‘President For Life’ Trump Thinks Xi Jinping’s Possible Indefinite Term Is Great

According to audio excerpts, obtained by CNN, of President Donald Trump ’s comments at a closed-door fundraiser in Florida, the U.S. president praised the announcement of the ruling Communist party in Beijing to eliminate the two-term limit for Chinese presidency, so as to allow current president Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely.

Weighing in on an issue that has raised a lot of contention in the world’s most populous country, Trump said: “Don’t forget China’s great… and Xi is a great gentlemen. He’s now president for life.”

The subsequent laughter from the audience did little to discourage the president, who during the teleprompter-less speech was able to speak freely on some of his favorite topics.

“President for life…” Trump continued. “No, he’s great. And look, he was able to that. I think it’s great.”

“Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot some day…” the president concluded.

While Trump may well have made the comments in jest, Reuters reported that the White House had not responded to a request for comment, late Saturday.

It is not entirely impossible for the president of the U.S. to have more than two terms. In fact, President Franklin Roosevelt managed getting elected for a record four times in 1932.

Before that, U.S. presidents, though not prohibited, out of tradition, only served for a maximum of two terms. In 1951, an amendment to the U.S. constitution was passed to formally restrict presidents to two terms.

Were the restriction to be changed now, then either two-thirds of both houses of Congress would need to support it or two-thirds of state legislatures to do so — and then three-quarters of the states would need to ratify it.

Regardless of whether the Trump thought it was a good idea or not, political commentators and business people in China voiced their displeasure on the proposal by the Communist party in the country.

In a rare event, Tuesday, that came close to being seen as an expression of public dissent, prominent people in China penned open letters urging lawmakers to abandon plans to extend the terms of the Chinese president.

Considered the most powerful leader in China since Chairman Mao, Xi set an agenda of fighting corruption and eliminating poverty.