White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed Donald Trump is just “trolling” about pursuing a third term as president—despite the fact that Trump himself insists he’s “not joking.” During her second “new media” briefing, where Leavitt speaks to a group of mostly Trump supporters, one attendee asked Leavitt to play a game of “Trump Troll or Trump Truth.” The game involved Leavitt naming whether certain Trump proclamations were his true desires or just an elaborate form of public joking. Leavitt claimed that some of Trump’s desires—including invading Greenland and having Canada become the 51st state—were indeed Trump “truths.” But when the attendee asked her the same about Trump’s musings on running for president again in 2028, she was unequivocal: Trump was joking. ADVERTISEMENT “Trump trolling,” she said, “although the hats are flying off the shelves.” Leavitt was referring to $50 red hats sold by the Trump Organization that boldly proclaim “TRUMP 2028” and have been promoted by Trump son Eric Trump.
This photo illustration, taken on April 24, 2025, in Washington, DC, shows an image of US President Donald Trump alongside a smartphone displaying a red 'Trump 2028' cap on the Trump Store website. Donald Trump's online store is selling clothing emblazoned "Trump 2028," the year of the next US presidential election, in which the Republican is constitutionally banned from running. The 78-year-old, who has seen his approval rating sink in recent opinion polls, has not ruled out serving a third term — though most spectators consider that highly unlikely.
(Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP) (Photo by OLIVER CONTRERAS/AFP via Getty Images) Oliver Contreras / AFP) (Photo by OLIVER CONTRERAS/AFP via Getty Images The admission is an about face from Trump’s repeated insistence that he was not, in fact, joking about running for a third term. Trump told NBC News last month that, though it was “too early to even talk about it,” he was “not joking” about considering a potential third term and claimed there were “methods” to circumvent the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution that explicitly prohibits such candidacies. He has since tried to walk back the desire, claiming to TIME he didn’t “believe in” using “loopholes” in the law and telling The Atlantic a third term was “not something that I’m looking to do.” Attorney General Pam Bondi also said getting around the Constitution would be a “heavy lift.” Still, Trump has left the door open to “shattering” the democratic norm after claiming his supporters beg him to stay in the White House.
An ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday showed that 62 percent of Americans do not want Trump to run fro a third term. “That would be a big shattering, wouldn’t it?” he told The Atlantic last week.
