{"id":831721,"date":"2026-08-31T08:42:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T08:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/831721\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T08:42:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T08:42:20","slug":"trump-2028-even-trump-has-begun-hinting-it-may-not-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/831721\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump 2028? Even Trump has begun hinting it may not happen"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump<\/a> has frequently suggested he wants to seek a third term<\/a>, posting about mounting another campaign, donning 2028 caps and discussing ways to make it happen \u2014 even as he\u2019s acknowledged the Constitution prohibits it. <\/p>\n

But lately, Trump has begun showing signs that even he doesn\u2019t really believe another run will happen.<\/p>\n

During recent speeches, the Republican president has begun describing life after the White House when his term ends in January 2029, predicting he\u2019ll be at home and agonizing as his successor claims credit for his accomplishments.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour next president is going to say, \u2018What a great job I did,\u2019\u201d Trump told an event on Long Island, New York, this month. \u201cHe\u2019ll be sitting around, watching television. A real stiff. Unless you vote Republican, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n

A sitting president talking about becoming a former one is always politically fraught. But with midterm elections<\/a> now just nine weeks away, Trump is approaching the point of his presidency where there will be more and more reminders that his power will soon wane.<\/p>\n

Being willing to say he\u2019s contemplating a White House without him marks a notable shift for Trump. Going back to his first term and from virtually the moment he won a second, he\u2019s left the door open to staying put for more than eight years.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is all over the place,\u201d said Brian Kalt, a Michigan State University constitutional law professor. \u201cAnd what that does is, it allows him to point to his own words to support any number of mutually exclusive things.\u201d <\/p>\n

Trump can say, \u201c\u2019Oh yeah, I made it clear that I wasn\u2019t gonna run,\u2019\u201d Kalt said. \u201cOr, if he decides that he will, he could say, \u2019Well, you know, I never said I wouldn\u2019t.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Trump suggests his post-presidency may make him cry <\/p>\n

The White House dismissed suggestions that Trump\u2019s thoughts are increasingly turning to the clock running out on his presidency \u2014 and the legacy he\u2019ll leave behind. Spokesperson Olivia Wales said he \u201cis fighting every day\u201d to deliver on promises to reduce violent crime,<\/a>crack down on the U. S-Mexico border<\/a> and lower prescription drug prices<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe only legacy President Trump is concerned with is making America greater than ever before,\u201d Wales said. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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\n Your guide to the biggest stories in politics, policy and U.S. elections.\n <\/p>\n

Still, hinting at how he\u2019ll be remembered is something Trump is suddenly talking about a lot. <\/p>\n

During a recent Pennsylvania rally, he said, \u201cWhoever the next president is, he\u2019s going to be talking about what a brilliant president he is. And I\u2019ll be home. And I\u2019ll be saying, \u2019That son of a gun,\u2019 because we did the job.\u201d <\/p>\n

A week later in Georgia, Trump was predicting that once his presidency was over, \u201cI\u2019ll be sitting home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI may be crying,\u201d the president added, arguing that Democrats could retake the Senate and scrap filibuster rules<\/a>, making it easier to move their key legislation.<\/p>\n

Then, in Michigan, Trump injected some doubt into whether he was ready to hand over the Oval Office and move back to Florida. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn two and a half years, you may have a different president \u2014 may,\u201d he said, emphasizing the \u201cmay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be sitting home. I\u2019ll be reading the papers. I\u2019ll be watching television,\u201d Trump said, before swiping at his predecessor, President Joe Biden<\/a>. \u201cAnd I\u2019ll be having some guy \u2014 like last time, a real idiot \u2014 stand up and say, \u2018We are doing record business.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Mixed Trump signals are still most common <\/p>\n

But even as he\u2019s begun to suggest he\u2019ll be leaving the presidency, Trump has also continued to tease a 2028 reelection run. <\/p>\n

Addressing the rescheduled White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner<\/a> last month, Trump joked, \u201cJust like my presidency, the second time is always better\u201d and that \u201cthe third time will be better yet. I\u2019m only kidding.\u201d He later wore a 2028 campaign cap to finish the speech.<\/p>\n

The Constitution\u2019s 22nd Amendment says no one can be elected president more than twice. It was ratified in 1951, six years after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died, months into his fourth term. Until Roosevelt, no other president had defied the tradition of stepping down after two terms that George Washington started. <\/p>\n

Still, Trump had only been back in the White House for a couple of months when he told NBC News, \u201cThere are methods which you could\u201d use to seek a third term. <\/p>\n

He acknowledged that one method was to be the running mate to Vice President JD Vance<\/a> in 2028 \u2014 then have Vance step aside if the pair won. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are others, too,\u201d Trump said then, alluding to more options. He later told Time Magazine, \u201cThere are some loopholes,\u201d while also saying he didn\u2019t believe in using them.<\/p>\n

The president has since often used his social media posts to promote \u201cTrump 2028\u201d logos featuring his slogan \u201cMake America Great Again.\u201d <\/p>\n

But Trump has also at times seemed definitive about the ban on him making another run, acknowledging recently to reporters: \u201cI\u2019d love to run, but the law is very strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kalt wrote about a two-term president possibly getting back to office by running for vice president in \u201cconstitutional Cliffhangers: A Legal Guide for Presidents and Their Enemies.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople do tend to find, in Trump\u2019s words, whatever it is that they want to hear,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Trump may be fighting the \u2018lame duck\u2019 factor<\/p>\n

Second-term presidents typically see their power and influence wane during their last two years, particularly if their party suffers big midterm defeats. But Trump\u2019s comments could also be a sign he\u2019s thinking about cementing his legacy, a stage that many of his predecessors also reached.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all, particularly as they cross the midpoint of their second term, start thinking about legacy,\u201d said Paul Begala, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey all banish the word. I know Clinton and Bush, they said, \u2019Can\u2019t use the L-word.\u2019 But they do,\u201d Begala said, referring to his old boss Clinton and to President George W. Bush. \u201cThey all think about it. And the staff thinks about it and the Cabinet thinks about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his last two years of office, Clinton threw himself into trying to broker a Middle East peace agreement. Bush used the slogan \u201csprint to the finish\u201d during his presidency\u2019s final year in 2008, and Biden adopted a \u201crun through the tape\u201d ethos after abandoning his reelection bid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump has leaned into molding the White House<\/a> and Greater Washington<\/a> in his own image, harkening back to his days as a real estate developer in 1970s and 1980s New York. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s ordered up a towering arch<\/a> near the Lincoln Memorial and restored city fountains, while constructing a Rose Garden patio area<\/a> and helipad<\/a> on the White House lawn and adding scores of gilded touches<\/a> to the building\u2019s stately interior and exterior.<\/p>\n

And then, there\u2019s the massive ballroom<\/a> that Trump has crews rushing to finish in the face of legal challenges<\/a> \u2014 a project the president says will only be completed late in 2028, shortly before he leaves office.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not for me, \u2018cause I\u2019m going to be here a very short period of time\u201d when the work is finished, Trump recently told reporters in the Oval Office. \u201cI\u2019ll be there for four, five, six months. This is for future presidents.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump has frequently suggested he wants to seek a third term, posting about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":831722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,791,6014,3505,12,1070,2808,41363,793,12805,28964,3138,6009,3319,2005,3,242640,38102,111,21,19,22,20,25,24,800],"class_list":["post-831721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-bill-clinton","tag-constitutional-law","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-florida","tag-franklin-d-roosevelt","tag-general-news","tag-george-w-bush","tag-george-washington","tag-government-and-politics","tag-jd-vance","tag-joe-biden","tag-new-york","tag-news","tag-olivia-wales","tag-paul-begala","tag-politics","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-washington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=831721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/831722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=831721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=831721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}