Monday May 6, 2019
President Donald Trump on Sunday floated the idea of extending his constitutionally limited time in office, complaining online that two years of his first White House term were “stollen” as a result of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
“I now support reparations — Trump should have 2 yrs added to his 1st term as pay back for time stolen by this corrupt failed coup,” Jerry Falwell Jr., a conservative religious leader and Trump ally, tweeted in a message reposted by the president.
Trump echoed Falwell’s sentiment in a pair of tweets an hour later, writing online: “Despite the tremendous success that I have had as President, including perhaps the greatest ECONOMY and most successful first two years of any President in history, they have stollen two years of my (our) Presidency (Collusion Delusion) that we will never be able to get back.”
He added: “The Witch Hunt is over but we will never forget. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The president’s retweets regarding an extended stay in the Oval Office follow a New York Times report on Saturday in which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was concerned that Trump would refuse to give up power in 2020 if he lost reelection by a narrow margin.
The posts also feature implicit contradictions Trump has not hesitated to repeat since Mueller submitted his report to the Justice Department in March: that it was, at once, a partisan document conceived by “18 Trump Hating Angry Democrats,” as well as a “Total EXONERATION” for the White House.