No matter what he does, Trump seems to be making the rounds on the news. Just last Friday, he shared on Sharyl Attkinson’s TV political show Full Measure, that if he loses this election he won’t run again in 2028.
“To me, it was something he hasn’t said before. So in that sense, it was kind of a big deal. "
Kambiz Akhavan is Executive Director of the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future. He thinks he’s noticing some new ideas from the former President.
“He has never really alluded to losing or life post presidential campaign, so and he sort of did about a week ago in a statement that he made at a gathering of Jewish Republicans, where he said that it basically could be their fault if he’s not reelected.”
Annenberg Professor Steve Caplan who teaches politics and marketing thinks Trump could be trying to rally his supporters.
“I’ve been in the political world long enough to make educated guesses. I would think for his base, his base of voters, it would perhaps coalesce them around him more tightly.”
Dornsife’s Akhavan doubts that this new strategy will change voter’s opinion of the former president.
“People have something called confirmation bias, and that means what they hear needs to comport with what they already believe for someone who thinks Trump is an exaggerating liar, and he’ll say that he won’t run again, but he probably will. And for the other voters, they’ll think President Trump is our champion.”
What Annenberg instructor Steve Caplan finds particularly striking about Trump’s statement about not running again if he loses this year was the way he said it—his tone.
“Typically, when asked about his future plans, Trump will vociferously push back, talk about rigged elections and how he had already won and again, not criticisms, but that is his style, and for him to answer that question in a almost muted way for me, was interesting.”
Caplan is still uncertain if Trump’s statement will make much of a difference in the current election and that only time will tell.
What we do know is that early voting has already begun including in crucial battleground states. And with just 42 days left until election day, Former President Trump will find out soon what his 2028 plans will look like.