Minister at the time was the alleged reformer (I say “alleged” because he has since morphed into one of the Kremlin’s most virulent hawks), Dmitry Medvedev. With some clever finagling, the two managed to swing the 2008 election to Medvedev, who then appointed Putin as his Prime Minister. For the next four years, Putin ran the government from behind the scenes, while Medvedev smiled for the cameras.

During those four years, by an amazing coincidence (note the sarcasm), a constitutional amendment was also pushed through the Russian Parliament, enlarging the presidential terms to six years apiece. And when Putin was again eligible to run in 2012 — remember the two-term restriction specifically said “consecutive” terms — he got himself elected for six more years, then did the same in 2018.

Now you’re thinking that that should have been the end of it for Putin, since he had by then served two consecutive six-year terms. But no . . . he wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. Because in 2020, yet another constitutional amendment — dubbed the “Zero-Reset” Amendment —had been engineered, effectively “un-happening” all of his previous terms and allowing him to run again. Which he did, successfully, in 2024.

Now, that’s how you erase history!

His present term expires in 2030, at which time he will be eligible for another six-year term, taking him to 2036, when he will be 83 years old. And who knows how else he will have tinkered with the Constitution before then?

Okay, sorry . . . that wasn’t as brief as I’d hoped. But we are now up to the present time, when Donald Trump is facing the end of his second and final term, because our Constitution doesn’t say “consecutive” terms. Yet he continues to hint that there may be a way around it, and there are those who have suggested that he could be looking at taking a page from Putin’s playbook and trying to get JD Vance or one of his other sycophants elected in 2028, with himself as vice-presidential running mate. Then the figurehead president could invent an excuse to resign, leaving Trump to finish his term, and possibly run again after that.

Clever? Well, not quite. Because, first, there is the 22nd Amendment, which states that no person can be elected to the office of the president more than twice. Period.

But if he advances to the office by reason of the president’s resignation, that is not being elected a third time. So couldn’t he at least do that?

Again, no . . . because way back in 1803, Congress — in its then infinite wisdom — passed the 12th Amendment, which unequivocally states:

“ . . . no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.”

And since he would not be eligible to run for the presidency a third time, he also would not have been eligible to run for the vice-presidency in the first place.

That, at least, is how the Constitution reads today. But let’s not celebrate too soon. Can we really afford to assume that what is true today will also be true tomorrow?

I think not . . . not when we’re dealing with someone as inherently sly and unethical as Donald Trump. And not while he is still in control of a Republican-majority Congress and a conservative-majority Supreme Court.

So we need to ditch the complacency and do two things:

First, be on the alert for any signs of back-room shenanigans regarding a possible move toward a constitutional amendment.

And second, get out there in November and VOTE.

It’s our right, our duty . . . and our only hope.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
9/1/26