Not the first time he has done this, President Donald Trump on Friday morning insinuated he would like to extend his term beyond the four years granted by the nation's constitution when he posed as a question the idea of being granted back "stolen time" that was taken from him because of the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and accusations of misconduct by former FBI head James Comey.
While the IG report this week chided Comey for handing off contemporaneous notes about his interactions with the president to a friend so that they could be provided to the press, the Justice Department said it would not pursue criminal charges against the former FBI director.
In reaction to Trump's tweet suggesting he be given extra time on his current term, critics said the idea was ludicrous.
"Trump is talking about illegally extending his presidency again through a coup of his own making," tweeted John Aravosis, liberal activist and editor of AmericaBlog. "It's time Republicans started standing up for the country rather than the man."
It's not the first time Trump has talked about staying beyond his allowable limit or suggesting he would not cede the office.
In June, as Common Dreams reported at the time, Trump pinned a tweet to his timeline showing an online meme that depicted him holding power indefinitely. While critics then acknowledged that the behavior appears to be a form of trolling by the president, it still is a frightening suggestion that would be foolish not to take seriously or with at least some level of concern.
In response to Trump's comments on Friday, many took the idea of "stolen time" and ran with it as they suggested that it was Trump's presidency--predicated on racism, misogyny, xenophobia, environmental rollbacks, corporate giveaways, cruelty to children, fealty to wealthy elites, and an overall assault on decency and the common good--that had stolen so much time and progress from the country and the world.
"We should absolutely be given back our stolen time!" said one Twitter user, exemplary of many others. "And the whole Trump fiasco should be stricken from history. Everything Trump has done should be reversed as though it never happened."
