Trump, 79, Threatens Running for President When He’s 86
The president’s threat came despite polls showing his approval rate tanking ahead of the midterm elections.

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty
President Donald Trump has ramped up his threats to remain in power–this time questioning if he should stay in the White House for a fourth term.
After repeatedly threatening to run for a third term in office, the 79-year-old president posted on Truth Social on Thursday night: “RECORD NUMBERS ALL OVER THE PLACE! SHOULD I TRY FOR A FOURTH TERM?”

Trump made his latest threat on the way home from the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Such a move would be virtually impossible, given the U.S. Constitution bans Americans from being elected as president more than twice.
And even if he found a loophole, Trump, who is increasingly showing signs of decline, would be 86 by the time he could seek a fourth term at the 2032 election. The next presidential election is in 2028.
But this hasn’t stopped some MAGA die-hards from daring to dream, or prevented the president from musing about his chances.

Trump's latest threat.
Truth Social
“We need this winning to continue!” one supporter responded to his post.
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“We would keep you forever,” another one replied.
Trump’s comments came a day after he declared that people sometimes “need a dictator” as he appeared at the World Economic Forum in Davos to assert America’s dominance.
The president, who beat Hillary Clinton in 2016 and defeated Kamala Harris in 2024, has repeatedly toyed with the idea of running again.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential debate.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
He even suggested he would “be allowed” to run as vice president and then have the elected president resign after taking office to hand him the presidency.
However, the 12th Amendment would also make this extremely difficult, and Trump admitted last year: “I think the people wouldn’t like that. It’s too cute.”
Others MAGA acolytes have suggested amending the Constitution, but this would require two-thirds approval from both houses and ratification by three-quarters of all the states.
Trump has also suggested cancelling the midterm elections amid GOP fears that Republicans could lose control of Congress in November.
This would inevitably stall Trump’s agenda and expose him to congressional investigations.
“You gotta win the midterms ‘cause, if we don’t win the midterms... they’ll find a reason to impeach me,” he told Republican lawmakers at a retreat in Washington earlier this month. “I’ll get impeached.”
But speaking to reporters on Thursday, Trump said he would spend the next year campaigning for the midterms, even though he will personally not be on the ballot.
“I hate to tell you guys, but it’s going to keep you employed,” he said on Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Davos.
However, he lamented the fact that the party of the sitting president rarely wins the midterms, describing it as a deeply entrenched trend.
“You have to ask a psychiatrist about that,” he added.
Despite Trump’s Truth Social post—about “RECORD NUMBERS ALL OVER THE PLACE!”—voters don’t seem to agree.
According to a Times/Siena poll released on Thursday, a significant majority (56 percent) of voters disapprove of the president’s performance.
The same poll also shows Trump tanking on a range of hot-button issues, including the economy, immigration, and the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Trump responded to the poll by adding it to a $15 billion lawsuit against the Times, which he filed last year, accusing the organization of seeking to undermine his 2024 election campaign and disparage his reputation as a businessman.
“Something has to be done about Fake Polls! They are truly OUT OF CONTROL,” he wrote in a separate Truth Social post on Thursday.
“We have the Greatest Economy in the History of our Country, we have the Strongest Border in History, nobody has ever done a job like I have done, and they have me in the low 40s. The Democrats destroyed Healthcare, I’m trying to fix it, and they give me FAKE low numbers.”
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