Back in 2020, while Donald Trump and Joe Biden were locked in a close race for the White House, some of us who’d covered Trump for years were ringing alarm bells that, if he lost, he would not go quietly.
To us, this was more than obvious. In 2016, he’d teased that his first election, which he won, was going to be rigged. In 2020, he’d been saying for months that his second would also be rigged or stolen. (He’d repeat the claims in advance of 2024, which he also won). And he joked repeatedly about remaining in power forever.
At the time, Trump advisers, surrogates and MAGA media mocked us for taking that seriously, accusing us of having Trump Derangement Syndrome, their favorite term for, well, taking Trump at his word.
But we were pretty sure he planned to either dispute the results of the 2020 election, steal it himself, lie about the results, or do anything he could to remain in the White House beyond the end of his term.
It turns out, he did all of the above. As we all remember, he pressured officials like Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” more votes that didn’t exist. He schemed to have fake electors certify the Electoral College result in his favor in several states. He lied about evidence of election fraud. He implored his Vice President Mike Pence to thwart the certification of Biden. And he incited his supporters to storm the Capitol and overturn the results.
Later, we learned just how determined he was to remain in power.
“I’m just not going to leave,” Trump told an aide in December of 2020, according to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. “The boss is not going to leave under any circumstances. We are just going to stay in power,” another aide said, according to sworn testimony.
Even in 2024, he was still “joking” on the campaign trail that he “shouldn’t have left” the White House in 2020.
Well, cue the laugh track because the so-called “jokes” are back. This time, he’s “joking” about running for a third term. Remember — this is important — his aides insist these are just “jokes.”
He’s been musing about a third term for years, but his first since winning a second term came last November at a House Republican event when he said, “I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say, ‘He’s so good, we’ve got to figure something else out.’ ”
Then, at a rally in Nevada in January he said, “It will be the greatest honor of my life to serve not once, but twice or three times or four times.”
He later claimed — you guessed it — that was a joke. “Headlines for the fake news. No, it will be to serve twice.”
Again, his aides insist he’s not serious — they say he’s just “trolling his critics.” He’s privately said it’s just one of his “diversions to grab attention and aggravate Democrats.” Or, he’s doing it to keep Republican lawmakers in line — “because it makes him not a lame duck,” says presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.
But I wasn’t born yesterday, and we’ve been here before. Jokes become real very quickly.
It sure sounds real to some in MAGA world.
“People are already talking about changing the 22nd Amendment so he can serve a third term,” Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick posted in January.
Rep. Andy Ogles introduced a House joint resolution that month to amend the Constitution to allow Trump to run again.
And Steve Bannon outright said it on NewsNation this week: “I’m a firm believer that President Trump will run and win again in 2028, so I’ve already endorsed [him].” He added, “We’re working on it. I think we’ll have a couple alternatives. Let’s say that. We’ll see what the definition of term limit is.”
There’s polling on it, too. A YouGov poll released in February found that 52% of Americans think he’ll try to remain in the White House. Another poll from Change Research found 42% of voters would support a Trump third term.
“But it’s in the Constitution!” you may be screaming as you read this.
As if that would stop him from trying. From ending birthright citizenship (14th Amendment) to criminalizing protests (First Amendment), freezing federal spending to dismantling federal agencies (both Article 1), he’s been undeterred by such restrictions on his power.
So prepare yourself for this very real possibility. They’ll say he’s just joking. They’ll mock you for hyperventilating. They’ll insist the 22nd Amendment can’t be repealed.
But there’s always a little truth behind every one of Trump’s jokes. And there’s nothing they won’t try. The alarm bells are ringing. Again.