How Trump could try to stay in power after his second term ends

  President Donald Trump told an NBC interviewer on March 30, 2025 that he was “not joking” about a third term as president, despite such a term being barred by the Constitution.

  “There are methods which you could do it,” he said in the interview.

  For months, Trump has been hinting – in joking tones – that he’s interested in finding a way to continue in the White House past the legal limit of two terms. But the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution is clear that Trump can’t be elected again. The text of the amendment states:

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - The 1965 Special Succession Session

  The Alabama Legislature meets in regular session every year for three-and-a-half months. However, an extraordinary special session can be called by the governor if he/she deems there is a dire emergency in the state government that needs addressing. This provision in the Alabama Constitution gives the governor an inherent advantage in a special session. The official proclamation calling for a special session allows the governor to set out matters for a specific purpose(s) when calling the session and requires the legislators to address those specific issues. You saw Gov. Kay Ivey use this procedure quite effectively last year.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse – Kay Ivey, our 55th governor

  The legendary Alabama storyteller Kathryn Tucker Windham used to say, “Alabama is like a big front porch.” She was right, and I have found that to be the case my entire life. Even recently, as I’ve traversed the state, I am always amazed at how you can visit with someone in one part of the state who is kin to or were college roommates with someone in another corner of Alabama. 

  The Alabama that Kay Ivey and I grew up in was even more like a front porch. Ivey grew up in Wilcox County where her family had been for generations. Therefore, she knew most everybody in the county and Camden. There were and still are less than 12,000 people in Wilcox County. There have always been more pine trees than people in the county. 

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse – Analysis of the gubernatorial primaries

  Now that the dust has settled from last week’s gubernatorial primaries, let’s analyze the outcomes.

  Governor Kay Ivey and Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox won very impressive victories. Ms. Ivey beat three well-financed opponents without a runoff. She trounced them. She garnered 56 percent of the vote to 25 percent for Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle. Evangelist Scott Dawson and Mobile Senator Bill Hightower brought up the rear with 13 percent and 5 percent respectively. All three men worked hard and raised money. It was a daunting task to attempt to defeat a sitting governor.

  The challenge now goes to youthful, vibrant, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, who captured the Democratic nomination with a brilliant and impressive victory.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Those we lost in 2017

  At the close of each year, my tradition is to acknowledge the passing away of significant political leaders from the political stage in our beloved state.

  We lost some icons this year. As I sit in my office writing this year-end column, pictures of two of my favorite friends and legends adorn my walls. The photos of Governor Albert Brewer and Congressman Jim Martin look down at me. Both were Christian gentlemen.

Joseph O. Patton: Jim Zeigler's Confederate flag panties are showing

  Though I shouldn't be surprised, Alabama Auditor Jim Zeigler has once again slinked into the spotlight to flash his unique brand of embarrassment and dysfunction to taxpayers. Following President Trump's address to Congress, Zeigler felt compelled to share a disturbing, unfair and borderline slanderous bit of material on social media, equating female members of Congress to Ku Klux Klan members.

  The congresswomen in question simply wore white to the address, a classy, non-confrontational nod to the American suffrage movement. In Zeigler's post, it included the inflammatory and insulting text, "now appearing without hoods," and "Nancy Pelosi and the Klannettes" along with an actual photo of Klan members.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: On the passing of Albert Brewer

  The passing of Governor Albert Brewer on January 2nd at 88 years old, marks the passing of an era in Alabama politics.

  Albert P. Brewer was a good man and a true public servant. Brewer was born in Tennessee, but his folks moved to Decatur when he was very young after his father accepted a job with the Tennessee Valley Authority.

  He graduated from Decatur High School with honors, then matriculated to the University of Alabama where he earned his undergraduate and law degrees. Brewer returned to Decatur to begin his law practice. Soon thereafter he was elected to the Alabama Legislature at the ripe old age of 25. He was elected without opposition three times, and during his third term he became Speaker of the House. Brewer was the youngest Speaker in state history. In 1966, he beat two prominent state senators without a runoff to win the lieutenant governor’s job, which was much more powerful than it is today.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Where are they now?

  A good friend and loyal reader suggested to me that he would like to see a column titled, “Where Are They Now?” Then I ran into former Gov. Albert Brewer at a Birmingham restaurant and it prompted me to do that column.

  Governor Brewer has always been admired by Alabamians as one of the finest people to have ever served in state government. I got to know him when I was a young page in the Alabama House of Representatives and Brewer was a youthful Speaker of the House. In fact, he has the distinction of being the youngest Speaker in state history. He was elected to the House from Morgan County at 28 and became Speaker during only his second term at age 33.

Our Stand: Jim Zeigler, please remove your tin foil hat

  Yesterday Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler dragged one of Alabama's constitutional offices into the sewer of conspiracy theories and shameless race-baiting, made worse by the fact that Zeigler is little more than a glorified accountant.

  Channeling those who dish tales of Big Foot, vaccines causing autism, and Elvis Presley currently working as a gas station attendant in Tuberculosis Springs, Wyoming, Zeigler claimed to Montgomery news outlet WSFA that the routine rotation of governors' portraits in the Capital Building - this time including George and Lurleen Wallace - amounted to a conspiracy being afoot to "revise" history, somehow spear-headed by a major motion picture and Oprah Winfrey.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: The epic Wallace vs. Brewer showdown

  Upon Lurleen Wallace’s death in May of 1968, Lt. Governor Albert Brewer moved up to the governorship. Brewer was no novice in state government. He came to the legislature from Morgan County at a very early age and rose quickly to become Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives during his second term. He won the 1966 lieutenant governor’s race against two state senators without a runoff.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Lurleen Wallace takes the stage

  After Ryan De Graffenreid’s plane crash and death in February of 1966 the governor’s race was wide open. De Graffenreid would have been governor in a cakewalk, but it was now a new ballgame with less than ten weeks until the May election. George Wallace mulled it over for a few weeks, then the amazing story of his wife Lurleen Wallace running for governor came to fruition. George would be her number one advisor.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Is Bentley shifting to the left on Alabama's prison system and general fund?

  In 1967 when Lurleen Wallace became governor, one of her first missions included a trip to Bryce Mental Hospital in her native Tuscaloosa. The conditions she saw at Alabama’s primary mental health facility were beyond deplorable. It was a heart wrenching, Damascus road experience for the demure and soft-spoken lady. However, she roared like a lion with determination to remedy this blight on the state. She implored her husband’s legislature to appropriate significant increases in the mental health budget and she passed bond issues to relieve overcrowding.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: The Rural advantage

  Writers and historians have done extensive research over the years seeking to ascertain how our nation’s leaders reached their pinnacle of power. These exhaustive studies have delved into the personas from every angle imaginable. Most of these analyses begin with someone’s childhood.

  Being a student of Alabama politics, allow me to share with you my study of the backgrounds of our governors. My assessment is that in the past six decades small town boys succeed. It may be because Alabama was made up of small towns in the past generations that almost all of our governors have hailed from small towns. My assumption is that growing up in a small town allows someone to develop confidence and leadership abilities that give them an advantage.