# What will happen in 2028? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 7, 2024, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825 "2024-11-07T00:25:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CastletonSnob1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@CastletonSnob1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CastletonSnob1)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/1 "2024-11-07T00:25:25Z")
What will happen in 2028? Who should the Democrats run? Will we even have elections then? After all, Trump has said “You won’t have to vote anymore” if he won, and Republicans control all 3 branches of government, meaning there are no checks and balances. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/4 "2024-11-07T00:29:51Z")
Odds are there will be a presidential election in 2028. I’ve heard Gavin Newsom’s name mentioned, but given how a more famous California candidate worked out I don’t think he’d have much of a chance against Vance or anyone else. We’ll find out who’s seriously interested in the run-up to the primaries. ---
**Author:** ![CastletonSnob1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@CastletonSnob1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CastletonSnob1)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/5 "2024-11-07T00:32:54Z")
What makes you so sure there will be an election in 2028? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/6 "2024-11-07T00:49:25Z")
Not having a national election would be a constitutional crisis. For that to happen the states would all have to be unable to hold elections, and/or there was a total war and the country is completely shut down and no longer functioning. I don’t think either of those are likely to happen. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/7 "2024-11-07T00:55:23Z")
It’s just not the way of a modern major autocracy to do away with elections entirely. There will undoubtedly be an election in 2028. The question is whether the thumb will be on the scale so much that the result is foreordained. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/8 "2024-11-07T00:56:00Z")
Yeah, the idea that there won’t be an election in 2028 is just plain silly, barring a nuclear holocaust or something. There will probably be anti-democratic shenanigans, but they won’t extend to cancelling an election. It’s not clear that it would even be _possible_ to do so without a constitutional amendment, and in any case it would lead to a massive backlash against any government that tried it. There are easier ways to tip the scales to favor your party or candidate, and people yawn at most of them (dark money, smear campaigns, laws aimed at making it harder for particular demographics to vote, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![CastletonSnob1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@CastletonSnob1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CastletonSnob1)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/9 "2024-11-07T00:57:11Z")
I’m just saying it’s a possibility with Trump back in the White House. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/10 "2024-11-07T00:59:43Z")
They know how much we like the spectacle of elections so I expect that there will be one in 2028. JD Vance and Don Jr. for the Republicans, RFK Jr and Tulsi Gabbard for the New MAGA Democratic party. The name of the winner will be kept secret to maximize the entertainment value. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/11 "2024-11-07T01:01:45Z")
Trump couldn’t prevent or undo the 2020 election and he was president at the time. It’s not within the federal government’s power to control. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/12 "2024-11-07T01:04:02Z")
_How_ would Trump cancel an election? Constitutional amendment? That requires either a 2/3 majority in _both_ houses of Congress, or 2/3 of state legislatures, and it’s wildly unlikely that he would get anywhere near those numbers. About the only other thing I can think of is declaring martial law, and that didn’t happen during the _actual Civil War_; he’s not going to get away with doing it in response to protests or looting or whatever the bogeyman du jour is in 2028. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/13 "2024-11-07T01:08:23Z")
Elections wouldn’t get canceled. An actual concern is “managed democracy” where propaganda completely distorts the information landscape and various kinds of voter suppression make it difficult to get real oppositional turnout. Hungary or India, not China cancelling elections. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/14 "2024-11-07T01:09:39Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Odds are there will be a presidential election in 2028. I’ve heard Gavin Newsom’s name mentioned, but given how a more famous California candidate worked out I don’t think he’d have much of a chance… Harris’ defeat has brought back the fear that the Democrats have a weak bench. Biden’s intervention in the 2020 race had a lot to do with the fact that the other Democratic candidates running that year (Harris included) were incapable of challenging Trump. It looks like things haven’t improved over the last four years. I don’t think the party will want to nominate a woman for a while so that eliminates about half the possibilities. Newsom is unpopular with the party’s progressive wing and is governor of California at a time when it’s losing population and being depicted as a socio-economic basket case on Fox and other right-wing media outlets. Nominating him would be an act of political suicide. As for the others, they lack the name recognition and/or gravitas needed to be successful candidates. Granted, things might change by 2028 but things didn’t change much between 2020 and 2024. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/15 "2024-11-07T01:11:22Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > An actual concern is “managed democracy” where propaganda completely distorts the information landscape and various kinds of voter suppression make it difficult to get real oppositional turnout. So…where we’re at now. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/16 "2024-11-07T01:18:09Z")
Well, we don’t have federally mandated propagandists on staff at national broadcasters or, say NPR and PBS being regime mouthpieces. Fox is bad, but things could be so much worse. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/17 "2024-11-07T01:24:25Z")
> [@CastletonSnob1](#): > > I’m just saying it’s a possibility with Trump back in the White House. There is an even worse possibility that Vance will be in charge, and he doesn’t even _pretend_ to tell the truth. ---
**Author:** ![CastletonSnob1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@CastletonSnob1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CastletonSnob1)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/19 "2024-11-07T01:56:18Z")
Trump has filled his Cabinet positions, Congress, and the Supreme Court with loyalists. He can do anything. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/20 "2024-11-07T02:04:47Z")
> [@CastletonSnob1](#): > > Trump has filled his Cabinet positions, Congress, and the Supreme Court with loyalists. That’s why there was no election yesterday, after all - Congress and the Supreme Court did away with all of that during his first term. Right? ---
**Author:** ![CastletonSnob1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@CastletonSnob1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CastletonSnob1)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/21 "2024-11-07T02:06:41Z")
My point is that Trump was restrained by guard rails for his first term. Those guard rails don’t exist anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/22 "2024-11-07T02:07:37Z")
> [@CastletonSnob1](#): > > Those guard rails don’t exist anymore. Which ones, and what happened to them? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825/23 "2024-11-07T02:47:31Z")
> [@CastletonSnob1](#): > > What makes you so sure there will be an election in 2028? There will be an election in 2028, and my guess is President Vance will be running for re-election. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-will-happen-in-2028/1009825.md?page=2)