There are times when Donald Trump just rambles and it makes absolutely no sense at all. Take this morning’s National Prayer Breakfast, when he went on and on about humans being unable to be happy without religion, and then lying about sending water from the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest across more than 700 miles and a couple of mountain ranges down to California.

It’s already troubling that we have a man at the helm who is absolutely incomprehensible. It makes life uncertain, and it makes reporters’ jobs much, much harder when it comes time to transcribe the nonsense he spouts.

But sometimes he makes perfect sense, and it’s downright scary. Sometimes he tells a “joke” and you just know that he actually believes it, wants to make it happen, or wishes it was true.

That’s the case with his meandering musings on running for a third term as President of the United States.

We are all already terrified enough about what’s going to happen in THIS term. In just over two weeks, he’s managed to practically turn every small-d democratic institution we’ve ever known on its ear. That may make his MAGA cultists happy — I know because they’re on my social media timeline — but it makes the rest of us pretty uncomfortable.

But imagining a third term takes all of that and amplifies it. Not just because of how much more damage he could do, but because it would be the actual end of democracy.

At the second of the two National Prayer Breakfast events held today, Trump trotted out his classic “Maybe I will” routine.

They told me I could do it via Skype. And I said, What are we doing? And I said, The prayer breakfast. I said, I’ve been there every year. I’m not doing it via Skype. Instead, I’m going to be there. It’s not that far. You know, it’s like about two minutes down the road. In fact, it was easier to do this than put up a Skype deal – destroy the White House, putting up all that stuff.

But no, I want to be here with you. And I have been here with you.

And I do that despite the fact that they say I can’t run again. That’s the expression, “Sir…”

Then somebody said, “I don’t think you can.”

Oooh! Heh-heh.

No I want to be with you regardless. And it’s an honor. And that’s something I’ve enjoyed. I’ve actually met some very nice Democrats here.

Watch his little “joke” in this clip from social media political video guru Aaron Rupar:

Trump at the National Prayer Breakfast: “They say I can’t run again. That’s the expression. Then somebody said, ‘I don’t *think* you can.’ Ooh!” pic.twitter.com/EiAFYvbRUK

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 6, 2025

I wouldn’t be quite as worried about this as I am, being as we have the 22nd Amendment and all, but he’s made this joke so many times now. And there was actually a MAGA Republican lawmaker who submitted a bill calling for a change to that amendment, just so Trump could run again. He even tailored it specifically so it wouldn’t apply to other two-term presidents, like Barack Obama.

The fact is, his voters, the lawmakers who do his bidding in Congress, and even Donald Trump himself have been so blatant in their desire for this that it’s hard to think he’s joking at all anymore.

And if any of that comes to pass, it’s lights out for America. It would set such a horrible precedent that he could conceivably change anything about the democratic experiment after that. He could do away with elections. He could simply appoint a successor. He could spearhead an effort to rewrite the entire Constitution at this point, and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if every Republican in Washington went right along for the ride.

That’s terrifying.