Donald Trump hints at post-presidency life while keeping third-term options open

Donald Trump is contemplating life after his presidency, while still hinting at another campaign. He has spoken about watching his successor take credit for his accomplishments. This shift occurs as midterm elections approach, making his remaining time more apparent. Trump has previously explored constitutional avenues for extending his time in office. His ambiguous statements allow supporters and opponents to interpret his intentions.

Donald Trump has spent much of his second presidency flirting with the idea of staying in the White House beyond January 2029. He has floated a third campaign, worn “2028” caps and mused publicly about possible ways around the constitutional prohibition on serving more than two terms.

Lately, however, Trump has begun doing something rather different: talking about what life will look like when he is no longer president.

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At recent rallies and public appearances, Trump has repeatedly imagined himself back at home, watching television and listening as his successor takes credit for what he says will be his accomplishments.

“Your next president is going to say, 'What a great job I did,'” Trump told an event on Long Island, New York, this month. “He'll be sitting around, watching television. A real stiff. Unless you vote Republican, of course.”

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The remarks offer an unusual glimpse of Trump contemplating a post-presidential life — and come at a politically consequential moment. With the midterm elections just nine weeks away, Trump is approaching the point in his presidency when the limits of his remaining time in office will become increasingly difficult to ignore.

For much of his political career, Trump has kept the possibility of extending his time in the White House alive. His willingness now to describe a future in which someone else occupies the Oval Office marks a subtle shift, even if his public statements remain contradictory.

“He is all over the place,” said Brian Kalt, a Michigan State University constitutional law professor. “And what that does is, it allows him to point to his own words to support any number of mutually exclusive things.”

Trump can say, “‘Oh yeah, I made it clear that I wasn't gonna run,’” Kalt said. “Or, if he decides that he will, he could say, ‘Well, you know, I never said I wouldn't.’”

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Trump imagines life after the White House

The White House has pushed back against the idea that Trump is increasingly focused on the end of his presidency or the legacy he will leave behind.

Spokesperson Olivia Wales said Trump “is fighting every day” to deliver on his promises to reduce violent crime, tighten security at the US-Mexico border and lower prescription drug prices.

“The only legacy President Trump is concerned with is making America greater than ever before,” Wales said.

Yet Trump himself has recently spoken repeatedly about how he might spend his final days in office — and what happens after.

At a rally in Pennsylvania, he imagined his successor boasting about the achievements of his presidency while he watched from home.

“Whoever the next president is, he's going to be talking about what a brilliant president he is. And I'll be home. And I'll be saying, 'That son of a gun,' because we did the job.”

A week later in Georgia, Trump again pictured himself away from the White House.

“I'll be sitting home,” he said.

Then he added: “I may be crying,” while warning that Democrats could regain control of the Senate and eliminate filibuster rules, allowing them to push through key legislation.

In Michigan, however, Trump returned to ambiguity.

“In two and a half years, you may have a different president - may,” he said, stressing the word “may.”

“I'll be sitting home. I'll be reading the papers. I'll be watching television,” Trump said, before taking a swipe at his predecessor, President Joe Biden. “And I'll be having some guy - like last time, a real idiot - stand up and say, 'We are doing record business.'”

The third-term tease isn't going away

For all the talk of retirement, Trump has hardly abandoned the idea of another campaign.

At the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Association dinner last month, he joked, “Just like my presidency, the second time is always better” and that “the third time will be better yet. I'm only kidding.”

He then wore a “2028” campaign cap to close out the speech.

The constitutional barrier is clear. The 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951, says no person can be elected president more than twice.

But Trump has repeatedly tested the boundaries of that prohibition in public remarks.

Only months after returning to the White House, he told NBC News, “There are methods which you could” use to seek a third term.

One possibility he discussed was running as Vice President JD Vance's running mate in 2028 and then having Vance step aside if the ticket won.

“There are others, too,” Trump said, hinting at additional possibilities. He later told Time Magazine, “There are some loopholes,” while adding that he did not believe they should be used.

Trump has also repeatedly promoted “Trump 2028” logos on social media, built around his signature “Make America Great Again” slogan.

At other times, however, he has sounded more resigned to the constitutional limit.

“I'd love to run, but the law is very strong,” Trump recently told reporters.

Kalt, who has written about the possibility of a two-term president attempting to return to office as vice president in “Constitutional Cliffhangers: A Legal Guide for Presidents and Their Enemies,” said Trump's shifting language gives supporters — and opponents — plenty of room to read into his intentions.

“People do tend to find, in Trump's words, whatever it is that they want to hear,” he said.

The ‘lame duck’ clock

Trump's recent comments could also reflect a more familiar reality of second-term presidencies: the approaching “lame duck” period.

Presidents typically begin losing political leverage during their final two years in office, particularly if their party suffers major losses in the midterm elections.

But they also increasingly turn their attention to what they will leave behind.

“They all, particularly as they cross the midpoint of their second term, start thinking about legacy,” said Paul Begala, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton.

“They all banish the word. I know Clinton and Bush, they said, 'Can't use the L-word.' But they do,” Begala said, referring to Clinton and President George W. Bush. “They all think about it. And the staff thinks about it and the Cabinet thinks about it.”

Trump's version of legacy-building has been unusually physical.

He has sought to leave his imprint on Washington and the White House, drawing on the aesthetic of his earlier career as a New York real estate developer. His administration has ordered a towering arch near the Lincoln Memorial and restored city fountains, while Trump has overseen additions including a Rose Garden patio, a helipad on the White House lawn and numerous gilded touches inside and outside the presidential residence.

The most conspicuous project may be the massive ballroom Trump is pushing to complete despite legal challenges. The president has said construction will finish in late 2028, shortly before he is due to leave office.

“It's not for me, 'cause I'm going to be here a very short period of time” when the work is finished, Trump recently told reporters in the Oval Office. “I'll be there for four, five, six months. This is for future presidents.”

For now, Trump appears determined to keep both possibilities alive: the president who refuses to rule out another campaign, and the president who increasingly talks about what he will do when someone else takes his place.

That ambiguity may be precisely the point.