Critics Fear The Worst After Trump ‘Jokes’ About Sticking Around

President-elect Donald Trump raised eyebrows on Wednesday when he told House Republicans: “I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say, ‘He’s so good we’ve got to figure something else out.’”

Sarah Matthews, a former Trump White House press aide-turned-fierce critic of her onetime boss, suggested the comment was “in jest.”

But she warned on MSNBC that “nothing should be taken unseriously” when it comes to Trump. “So, maybe there is a chance that he means it. But I highly doubt it,” she added. “But I do think that it is weird to joke about.”

Watch here:

Trump, however, has previously riffed on serving more than the Constitutionally-limited two terms.

People on social media feared there could be substance to his latest line:

BREAKING: Donald Trump suggests he MIGHT run for a third term in 2028.Here’s what he just told House Republicans: “I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say he’s so good we've got to figure something else out.”
— Republicans Against Trumpism (@rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social) 2024-11-13T15:37:46.476Z

Trump was never running for President.
He was always running for dictator. https://t.co/WhpcldeGAn
— Melanie D'Arrigo (@DarrigoMelanie) November 13, 2024

Trump basically just told republicans on the hill he’d be open to a third term if they can make it possible.
— Sam Jones (@samjownes.bsky.social) 2024-11-13T19:52:23.081Z

There you go. https://t.co/RP9X4bU0kM
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) November 13, 2024

The thing about Trump "joking" about running again in 2028 is that 1) he likes to test the water like this and 2) it happens in an environment where SCOTUS has already shown remarkable flexibility — and could only get more Trumpian. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
— Philip Bump (@pbump.com) 2024-11-13T19:52:22.937Z