At some point during a political leader’s final term they start to become prey to what is commonly known as “lame duck syndrome”. Donald Trump may have only just been inaugurated, but political commentators are already saying this is likely to happen in a couple of years, once the mid-term elections have been contested in 2026.
If that happens, he could, at least in part, be guided by the way Vladimir Putin dealt with his own looming term-limit problem following his election for a fourth term as Russian president in 2018. Of course, the US is not Russia – and, despite legitimate criticisms about how US democracy works, the US is a genuine democracy. It would be extremely difficult for Trump to achieve an amendment to term limits.
In contrast, the Russian Federation has been referred to as an “imitation democracy”. It has institutions that one would find in democratic systems of government (a parliament and a directly elected president). But, among other flaws, these institutions do not function within a genuinely competitive or fair electoral environment.
