Where we go next in Trump’s acquisition of power is best summed up by one of the first rules of real estate: You don’t modernize a rental. Does anybody really think Trump is building a humungous ballroom for J.D. Vance?

The ostentatious ‘renovation’ of the East Wing currently underway, then, is the obvious tell that Trump is plotting to stick around in the White House for, well, forever. That’s what autocrats do.

Speaker Mike Johnson says he’s talked with Trump about seeking a third term and told him there’s “no path” around the Constitutional “roadblocks” that prohibit such an audacious move.

But Johnson has a vested interest in downplaying Trump’s thirst for power—it’s the key to him holding on to his own. The Republican “majority-makers” in Congressional swing seats across the country have enough trouble with Trump 2.0. That’d he be running the show for good (or not so good) is not a winning message in the handful of critical elections that determine which party controls the House chamber.

Of course, while Johnson and Trump himself are trying to calm the waters they roiled, former Trump strategist

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