Last week, I speculated about the possibility of Donald Trump seeking a de facto third term by running as vice president with a puppet as president. I received a flurry of responses citing the Constitution’s 12th Amendment as making that likelihood impossible and illegal.

A constitutional debate can be dry and arcane. So let’s put this possibility into fictional terms, such as the movies “Advise and Consent,” or even “Seven Days in May.”

Assume, for fictional purposes, the main character has served two terms as president and will not give up power easily. A coup like the one in “Seven Days in May” is not possible. So, the president brings together a legal team to present a plan that allows the president to run as vice president and circumvent these prohibitions.

The last sentence of the 12th Amendment, ratified in 1804, reads: “But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligible to that of vice-president of the United........

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