Trump's odd backtrack on running for a third term

His musings proved No Kings' message, and the backtrack showed the power of the protest. Republicans were scrambling, just as JD Vance is setting himself up to be Trump's successor.

A strange thing happened over the past few days. No sooner did Donald Trump again float the idea of running for a third term, saying,” I’d love it” and “I’m allowed to do it,” than he backtracked completely, saying, “I guess I’m not allowed to it” and it’s “too bad.”

In between, House Speaker Mike Johnson rushed to tell the press, “I don’t see the path” for a Trump third term, and said he’d spoken with Trump about it on the same day—basically talking Trump down from his first statement in less than 24 hours, or so it appeared.

Now, don’t get me wrong. None of us should trust anything Trump says. He is a dictator and clearly wants to stay president, and he has already engaged in an attempted coup. So his word means nothing. But the backtrack was nonetheless odd.

What actually happened? A few things. It seems, first off, that Steve Bannon, in his interview with The Economist on Friday, may have been trying to mess with JD Vance—whom he can’t stand and has worked to take down—who’s made it quite clear he’s the heir to MAGA and wants to be president in 2028.

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As I wrote on Tuesday, Bannon told The Economist editor that there was a “plan” to get around the 22nd amendment, which bars a president from running more than twice. “Trump is going to be president in 2028. And people just ought to get accommodated with that,” Bannon claimed.

For Trump, it was catnip—irresistible. He doesn’t want to be seen as a lame duck. He wants to seem invincible. But, more pertinently, he most definitely wants to be president forever because he is an authoritarian. Anything breathing life into that idea was going to set him off.

And so, after being asked by reporters on Air Force One about Bannon’s comments, Trump then mused about it the way I explained on Tuesday—not ruling it out while remaining vague, sending the message that he’d try. But that seemed to set off a chain of events in the GOP that shows why No Kings had such impact—and why Republicans have been deathly afraid of the protest and the message of the seven to nine million people who marched.

Trump was in Asia—all of his comments, including the backtrack, came while he was on Air Force One—so it may have been easier for White House operatives to work around Trump and organize a pushback, including getting someone to talk Trump himself down. Trump made the initial comments on Monday. By Tuesday afternoon, Mike Johnson killed the idea.

“It’s been a great run, but I think the president knows, and he and I have talked about, the constrictions of the Constitution, as much as so many of the American people lament that,” Johnson said during a news conference.

Trump was in Japan at the time. But Johnson said he spoke with him that morning. Clearly, killing this idea of Trump blowing through the 22nd amendment, becoming president again—and maybe for as long as he lives, like a king—was important enough for Johnson to speak with Trump about it while Trump was galavanting many time zones away.

“I don’t see a way to amend the Constitution because it takes about 10 years to do that,” Johnson said. “As you all know, to allow all the states to ratify what two-thirds of the House and three-fourths of the states would approve. So I don’t, I don’t see the path for that, but I can tell you that we are not going to take our foot off the gas pedal.”

Trump then followed suit in answers to a question on Air Force One on his way to South Korea, where President Lee Jae Myung knew how to work Trump, feeding his ego by giving him a replica of a crown worn by Korean kings in 5th and 6th centuries. That, of course, deliciously fed into No Kings, as the gift mesmerized Trump, who even said he wanted to put it on “right now.”

Trump told reporters it was “too bad,” but “based on what I read, I guess I’m not allowed to run. So we’ll see what happens.” Of course, that last line still leaves the possibility open—because Trump still wants people to think he’s a king.

Jonathan Karl of ABC told “Morning Joe” this week that Trump often talks with reporters on Air Force One about who should succeed him, asking if it should be Marco Rubio or Vance, suggesting Trump actually has always been planning on leaving. Per HuffPost:

Karl pointed to Trump’s question [about Rubio and Vance] as evidence that the president doesn’t really have “any designs on actually staying past the end of this term” despite his repeated talk of and hints at trying to stay in the White House for an unconstitutional third term.

Trump “tells people privately, people close to him, ‘No, no, I’m, you know, I’m done,’” Karl said on Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”…

Karl also suggested Bannon was stirring the pot in order to cause tension for the ambitious and super-dangerous Vance. Just this past Tuesday night Vance spoke at a Turning Post USA conference in Mississippi, where the young MAGA crowd was chanting, “Forty-eight! Forty-eight!”

So it’s quite possible Vance, feverishly working on getting the base behind him, was among those scrambling at the White House as Trump was traveling, doing what they could to tamp down any idea that Trump would run again, and bringing Mike Johnson in.

The GOP has a big problem: weaning the MAGA cult off of Trump and onto someone else. They must be talking about life after Trump, and they have to be worried about pushing a fantasy of Trump running again that doesn’t or can’t pan out. Trump may eventually draw them into some plan to keep him in office, as they’ve been drawn in to supporting many illegal things he’s initiated. For now, however, they’re surely thinking life after Trump.

But also, they know it’s toxic to have Trump talking about running for a third term as they are facing enormously tough elections, having already been brought down by Trump. As millions were set to march in No Kings rallies, the GOP was petrified of the message, doing what they could to demonize the protesters, none of which worked. Trump’s musings, inspired by Bannon’s claims, only added more fuel to that messsge of No Kings.

All of this is another example of why No Kings was so successful and will continue to be, and why we must keep marching strong.