1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

Given President Trump’s recent comments on seeking a third term, and how the media is claiming this is potentially a joke, I would like to write to express deep concern and that everything President Trump says in this regard should be taken as an absolute certainty. I am writing this from my apartment in Edinburgh, where I compare the history of Northern Ireland with that of East Germany. As a fluent German speaker, and as a student of the history of dictatorship, I am all too familiar with the playbook President Trump is using. And frankly I am petrified. There are other things on the horizon that need to be stopped. There is further organizing on the grassroots level - organizing I beg you to step up in leading, please. I know you are taking him seriously, but I want you to take this recent turn of events very seriously. With these comments on him potentially seeking a third term, and evidence that Steve Bannon has already planned it, the time has long come to stop assuming anything is a joke. The current president of the United States seeks to turn us into Orbán’s Hungary and he makes it clearer every day in the hope that we won’t take it seriously. Therefore I have to ask you to please consult legal scholars, constitutional experts, and everyone who can possibly express a helpful opinion on the matter to begin the legal and philosophical maneuverings required to prevent and deligitimize such an outright violation of all that makes us the United States of America. I have to ask you to please tell me what you’re doing at the moment to maneuver against this, and if nothing, to please start and I have to ask what we can do as constituents to bolster your efforts, and if it’s at all relevant, what my options from abroad are to organize or help in any way. Any and all thought that this will sort itself out or that President Trump is simply using this as a distraction is a luxury we cannot afford. We have to prevent a third term in any way possible, even if that means campaigning for midterms now in the hope of passing legislation that can stop it. I voted you into office in the hope that you would respond when needed. Please don’t let us down. We are genuinely counting on you.