Trump Floats Desperate Bid to Cling On to Power
The president said he believes he has the right to run for a third term despite the Constitution saying otherwise.
KENT NISHIMURA/Getty Images
Donald Trump told his Iowa rally crowd that he “has the right” to run for president again in 2028.
Trump was in Iowa to boost Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson in her campaign against Democrat Josh Turek in the previously reliable red state.
He began his Iowa rally by proclaiming his love for farmers, despite soaring diesel and fertilizer costs tied to his war with Iran and export losses from his trade wars.
Despite the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment barring third-term runs and his supporters saying his claims are more of a joke to troll Democrats, he once again declared the Democrats “cheated” in the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
He said he’s not “100 percent sure” the law says he can’t run again.
“Well, the one thing is different—they cheated us on the second one because we won it three times,” Trump said. “So I think I have the right to run again.”
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He then continued touting positive poll numbers, even as Reuters and Ipsos put his approval rating at 31 percent on October 19.
“I’d kill everybody, I’d beat ‘em.”
Despite claiming he had the right to a third term, Trump then tried to pull back his claim by saying he had studied the amendment “forever” to find a possible loophole to match his election-rigging allegations, but “unfortunately, it’s quite concise.”
President Donald Trump visits reliable Trump-voting state Iowa on panic tour, teasing a third term.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
“There’s not a lot of wiggle room,” Trump relented.
Trump has long maintained the false assertion that he won the 2020 election against Biden, who received over 80 million votes over Trump’s over 70 million, despite no evidence.
These false claims helped fuel the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol by Trump supporters, roughly 1,500 of whom he later pardoned upon returning to office.
Trump has won every time he was on the Iowa ballot, even though former Democratic President Barack Obama also won every time he ran in the state.
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