“Trump’s Counting On You To Believe This Is Impossible” Don’t Fall For It

What follows is four minutes of a dark and dangerous vision for America. It is dystopian as hell. It is completely un American, as you and I understand that term. But is it unrealistic? No. Unfortunately, it’s even probable if Democrats don’t win back at least one chamber of Congress in 2026 and the White House in 2028.

And it speaks to the issue of the White House in 2028 and your very worst nightmare concerning it. Yes, it speaks of Trump staying in office for yet a third term. Andy Ogles has already brought the idea before Congress and oh, he just happened to have charges against him dismissed. Ain’t that the darnedest coincidence?

The GOP would be happy to have Trump as a monarch for life. That would relieve them of a great many burdens. They wouldn’t have to find a successor to Trump. He could be their standard bearer until he croaked and who knows what would happen after that. Junior? Eric? Lara? Maybe a triumverant of all three as co-presidents?

Or maybe Elon just takes over, which certainly would be logical. Yes, he is unelected, unappointed and completely unaccountable, but so far that hasn’t slowed him down, right? And what about Andy Ogles?

When Republican Rep. Andy Ogles unveiled a proposal last week to allow Donald Trump to run for a third term, it was a rather obvious partisan stunt. There was, however, a nagging question hanging over the Tennessee congressman’s motivations.

After all, Ogles isn’t just another far-right member of Congress (of which there are many). He’s also the subject of an ongoing federal criminal investigation. Indeed, it was roughly five months ago when the GOP lawmaker publicly disclosed that the FBI had seized his cellphone and personal email as part of an apparent probe into his finances.

In other words, it was possible that Ogles introduced an absurd proposal to empower Trump to run again in 2028 because of his affection for the president, knowing full well it will never become law. But it was also possible that he was trying to flatter Trump and get his attention amid an investigation that might lead to a criminal indictment.

Just eight days after Ogles unveiled his measure, it appears there’s some news out of Tennessee. WTVF, the CBS affiliate in Nashville, reported:

Federal prosecutors based in Nashville have withdrawn from the criminal investigation of Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles, an unprecedented move that could signal plans by the Trump administration to drop the case against a Republican ally. With no explanation, Acting U.S. Attorney Brian McGuire filed a notice late Thursday to withdraw Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert S. Levine and J. Christopher Suedekum from an on-going legal dispute over the FBI’s access to evidence seized from Ogles last year.

Let’s pause to review how we arrived at this point.

Ogles was already a scandal-plagued congressman when WTVF reported in late 2023 that the congressman’s financial reports showed he had made a $320,000 personal loan to his 2022 campaign. That might not have been especially problematic — candidates often make such loans — were it not for the fact that Ogles’ financial disclosures suggested he didn’t have $320,000.

Months later, the Republican effectively conceded that his earlier claims weren’t true. He said he’d actually loaned his campaign $20,000, not $320,000, though it remained an open question as to who or what provided Ogles with the rest of the money.

And it will stay a mystery. We mention Ogles here because it used to be that if a member of Congress played footloose and fancy free with money, that was the bridge too far. After all, look at what happened to Bob Mendendez. He’s going to the House Of Many Doors for nine long years.

But Ogles is just waltzing away into the night, whistling. So you see how things that used to be impossible suddenly become not only possible but even normal?

Trump, and the GOP, are counting on you not taking any of this too seriously. And if you do that, bye bye democracy.

I get it that everybody is depressed right now and burned out on politics. Nobody gets that better than me. But there are a few hard, solid facts that you cannot ignore and these are our salvation:

1. Trump did not win a “mandate” or by a “landslide.”
2. He won by 1.5% of the vote.
3. 12 more votes per precinct would have swung the election the other direction.
4. Right now both the House and Senate have razor-thin margins.

We absolutely can and must win in 2026. Let’s concentrate on that first and make it happen.