Imagine If It Were Trump

By Charles C. W. Cooke

Sunday, May 10, 2026

 

Imagine the following scenario:

 

1.      Donald Trump says he’s going to run for president again in 2028, on the grounds that it’s necessary to ensure fairness and to protect our democracy;

 

2.      After Trump wins the Republican primaries and secures the nomination, the Democratic Party says that his plan to run again is unconstitutional, and asks the Supreme Court to prevent Trump from running again;

 

3.      In the ensuing litigation, the Republican Party tells the Supreme Court that it must wait to adjudicate this constitutional question until the completion of the proceedings, on the principle that the courts shouldn’t interfere while elections are in the process of being made;

 

4.      The Supreme Court agrees;

 

5.      Donald Trump wins the election, 51–48;

 

6.      Democrats sue prior to the certification of the results, arguing that Trump has violated the 22nd Amendment, which prohibits anyone from becoming president for a third time;

 

7.      The Supreme Court agrees and strikes down the election, preventing it from being certified;

 

8.      Republicans complain that the Supreme Court has overturned the “will of the people,” indignantly ask why the Court allowed the election to go ahead if it was destined to rule it illegal after completion, and start making threats against the “unelected” Supreme Court for undermining “democracy.”

 

This sounds pretty outrageous right? Obviously, in such a circumstance, the “will of the people” wouldn’t overrule the 22nd Amendment, because the 22nd Amendment is part of the Constitution, and the Constitution is the fundamental law by which all our other processes must abide. And, clearly, the Republicans wouldn’t be able to have it both ways: If they had insisted that the Court couldn’t intervene beforehand but only afterward — which is a legitimate legal position to take — they couldn’t then turn around and complain about the timing. At least not without being cynical and demagogic in the extreme.

 

Well, this is exactly what the Democratic Party did — and is doing — with the gerrymandering referendum in Virginia. It’s just less obvious than it should be to the assembled media, because the assembled media is full of partisan hacks.