By continuing to tease a bid for a legally prohibited third term, President Donald Trump could delay what every second-term president resists: becoming a lame duck.
Any president approaching the final two years of their second term eventually becomes that weakest of political birds. Lawmakers, foreign governments, political donors, journalists and potential successors start looking beyond the outgoing occupant of the Oval Office.
Several campaign-focused arms of the Democratic Party in recent weeks have seized on Trump’s inevitable entry into to lame-duck status. The Democratic National Committee pleaded with prospective donors in a recent fundraising email that “time is running out” to “turn Donald Trump into a lame duck.”
Trump himself has shown little interest in becoming a bird of that often-ostracized feather.
Notably, he has kept the 2028 door cracked. Last week, he contended that “everyone” asks him about a 2028 bid but said the laws prohibiting chief executives from serving three terms were “very strong.” But a few days later, his social media account posted an image of him in a “Trump 2028” hat with these words etched on the bottom: “We are going to win.”
