It looks increasingly like Donald Trump wants to cling on to power beyond his legal term. It
Donald Trump has no intention of ever leaving the White House. Not without a scrap, at least. That seems like a weird thing to suggest, but there is now so much evidence pointing to him trying to cling on to power beyond the end of his legal presidential term, that it’s irresponsible to pretend it’s not happening.
He keeps saying he’s not a “king” or a “dictator”. But he also keeps doing and saying things that suggest he very much would like to be.
Still skeptical? Here are the signs.
1. He keeps telling people he’s going to run in 2028
There’s a school of thought that suggests the best way to deal with Donald Trump is to take him seriously, but not literally. I would argue that is dangerously naive.
Trump did exactly what he said he was going to do in his first term, or at least tried to. And this time, he keeps saying he’s going to stay in the White House beyond 2029, when his legal term ends. He’s even made hats and given them out to Republican congressmen.
He’s repeatedly floated the idea of re-writing or bypassing constitutional rules that prevent him serving beyond two terms.
2. He floated the idea of using a war to cancel the 2028 election, so he could stay in power
During a visit to the White House by Volodymyr Zelensky in August, Trump indicated he likes the idea of using a war to cancel the next election, allowing him to stay in power beyond his term limit.
Zelensky cancelled an election in Ukraine because his country is at war with Russia. “So let me just say three and a half years from now – so you mean, if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections? Oh, I wonder what the fake news would say,” Trump said.
Later during his visit, Trump showed Zelensky the White House gift shop, where Trump 2028 hats are on sale.
3. He continues to undermine faith in US elections
For Donald Trump, claiming the 2020 election – which he lost to Joe Biden – was rigged is almost like breathing.
During the aforementioned sit-down with Zelensky in August, he went on at length about how postal voting is “corrupt”, claiming no other country uses it. In reality, most countries allow postal voting in some form or fashion.
Almost every time he’s in front of a camera, he claims the 2020 result was rigged, or stolen from him. And he repeatedly claims his lies have been proven true, which they haven’t. There were more than 60 court cases where judges – including Trump-appointed judges – looked at the evidence. Not one found evidence of widespread fraud. He’s repeatedly called for the release of Tina Peters, a supporter who tampered with voting machines to try and prove the election he lost was rigged. He keeps taking questions in Oval Office pool sprays from “reporters” from Lindell TV, an online streaming channel run by pillow salesman, election denier and conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell.
4. And he’s trying to get the Justice Department to pay him damages
Last night it emerged that Trump wants the Justice Department to pay him $230m in damages for ‘malicious’ prosecutions and investigations. He filed court claims before he was re-elected last November concerning the FBI’s raid on Mar A Lago for classified documents – which they found – and for a separate investigation years earlier into his ties with Russia.
And let’s bear in mind that, far from a hoax, the investigation into Trump’s links with Russia did NOT exonerate him. The Mueller Report found Russia had interfered in the 2016 election, but that there was not sufficient evidence of conspiracy or coordination to prosecute that charge in court.
5. He tried his best to cling on to power last time around
After losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, Donald Trump tried every possible avenue to cling on to power. He threatened Vice President Mike Pence, urging him not to certify the result. He threatened governors and state officials, notably Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom he urged to “find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state.”
Trump lost Georgia in 2020.
The call with Raffensperger was a key moment in the second impeachment of Donald Trump – which was passed by the House, but acquitted by the Republican-controlled senate.
And then he inspired the January 6th Insurrection, telling supporters to march on the Capitol Building, where votes were being certified, because “We won this election, and we won it by a landslide…we will stop the steal…We will never concede, it doesn’t happen…If you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
Thousands of Trump supporters marched on the Capitol, many of whom violently broke into the building, some of whom were doing so in a bid to lynch Mike Pence before he could certify the vote. It was, in any reasonable person’s description, an attempted coup d’etat.
6. He pardoned almost everyone who took part in the coup,
Trump granted blanket clemency to nearly 1,600 people convicted of or awaiting trial or sentencing for offences related to the January 6th coup attempt. Most received full pardons, while 14 members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys gangs were commuted. More than 600 people convicted of or who pleaded guilty to assault or obstructing law enforcement officers were pardoned, as well as 170 of using a deadly weapon.
7. He’s remodelling the White House to be more like Mar A Lago in a project that will take much longer than his current term
Trump has begun remodelling the White House to be more like his holiday home, a project which will clearly not be finished before he’s supposed to leave office in 2029.
He’s already paved over the Rose Garden patio, installing umbrellas identical to those on the terrace at Mar A Lago. He’s installed identical flagpoles to those at his Florida resort.
And now he’s bulldozing the East Wing of the White House, to replace it with a ballroom mirroring the one he has at…Mar A Lago.
8. People fear he’s planning to use the military to intimidate people voting in the midterms and beyond
Trump is mid-way through a project of deploying the FBI and National Guard to cities and states across America which are run by Democrats.
The administration claims it’s a crackdown on crime. In reality crime is either relatively low in the states under threat, or has already been declining.
JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois – which is under threat from Trump’s “surge” despite falling crime rates – has warned the increased use of the military is in preparation for troops to be stationed near polling places ahead of the 2026 midterm elections in a bid to intimidate Democrat voters.
Legal experts have warned that invoking the Insurrection Act, which Trump keeps threatening to do, would allow him to blur the lines between civilian elections and military deployments.
9. He’s redrawing electoral maps to favour Republican candidates
Trump has explicitly ordered Republican controlled states to re-draw congressional districts, outside of the normal 10-year cycle – with the goal of securing extra seats for the party in the House of Representatives – and clinging on to his wafer thin majority. The strategy is already underway in several states – including North Carolina and Texas.