\n<\/p>\n
The thing about Donald Trump<\/strong> is that he is never actually kidding. Sure, he might say things with the cadence of a stand-up\u2014and his supporters may laugh. But his \u201cjokes,\u201d if we want to call them that, are always more like trial balloons he floats out there to see what he can get away with. So when he muses about staying in office beyond the second term he won last week, there is no reason to take it as anything but an admission of his actual aspirations.<\/p>\n \u201cI suspect I won\u2019t be running again\u2014unless you do something,\u201d Trump told a crowd of giddy House Republicans Wednesday, as he took a victory lap in Washington. \u201cUnless you say, \u2018He\u2019s so good, we have to just figure it out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n His GOP allies brushed it off: \u201cThat was a joke,\u201d Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett<\/strong> told<\/a> the Hill. \u201cIt was clearly a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t even tell a joke without being excoriated,\u201d Arizona Representative Eli Crane<\/strong> added.<\/p>\n But Trump has a long history of fantasizing about \u201cextending\u201d<\/a> his presidency\u2014and is already seeking to imbue it with powers outside the traditional checks and balances that underpin the American system of government.<\/p>\n Already facing little legal constraint, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling this summer that effectively put presidents above the law<\/a>, Trump has sought in the days since his election to ensure there are few legislative guardrails in his path. He is pressuring Senate Republicans to allow him to make recess appointments<\/a>, presumably to ensure Matt Gaetz<\/strong>, Pete Hegseth<\/strong>, and his other checkered nominees don\u2019t have to face scrutiny in confirmation hearings\u2014even though his party will enjoy a 53-47 majority. His aides, meanwhile, are targeting a 1974 budget law that would allow him to make government cuts proposed by Elon Musk<\/strong> and Vivek Ramaswamy<\/strong> without congressional approval, as the Washington Post<\/em> reported<\/a> Wednesday. Musk and Ramaswamy’s so-called \u201cefficiency\u201d commission<\/a> could, itself, act as a kind of power grab\u2014giving untold influence to two allies outside the official government, and perhaps concentrating even more authority for Trump and his circle of loyalists.<\/p>\n Will he face any political restraints? The electorate gave him a governing trifecta\u2014the White House and both chambers of Congress\u2014and Democrats have limited recourse to rein him in. If there\u2019s to be any real curb on his power, at least in the immediate future, it\u2019ll have to come from Republicans. And while there\u2019s been some GOP hand-wringing over a few of Trump\u2019s early moves\u2014the Gaetz pick for attorney general, in particular, has raised hackles<\/a>\u2014the party he remade in his image seems concerned with only one thing: \u201cIt\u2019s nice,\u201d as Trump told<\/a> the House conference Wednesday, \u201cto win.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n