Donald Trump has declined to definitively say he will not seek an unconstitutional third term as US president. “I would love to do it: I have my best numbers ever,” the 79-year-old told reporters on Air Force One during a trip to Asia. Pressed on whether he was not ruling out a third term, he said, “Am I not ruling it out? I mean, you’ll have to tell me.”
It’s not the first time the president has openly expressed interest in finding a way to stay in power beyond the two terms allowed in the US constitution. But his remarks on Monday provided more details into some MAGA minds’ thought process about how to pull it off.
Some of his supporters have floated the idea that he could run as vice-president and then, if his ticket wins the 2028 election, have the president resign so he could reassume the presidency. Trump said Monday that such a move would be “too cute” and too unpopular to try.
“I think the people wouldn’t like that,” he told reporters. “It wouldn’t be right.”
But Trump’s unwillingness to rule out a third term altogether is ruffling some Democrats.
“Despite what the Constitution says, [Steve] Bannon vows Trump will be president for a third term,” US Rep. Rashida Tlaib wrote on X Monday. “But they all start crying when we call them fascists. No way in hell we’re going to let that happen.”
Trump ‘would love’ unconstitutional third term but rules out running for VP
Donald Trump said on Monday morning that he would rule out running for the vice-presidency in the 2028 US election, an unorthodox approach that some of his supporters have floated to allow the Republican US president to serve a third term in the White House.
“I’d be allowed to do that,” Trump said, in an exchange with reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, the latest leg of a five-day trip to Asia which he hopes to cap with an agreement on a trade war truce with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.
Trump describes Russia’s new cruise missile test as ‘not appropriate’
Donald Trump has described Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a nuclear-powered cruise missile test as “not appropriate” amid growing tensions between Moscow and Washington.
Putin said on Sunday that Russia had successfully tested its “unique” nuclear-capable Burevestnik cruise missile, which the Kremlin described as part of efforts to “ensure the country’s national security”.
Trump cuts likely hindered Alaska storm warnings
A faltering federal response to one of the worst storms in Alaska’s history, which caused hundreds of people to become homeless, is drawing further scrutiny over the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle federal weather and climate protections.
The powerful remnants of Typhoon Halong hit remote communities in the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta of south-west Alaska on 12 October, inundating a vast low-lying area of tundra that is home to some of the most remote and inaccessible communities in the country.
US debt set to soar above Italy and Greece under Trump
Donald Trump is on course to push US debt levels above those of Italy and Greece by the end of the decade after wide-ranging tax cuts and increased defence spending, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts.
Illustrating the rising debt levels in Washington and efforts made by Rome and Athens to bring spending under control after the 2008 financial crash and Covid-19 pandemic, the IMF predicts the US will see its debts climb from 125% to 143% of annual income by 2030, while Italy’s will flatline at about 137%.
Trump officials ask supreme court to allow firing of top copyright official
The Trump administration on Monday asked the supreme court to allow it to fire Shira Perlmutter, the director of the US Copyright Office.
The case is the latest that relates to Donald Trump’s authority to install his own people at the head of federal agencies. The supreme court has largely allowed Trump to fire officials, even as court challenges proceed.
What else happened today:
Just over a week before New York City’s mayoral election on 4 November, about 13,000 people poured into Forest Hills stadium in Queens for the “NYC Is Not For Sale” rally, a packed gathering headlined by representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, senator Bernie Sanders and the Democratic mayoral candidate, assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.
Joe Biden has decried “dark days” for the US under Donald Trump’s hardline presidency as he urged Americans to stay optimistic and not to “check out” from the way White House politics under his successor is affecting the nation. The former US president was speaking publicly for the first time since completing a round of radiation therapy for an aggressive form of prostate cancer, in a speech on Sunday night that addressed Trump’s agenda.
The staff supporting the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) were let go earlier this month in a sweeping round of layoffs that gutted entire departments of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The changes mean the US government may not make routine vaccine recommendations for more than half of children in 2026, and they will likely affect the development and recommendation of new vaccines in the pipeline.
Sean Duffy, the US transportation secretary, warned on Sunday that he was about make good on a threat to revoke millions in federal funds for California because he says the state is illegally issuing commercial driver’s licenses to non-citizens.
Catching up? Here’s what happened Sunday 26 October.
