Trump is Not Leaving the Presidency, Voluntarily

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted and Published on March 31, 2025

President Donald J. Trump

An Editorial Opinion

Yesterday, President Donald Trump confirmed that he plans to stay in office beyond his second term, which expires in January 2029.  Most people have dismissed the possibility of this event happening. I have not.

Political pundits and media voices have consistently underestimated Trump’s dogged ability to reach his political goals, even though he has won the presidency twice -- against incredible odds.  They are underestimating him, again.

Trump already has a game plan to remain in power and a willlingness to do whatever it takes to accomplish this goal.  Trump has remade the presidency into an Imperial Presidency, with no “checks and balances” from Congress and with a grant of immunity from criminal prosecution from his MAGA-controlled U.S. Supreme Court.

Donald Trump is not going to leave the presidency, voluntarily.  To the contrary, Trump is fully executing a “Manifest Destiny” plan that includes: (a) staying in power beyond his term, (b) seizing the sovereign nation of Canada and the Danish territory of Greenland, and (c) using military force, if necessary, to prevent a regime change in America in January 2029. 

The Political Infrastructure is in Place for Trump to Stay in Power Beyond January 2029

Sometime in early 2028, Trump will likely declare a national state of emergency due to alleged widespread threats of domestic terrorism, foreign threats of armed conflict against the U.S. interests, and military action Trump is expected to initiate in the Middle East.   Against this backdrop, Trump will impose martial law and suspend the Constitution until new elections can be held in 2032.

Trump has already seized ironclad control of the governmental bodies he needs to remain in power, via martial law.  He has a dictatorial grip over the U.S. military (via Pete Hegseth), the U.S. Attorney General (via Pam Bondi), the FBI (via Kash Patel), Homeland Security (via Christi Noem), the CIA (via John Ratcliffe), the National Intelligence Agencies (via Tulsi Gabbard), the U.S. Congress, the Republican Party, “Red state” governors, the U.S. Supreme Court, Wall Street, Fox News, X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and a host of other government agencies and major corporations that form the backbone of America. 

The heads of these government agencies, media groups, and corporations suck-up to Donald Trump on a daily basis.  None of them exercises independent judgment on domestic affairs.

Elon Musk, who has shown a propensity to seek and attain “above the law” status in all matters of interest to him, is Trump’s sidekick, enabler, and First Buddy.  This South African native, whose family thrived during the country’s apartheid-era “white minority rule” government, is no stranger to supporting unpopular public figures and nefarious governance schemes.

America Now Has an Imperial President Running the Country

What used to be a democracy in America has morphed into an Imperial Presidency, with a supporting oligarchy.  Trump is the Imperial President. Super-wealthy corporations and individuals are the devoted oligarchs.  We call them the “One Percenters.”  Their wealth is measured every day on Wall Street and is protected by Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court, and every U.S. president.

In 2010, in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court gave wealthy corporations the legal right to buy elected officials in America, which they promptly did.  This is why tax laws favor the rich and why wealthy corporations and Wall Street banks always get bailed out in times of great economic crisis.  

Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 in America in February 2020, Trump was exploring a proposal to extend his term in office by repealing the 22nd Amendment, which limits a president to two terms in office.  Trump was inspired to extend his term in office by the example he saw with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Both men ushered in changes to their countries’ constitutions that effectively made them presidents for life.  Both men serve as role models for Trump in the art of governing a nation with a dictatorial grip.

A Majority of Americans May Support Trump's Martial Law Plan

Trump believes his diehard base of MAGA supporters and the “One Percenters” will back his plan to remain in office.  To them, the end-result of permanent "MAGA-Rule" on the American political scene justifies the means necessary to achieve it.

In addition to declaring a national state of emergency, Trump will likely use federal agents and military troops to enforce martial law in America, particularly in cities and states that are governed by Democrats.  Trump has already characterized these areas as hot zones for violence, rioting, and lawlessness.

The blueprint for Trump's use of the military for the mass incarceration of American dissenters already exists.  A 1970 document written by Louis O. Giuffrada at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania titled, “National Survival-Racial Imperative,” provides elaborate details of a federal government plan to round up black Americans and place them in concentration camps across America, if necessary for national security. Giuffrada, who was a full colonel in the Military Police Corps in 1970, later became President Ronald Reagan’s FEMA director.

Giuffrada's Plan is chilling in its graphic profile of race relations America. It described a level of white "anger" in 1970 that is eerily similar to the "anti-DEI" anger Donald Trump has tapped into today.

Epilogue

Donald Trump is predictable.  He wanted to transform the presidency, and he did.  Republicans and Democrats, alike, are afraid of his Imperial Presidency.  America now has an authoritarian ruler who issues presidential edicts (i.e., Executive Orders) every day.

On August 1, 2015, I published the first article in America that predicted Donald Trump’s victory in 2016, and explained why.   In March 2020, I predicted Trump's defeat due to his mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic response.  In September 2024, I predicted Trump's victory for a second term in the White House.

Today, I am predicting that Trump will not leave office voluntarily when his term expires in January 2029.  The ruling oligarchy in America will back his decision to remain in office as the nation's first Imperial President.  This experience, like many others during the Trump presidency, will be a first in American history.