Trump suggested that the US could have a 'president for life', and people are worried

There's never a dull moment with President Donald Trump. If he's not caught up in some scandal to do with grabbing women "by the p***y", or having affairs with former Playboy models and porn stars, or trying to start a trade war on Twitter, he's no doubt already thinking about the next stupid thing he wants to do.

Oh, who am I kidding? The guy doesn't think.

Just last night, in fact, the former Apprentice host made a very dubious statement to Republican donors at a closed-door fundraiser. Speaking of Chinese leader Xi Jinping - who recently refused to comply with China's current two-term presidency limit - Trump said: "He's now president for life. President for life. No, he's great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll have to give that a shot someday."

Unsurprisingly, after CNN leaked the audio of this speech, people began to get just a little bit worried.

We already knew that Trump was planning to run in 2020, as he was busy hosting rallies only a matter of months after he first took office last year. Plus, he's already hinted that Brad Parscale, a former aide, could manage his campaign - so he doesn't appear to have any intention of stepping away from the role anytime soon.

However, this most recent statement (which was considered a joke by Republicans in attendance) is concerning, not just because it hints that Trump doesn't want to give up his tenure in the White House, but because it shows that he is willing to play fast and loose with the US constitution. After all, he'd already made a statement to lawmakers about acting without proper legislative powers when he said: "Take the guns first, go through due process second" - so what's to stop him making other rash decisions?

And, though it has already been widely written off as a joke in poor taste, other people were cautious about describing it in such terms. "Calling it a joke, justifying it as a Jest, normalizing these dastard behavior as Jokes is Complicity in his Insanity," said one Twitter user.

"Republicans, the president of the United States praises a communist autocrat for becoming dictator for life and then suggests they keep him in power for life. Wake up," said Joe Scarborough.

Meanwhile, others made a good point about what would have happened if Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton had said something like this.

What's more, the White House's indications that it is not particularly concerned with Xi Jinping's actions seem very much like a step towards isolationism, as press secretary Sarah Sanders said last week that China's decision is not one that Trump should question.

The point is: even if this was a joke, it's really not something that somebody in Trump's position should be joking about. He already has a long and concerning track record of either seemingly misunderstanding or not caring about the proper due process in the USA, and implying that a dictatorship would be a good thing is absolutely something he should avoid.