Trump Floats Idea of His Term Starting Immediately, Tells House Speaker ‘Maybe You Should Pass a Bill’

President-elect Donald Trump acknowledged the joy that millions of Americans have felt since his landslide victory in the 2024 election.

Moreover, he made that acknowledgement in a way that reminds us of his unique ability to trigger liberal meltdowns.

Speaking on Thursday evening at the America First Policy Institute Gala, Trump cited widespread enthusiasm since Election Day and, with that in mind, told Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson that “maybe you should pass a bill” declaring that the president-elect’s new term actually begins on Nov. 5 or Nov. 6, as opposed to the constitutionally mandated inauguration date of Jan. 20, 2025.

“Mr. Speaker, I think it’s important,” Trump said in a clip posted to the social media platform X. “Maybe you should pass a bill. You have to start my term from Nov. 5 — OK? Or Nov. 6 if you want.”

The president-elect then noted, rightly, that the economic optimism reflected in a rising stock market began with his election victory.

“The market’s gone through the roof. Enthusiasm’s doubled — it’s doubled — in the last short while,” Trump said.

Finally, the president-elect made a much broader observation that one might characterize in spiritual terms.

“And I watched a liberal commentator say, ‘You know, whether you like him or not, there seems to be a beautiful light shining over our country,’” Trump said.

🚨Trump tells Speaker Mike Johnson to pass a bill declaring his new presidential term to start retroactive to November 5th or 6th instead of January 20th pic.twitter.com/dI1LqggOqn

— WayneTech SPFX®️ (@WayneTechSPFX) November 15, 2024

Trump, of course, knows full well that presidential and vice-presidential terms end at noon on Jan. 20 every four years. The 20th Amendment established as much.

Furthermore, those of us who have watched and supported the president-elect for years know that he knows that. We also know that he often says things in part to tweak his unhinged antagonists.

Meanwhile, those same antagonists, who have spent nine years hyperventilating about Trump as “Hitler” and his supporters as “Nazis” — all while defending actual authoritarianism — will almost certainly lose their minds over this, too.

But to the majority of Americans who do not suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome, the president-elect’s words had special meaning.

Indeed, nothing could better capture our present mood than the phrase “beautiful light shining over our country.”

Yes, the stock market has reacted favorably to Trump’s victory. And yes, the appointments of X owner Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” tasked with identifying government waste and fraud will almost certainly unleash Americans’ creative and entrepreneurial energies to an unprecedented degree.

More importantly, however, Trump’s victory signals the end of the establishment’s grip on our constitutional republic. It means the end of censorship, scientific and medical tyranny, forever wars and other nightmares from the last four years.

In short, the “beautiful light shining over our country” since Trump’s victory feels like divine deliverance from authoritarian darkness.

Thus, whether Johnson enshrines it in legislation or not, Trump’s second term effectively did begin on Election Day.

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