Trump reveals his 2028 plans in new interview and signals gap hanging over his ambitions
In an early morning interview with CNBC, Trump commented about the earning the highest vote ever recorded in Texas and teased that the record would stand 'unless I run again.'
'Are you going to run again?' asked co-host Becky Quick.
'No, probably not,' Trump replied with a chuckle.
'I'd like to run, I have the best poll numbers I've ever had,' he added. 'People love the tariffs, and they love the trade deals and they love the foreign countries aren't ripping us off.'
Trump boasted he had the best poll numbers he ever had, prompting host Joe Kernen to point to media polls showing him with an approval rating in the 30s.
'I won every swing state, I won the popular vote by millions of votes ... my poll numbers are better now, much better than during the election,' he said.
The Democratic party, he argued, was struggling to reassert themselves, making it difficult for them to mount a challenger.
'The Democrats are lost, they have Trump derangement syndrome so bad that they can't walk, they can't talk, they don't know where they are,' he concluded.
American presidents are prevented from running for a third term, after the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was passed and ratified in 1951.
Trump has teased the idea in interviews, although he has conceded he is not yet planning on running for a third term.
In May, Trump reacted to the Trump organization selling red hats that read 2028, separate from his campaign operation.
NBC News anchor Kristen Welker asked the president during the interview if it was something he was considering.
'I will say this – so many people want me to do it,' Trump replied. 'I have never had requests so strong as that.'
'But it's something that, to the best of my knowledge, you're not allowed to do,' he conceded. 'I don't know if that's constitutional that they're not allowing you to do it or anything else. But, there are many people selling the 2028 hat.'
But Trump indicated he was willing to turn over his political movement to a 'great Republican' like Vice President JD Vance or Secretary Marco Rubio.
'I'm looking to have four great years and turn it over to somebody, ideally a great Republican, a great Republican to carry it forward,' Trump said.
The president has also cited polling showing that his supporters would welcome a third term of his presidency.
'I'm not joking,' Trump told NBC News in March, when asked to clarify his comments on the idea. 'But I'm not — it is far too early to think about it.'
When asked about how he would do so, Trump said cryptically, 'There are methods which you could do it.'
He has also said he would 'love' to run against Obama.
'I'd love that …. That would be a good one,' he said to Fox News reporter Peter Doocy in March. 'I'd like that. And no, people are asking me to run, and there's a whole story about running for a third term. I don't know, I never looked into it. They do say there's a way you can do it, but I don't know about that.'
Trump supporters have mused on a possible loophole in the 22nd Amendment, suggesting that if Vice President JD Vance ran for president with Trump as his running mate, he could theoretically, resign, allowing a vice president Trump to ascend back into power.
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