I have had more people say, please run again. They said, we have a long way to go before we even think about that. But I've had a lot of people, people are asking me to run, and there's a whole story about running for a third term. I don't know, I never looked into it. [00:00:16] They do say there's a way you can do it, but I don't know about that. Donald Trump has been sending the American people mixed signals about whether or not he's serious about running for a third term. And thank you. You seem to have a theory about why that is right. [00:00:32] I do. So I think that he is constantly testing the limits of his power. If he could, if you said to him, here's a button like your Diet Coke button, and if you press it, you become dictator. We were done with the Constitution, but you rule forever, and you have as much money as you want. [00:00:49] Do you know how quickly he'd press that button? I mean, even take out the money part, right? He'll find, I mean, if he's dictator, he can have whatever he wants, right? So he's like. Like most American people think like, no, no, no, no, no. He, you know, even if you don't. Well, for the folks who don't like him. [00:01:06] Now, they they might finally be here at that point. But I've been saying from day one because he says it all the time. He's always talking about all dictators are amazing. They can kill anyone they like. And when they ran through the room, everyone has so applaud. And I love their military parades and I don't and I don't want to leave [00:01:21] when I lose, I want a third term, etc. He would press that button so quick he'd be like, right, so but now there's a twist to the story. Why is there a twist? Because my theory is he does turn around when he gets unpopular. [00:01:37] Really unpopular. So let's see how it played out in this story. Go ahead Jordan. So last Friday, the Trump Organization started selling Trump 2028 merchandise. Then today, The Atlantic published a long interview they conducted with Trump that covered an array of topics, including him potentially running in 2028. [00:01:56] Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer. Right. We asked Trump about a rumor we'd heard that he had tasked his Justice Department with looking into the legality of his running again in 2028. He said he hadn't, but then seemed to leave open the possibility. [00:02:12] That would be a big shattering, wouldn't it? He mused, laughing. Well, maybe I'm just trying to shatter. He noted twice that his supporters regularly shout for him to seek a third term, but concluded it's not something that I'm looking to do. And I think it would be a very hard thing to do. [00:02:30] But that's not exactly what he told Kristen Welker at NBC less than a month ago. A lot of people want me to do it, but, I mean, I basically tell them, we have a long way to go. You know, it's very early in the administration. Asked to clarify if he was serious about running again, [00:02:49] Trump said, I'm not joking, but I'm not. It's far too early to think about it. When asked whether he has been presented with plans that allow him to seek a third term, Trump said there are methods which you could do it. [00:03:05] Welker asked about a possible scenario in which JD Vance would run for president and then passed the role to Trump, a tactic some of his allies have already started promoting. Trump responded that that that's one method, but there are others too. [00:03:20] So he could be joking. He could just be entertaining the fanfare. But to me, I think especially with the merch, it seems like they're at least considering it. They're exploring a way in which they might be able to try it. [00:03:37] Yeah, of course, that's what he always does. He does these test trials. Now, what if I don't listen to the courts? Let's see how that one polls. Let's see how people react to that. Oh. In the beginning. Oh. Pretty good, pretty good. Rogan says it's he likes due process. [00:03:53] Okay, okay, let's see if we rethink that one. Let's see how things go. And on this one, part of what they do, guys, is they'll say it and they'll say, as Trump has said he, that he wasn't joking. Right? Because in the beginning, when you're testing it, [00:04:10] you don't want to say you're joking. Otherwise it ruins the test. So he says, yes, I'm thinking of running for a third term. There's a lot of ways to do it. No, I'm not joking. And if it had come back with a lot of manga and a lot of independents and good polling coming back and going, yeah, boy, we hate the Constitution too, [00:04:27] let's go burn it together. Woo hoo! If that had been the reaction, he'd have kept going and going and going until he ran for a third term in an 18th term. Right. So but instead, what he got back was. What are you, stupid? No. And even from Republicans, the polling shows we covered it [00:04:44] a little bit earlier in the show. But when they were asked about this, of course, Democrats are dead set against it. Independents hated it. And even Republicans are like, no, no, just do your job right. So not all, but a but a good number of Republicans were in that category, [00:05:02] so it didn't play well. And we'll show you some of the numbers in a second. And then so now that his polling is dropping and it's not working, now he's back to, hey, I was just joking. I was just joking. And that allows every MAGA guy to say every time he tries to do something unconstitutional. He's just trolling, man. He's just trolling. [00:05:18] And by the way, is that what we want out of a president? Someone who's constantly trolling like an idiot. Like a like a like a like. I was gonna say like a troll online. But that's literally what he is. And he's the president of the United States and the commander in chief. [00:05:34] Jesus Christ, man. Grow up. If you're in the opposition and you're, you know, 13 years old or 21 years old and you're having fun trolling. Woo hoo! Yeah, I told him I. Okay, or you're Ken Klippenstein. You're just having fun. No problem. But you're the president of the United States, and you're still trolling [00:05:50] about setting the Constitution on fire. How is that fun? So all right, I mean, this is what exactly what we were worried about the guy who said he'd terminate the Constitution after he lost. Here he is trying to terminate the Constitution. [00:06:06] But when he gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Just kidding. I was just kidding, man. Yeah, sure you were, buddy. Now, I want to remind people, if you if you can remember this. In March of 2024, Brett Erlich, Mark Thompson and I were on a power panel [00:06:22] on March 29th, and we covered an op ed that a project 20 2025 partner wrote about how Trump could seek a third term. And I remember the conversation back then. People just dismissed it. Oh no, he won't do that. He can't do that. [00:06:41] We're just a just past a year later and they're looking at it. They're evaluating it. They're selling merch over it. So again, we're going back to hey, project 2025. And people in that orbit were telegraphing everything they wanted to do. [00:06:56] And much of that had to do with undoing the Constitution. And here we are. Their argument then, was the 22nd amendment only applied to consecutive terms? So they said Trump was entitled to two consecutive terms. The first one, for some reason, didn't count. [00:07:12] And of course we know that's ludicrous. And this would be patently unconstitutional under today's standards because of the 22nd amendment. But they don't seem to care because it's all about power for them. All of their rhetoric about constitutional principles or going back to the origins [00:07:28] of the founders, Notwithstanding that this came later because of FDR, none of that really matters or holds weight. It's just a inconvenient burden or obstacle in the way of some sort of objective that the right wants, and you're seeing it play out here. [00:07:44] My only thing that makes me think he might not want to run is just that he's exhausted. It's a tiring job. He just wants to go off into the sunset, golf, relax, but still maintain some sense of importance and fanfare. [00:08:00] He likes the attention. He likes the cameras. So if there was some sort of arrangement where he could be kind of like a president and have the president esthetic, well, not having to do any of the responsibility that I think would be the ideal solution for him. But the only thing I think preventing him from, from a third term [00:08:18] or seeking a third term would just be the workload that accompanies it. Yeah, it's there's a hilarious Fox News article about this where they say, this is just six days ago. They're like, yeah, polling for him running for a third term [00:08:35] Does not poll well. Very, very badly. But it's such a bad number. They don't even stated in the article, but they do at the end of the article. Go. Okay, fine. Even 53% of Republicans think bad idea, don't do that. So now he sees the polling and he goes back. [00:08:52] I was just joking. - The president's. - A clown. Okay. All right, I'll take it. I'm glad he's going back. And he's I hope he shuts up about it. And they instead of burning the Constitution, they burn those stupid Trump 2028 hats. And we move on with our lives. [00:09:08] But by the way, guys, that's a huge thing, right? What what are we most worried about is that they mess around with elections. They mess around with the Constitution. So the fact that he's walking it back now that it's deeply unpopular is a good thing. The fact that he ever proposed it is maniacally bad, right? [00:09:27] But at least he's responding to the polling, including among a majority of Republicans. And thank God he's walking it back. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his wings. Totally not true. But it does keep you updated on our live shows.