The Morning: Don't believe Trump about 2028

In an interview with Sharyl Attkisson over the weekend, Donald Trump said this would be his last presidential bid.

Attkisson asked him about running in 2028 if he lost in 2024 and Trump responded: “No, I don't. No, I don't. I think that that will be, that will be it. I don't see that at all. I think that hopefully we're gonna be successful.”

Which, I call BS on.

Here’s why:

1. Trump will never concede he lost the election. In 2016, when he WON, he spent days arguing, falsely, that 3 to 5 million illegal votes had been cast — and that’s why he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. In 2020, well, we know what happened after that election. And in this race, Trump has spent months telling anyone who will listen that the only way he can lose is if the election is stolen from him. Given all of that, do you really believe he will just say “Yeah, I lost this one fair and square” and walk away? I do not.

2. Trump is now totally in control of the GOP. He has spent the last decade seizing all the reins of power and driving out those who fought him. This is a man who has wanted to be at the center of power his entire life. He’s going to give all of that up because he loses in November. No freaking way.

I am not CERTAIN that Trump will run for president again in 2028 if he loses this time around. He will be in his early 80s. He has clearly slowed down even from eight years ago. He could have a major health issue.

But what I am certain of is that Donald Trump isn’t going to simply step aside from his current role in the Republican party if Kamala Harris wins in November. He will seek to keep control of the GOP — giving himself the time and space to decide if he wants to run for president again or if he would rather play kingmaker and choose a successor to his, er, throne.

Trump may not be forever — we all die! — but he is definitely going to be around for as long as his health lets him.

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