It may be hard to believe, but we are nearly halfway through President Trump's second and final term.

That means we're not too far from having to decide where the GOP goes in the post-Trump era. Last week at the Texas Tribune Festival, three White House reporters — Politico's Dasha Burns, NBC's Garrett Haake and the New York Times' Maggie Haberman — took their own shot at naming Trump’s successor in the party.

Before we get to that, let me make this very clear: President Trump is not going to run for a third term. The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution prohibits anyone from being elected president more than twice.

That amendment wasn't ratified until 1951. And only one person was ever elected president more than twice: Franklin D. Roosevelt, hero of the modern left.

Ironic, isn't it? The only person to put our "democracy" at risk by serving more than two terms as president was the left's hero.

I remember trying to alleviate concerns about Trump running for a third term nearly two years ago. At the time, some voices out there suggested Trump’s team would challenge the 22nd Amendment and argue it was only designed to stop someone from serving two consecutive terms.

But the evidence doesn't support that. In 1947, the Senate voted down a version that would have barred only more than two successive terms, in favor of the straightforward amendment we have today.

There are voices who said this was the plan. They claimed they had inside information. But they were wrong then — and they are wrong now. Trump is not going to challenge this.

It's one thing to mention this as a potential outcome. I've got no problem with discussing things like that. But how many times are we going to listen to the folks who continually guarantee things will happen that simply don't?

I guess some folks have to say outrageous things to keep an audience interested. And some of us don't!

So who are the possible candidates? The obvious ones are JD Vance and Marco Rubio.

But are there any others? Well, some speculate that Ted Cruz, Chris Christie or RFK Jr. could run. Others hope that another Trump will step up as the candidate.

That said, to me, it seems like a fairly obvious showdown between JD Vance and Marco Rubio at this point. That could change over the next year or so, but that seems like where we’re headed — at least for now.

I have my preferred candidate of the two, but I'm not going to share that just yet. I think each has promise. But candidly, I'm concerned about what happens to the GOP after Trump sails off into the metaphorical sunset.

So who do you prefer? Vote in today's poll below.

The left is out there claiming President Trump is going to declare martial law on or about Election Day — which is November 3.

It traces back to an Atlantic report on an election-skeptic conference in Las Vegas, where Trump associate and attorney Peter Ticktin said one possible outcome is Trump trying to declare martial law. Democrats ran with it.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this is not going to happen.

What you can expect are more poll observers, and perhaps even federal law enforcement, keeping an eye on the states' elections. (For now, the Justice Department says it has no plans to send federal officials to polling places, though Homeland Security says there could be exceptions for specific threats.)

Of course if they do, this will be framed as an attempt to intimidate eligible voters from casting ballots.

But why would eligible voters be so worried about going to cast votes on Election Day? They aren't doing anything wrong — and they aren't going to have their constitutional rights violated.

Instead, the people who should not be voting are going to have a more difficult time casting ballots. Or at least they should be mindful that the federal government is finally taking this stuff seriously.

And why shouldn't it? These laws are on the books — and they need to be enforced for a myriad of reasons.

But the left freaks out when federal law is actually enforced, even though this is quite literally the job of the federal government.

Not lowering sea levels. Or targeting the wealthy. Or telling us boys can become girls. Or that women should be able to kill their unborn — or in the wake of Lindsay Clancy trail, born — children.

And when these dire predictions from the left don't come true — and they won't — what consequences will the people who say these things face?

None.

Sure, they'll draw the ire of conservatives like me, but they won't lose an ounce of credibility in Radical Left circles. In fact, they'll probably raise their own profile.

So there's no downside to engaging in this stuff. Well, there isn’t if you don't have any integrity anyway.

Researchers scanning a boat-shaped formation near Mount Ararat say what's underneath it doesn't read like solid rock. We discuss on the Toddcast.

I also get into why miracles make perfect sense if there really is a Creator, a C.S. Lewis argument I've never forgotten, what Ron Wyatt said he found at the bottom of the Red Sea, and why the ark points to Jesus.

Here's a clip from today's Toddcast:

Newsweek — The article I read from on the program: the 515-foot formation, the core samples, and the team's own caution that none of it is independently confirmed yet.

Yahoo News — The headline I opened the show with, on the claim that the mound is man-made.

Noah's Ark Scans — The team's own site. The methods they're using, the right angles they say sit about seven meters down, and the organic material in the core.

David Fasold — The other side of it. Fasold promoted the site for years, then co-authored the 1996 paper with geologist Lorence Collins arguing the formation is entirely natural.

Genesis 8:4 — The verse that puts the ark in this part of the world: it came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

Matthew 24:37 — Where Jesus compares the last days to the days of Noah, which is where I ended the program.

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