Trump serious about pursuing a third term, Gavin Newsom warns

Newsom, who has gained national attention in recent weeks for his merciless trolling of Trump online and is widely considered a future presidential contender, said he had a growing stack of “Trump 2028” hats – a pointed gift from the president’s supporters.

“You think he’s joking about 2028?” Newsom asked the audience. Noting Trump’s ambitious – and controversial – plans to build a 90,000-sq-ft state ballroom off the East Wing of the White House, replete with gold trim that echoes the one he built at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Newsom remarked: “Who spends $200m on a ballroom at their home and then leaves the house?”

“The rule of law is being replaced by the rule of Don,” he declared.

The governor has previously warned that Trump would attempt to cling to power beyond his term, as he did in 2020, when he sought to overturn Joe Biden’s victory with baseless claims of election fraud – a campaign that culminated in the January 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters attempting to halt the certification of the results.

But on Wednesday, Newsom added a new data point to his case, revealing that Trump had raised the subject during a 90-minute Oval Office meeting in February. The governor had traveled to Washington to push for federal disaster aid to help Los Angeles recover after the deadly fires – assistance the newly inaugurated Trump was threatening to withhold as political leverage. According to Newsom, Trump pointed to a portrait of Franklin D Roosevelt, the only US president to serve more than two terms in office.

“I said: ‘I know exactly what you mean,’” Newsom recounted. “And then he went on and on about the third term.”

It is unusual for a political leader, especially a sitting governor, to divulge details of an Oval Office exchange with the president. But Newsom appeared unfazed by the breach of protocol. “Apparently there are no rules any more,” he said.

Though Trump has said he would be an “eight-year president” – and is barred by the constitution from serving a third-term – he has repeatedly entertained the possibility. Citing Roosevelt as a precedent, Trump has suggested that there may be ways to circumvent the 22nd amendment, which states: “No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice.”

Asked in an interview earlier this month whether he would run again, Trump said: “No, probably not.” But then he added: “I’d like to run. I have the best poll numbers I’ve ever had.” (Recent polling has shown Trump’s approval ratings falling since his return to the White House, though voters view his second term somewhat more positively than his first.)

Pressed on what else was discussed during the Oval Office meeting, Newsom said the conversation also touched on what he described as the president’s “crypto grift”. Trump, according to Newsom, shared that he was surprised to learn a “memecoin” was “not even a coin”.

During the interview, Newsom also urged Democrats to stand up and “fight fire with fire” as he was doing in California with a redistricting proposal that would offset a Trump-sought gerrymander to secure five more Republican seats in Texas. Californians will vote in November on whether to temporarily override the state’s independent redistricting commission and adopt new congressional maps that would give Democrats more of an advantage in five Republican-held US House districts.

Newsom’s more combative posture – especially his online mockery of Trump and his Republican allies – has seemed to strike a nerve. This week, Trump fired back, calling the California governor a “nice guy” who “looks good” but who was also “incompetent”.

Newsom on Wednesday implored Americans to take Trump’s threats seriously.

“Wake up,” he said. “We’re losing this country in real time. This is not bloviation, this is not exaggeration.”