# Will Trump run for another term as President? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [August 9, 2026, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236 "2026-08-09T00:49:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [August 9, 2026, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/21 "2026-08-09T02:34:53Z")
No, he will not, and he has no intention of trying. He just wants people to keep talking about him so he doesn’t feel like a lame duck. > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > He just won’t recognize the election. The nice thing about elections in this country is that the results are not dependent on the president “recognizing” them. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/22 "2026-08-09T02:36:22Z")
No. And I don’t even mean in a not formally running but wink wink I’d be in charge kind of way either. He’s old. It’s tiring. He’s done with politics. (Late: as President; he’ll still play king maker etc) Or the complete opposite. 50-50 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/23 "2026-08-09T02:40:46Z")
> [@CoolHandCox](#): > > He’s old. It’s tiring. He’s done with politics. Regardless, I think he’s petrified of going to prison; staying in power is how he ensures it can’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/24 "2026-08-09T02:45:55Z")
Yes. The only way he could step aside is if he had assurances from a successor that he would never be prosecuted for his crimes. But he knows that he is not loyal to anyone and believes that that is how everyone else really is, too. Therefore, he knows that he can’t trust _anyone_ to be loyal to him when he has no power. So he will use everyone and anything while he can to find a way to cling to that power. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/25 "2026-08-09T02:48:12Z")
I think he’ll make a lot of noise about running again, and his bought-and-paid-for legal/constitutional experts will absolutely bring up what they consider valid reasons for it to apply for him. And that a lot of states will say “hell no”, and he’ll ask for extraordinary powers to deal with states he claims are in active revolt. Or he’ll just put troops in them and dare them to do anything about it. So, Yes, to the OP’s question, he’ll run. I don’t think that is his _endgame_, because he doesn’t trust his courts _either_, but the challenges will give him a figleaf to try to _stay in power_. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2026, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/26 "2026-08-09T02:48:44Z")
Realistically, Trump is never going to see the inside of a jail cell, and by 2029 he’s not likely to be in any physical or mental state to stand trial anyway. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/27 "2026-08-09T02:50:15Z")
No, he will be dead by then. He has one foot in the grave right now, there’s no way he makes it another two years. If he were to be alive, he would declare the election in 2028 to invalid and illegal before it even started. He would threaten to jail anyone who ran and any officials who did what should be their normal jobs. As there are more and more protests in the streets he will get to fulfill his fantasy of having US troops open fire on US citizens. But he won’t lose an election because there won’t be one. He can only maintain power by declaring it into existence and we can see from what he is trying to do with an Iran peace deal right now that he will try declaring it into existence even if it doesn’t make any goddamned sense. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/28 "2026-08-09T02:56:09Z")
Trump’s _modus operandi_ has always been “so who’s gonna stop me?”. I wouldn’t put it past him to try, but it wouldn’t get far. The real nightmare is that there’s some genuine crisis, which he would immediately exaggerate and elevate to the status of a national emergency and try to cancel the election. But on balance, the odds of him remaining in office beyond January, 2029 are negligible – pretty much zero – provided that the US is still some semblance of a viable democracy. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/29 "2026-08-09T03:01:12Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > and by 2029 he’s not likely to be in any physical or mental state to stand trial anyway. That’s easy for you to say but Trump doesn’t believe that for a second. _He_ believes he is invincible and that is what will inform his decisions. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2026, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/30 "2026-08-09T03:25:03Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > If he were to be alive, he would declare the election in 2028 to invalid and illegal before it even started. He would threaten to jail anyone who ran and any officials who did what should be their normal jobs. As there are more and more protests in the streets he will get to fulfill his fantasy of having US troops open fire on US citizens. But he won’t lose an election because there won’t be one. There’s pretty much zero chance of this scenario playing out. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/31 "2026-08-09T03:50:34Z")
I have a feeling that flouting that part of the Constitution may be a bridge too far, as the saying goes, and that’s the point at which resistance starts to stiffen up. I mean so far it’s been mostly either testing how far he can go with the courts, and then more or less abiding with their rulings, or exploring how far he can go in ambiguous territory. But something like the following is explicit and unambiguous, and if he tries to defy that, then I suspect that one of two things will happen- many GOP people will defy him, and/or the shooting will start. That sort of nonsense is not the sort of thing many will countenance; that’s going from testing how far he can go to open defiance of the Constitution. And thus far, most of what he’s done has more or less been in the first category, even if it does seem egregious to the rest of us. > **Section 1.** No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term. > > **Section 2.** This Article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states within seven years from the date of its submission to the states by the Congress.[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#cite_note-CUSA:AA-3) ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/32 "2026-08-09T04:11:30Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > There’s pretty much zero chance of this scenario playing out. From your keyboard to God’s screen but having said that, let’s see how the midterms play out. I am entirely happy to be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/33 "2026-08-09T04:59:07Z")
Probably not; if he thinks he can do it he’d just declare himself President for Life and not hold elections anymore. If he does, the actual motive will be a hope of being surrounded by adoring crowds praising him; the part of an election he actually likes. But he won’t have any intent of letting the vote matter. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/34 "2026-08-09T11:32:13Z")
I suspect he will just try to prevent the election from happening at all. He’s that kid that takes his ball and goes home. If he can’t play, nobody can play. Anyway he’ll try to do it by creating another emergency just like he does on any day of the week that ends in ‘y’ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/35 "2026-08-09T12:18:04Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > No one will want him running again if things go to shit because of the Iran war. Since when is what anyone else wants relevant to Trump? > [@wolfpup](#): > > But on balance, the odds of him remaining in office beyond January, 2029 are negligible – pretty much zero – provided that the US is still some semblance of a viable democracy. That’s a tautology. If he does remain in office beyond January, 2029, that will mean that we’re not a semblance of a democracy. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/36 "2026-08-09T12:45:53Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I think he’s petrified of going to prison I don’t think Trump is capable of worrying that he might go to prison. When he was actually facing the possibility, accused of 34 felonies, he slept through the entire trial, totally unconcerned. Prison is for losers. He knows absolutely that he is not a loser, therefor he cannot be sent to prison. Q.E.D. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2026, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/37 "2026-08-09T18:46:13Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I suspect he will just try to prevent the election from happening at all. Which is no more within his power than blowing up the Moon would be. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/38 "2026-08-09T18:52:12Z")
Yup, no dictator has ever been able to seize power in contravention to the laws of their country. It’s completely impossible. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/39 "2026-08-09T18:53:30Z")
It’s peanuts compared to what he has already done. Plans already in the works to jack up the mid terms ---
**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:** [August 9, 2026, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236/40 "2026-08-09T18:54:15Z")
You don’t _become_ a dictator when you’re 82 years old, seriously ill, and two-thirds of the country hates you. > [@enipla](#): > > It’s peanuts compared to what he has already done. Abolishing democracy and declaring himself god-king is “peanuts”? Dude can’t even build a ballroom. How’s he gonna overthrow all 50 state governments? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-run-for-another-term-as-president/1032236.md?page=3)