You should all be familiar with the pattern by now. First, there are whispers that Donald Trump is planning to do something utterly outrageous. Sensible conservative talking heads reassure us that the very idea is ridiculous, then that he’s just kidding, or maybe he’s playing to the base!
Then he does the thing. What follows is a brief bubble of anger, and then that horrible thing becomes the new normal. Rinse and repeat.
All of which is to say you should take Trump and his administration’s repeated teases that he’s not stepping down in 2028 very seriously indeed. For months, Trump has been showing off his “Trump 2028” hats and openly musing about not stepping down.
Now Steve Bannon, arguably the chief architect of Trump’s rise to the presidency, has outright stated that plans are afoot to “finish what we started”, which is too important to be derailed by a silly triviality like “term limits”:
Steve Bannon: “Well he’s gonna get a third term. Trump is gonna be president in ‘28 and people ought to just get accommodated with that. At the appropriate time we’ll lay out what the plan is, but there’s a plan and President Trump will be the president in ‘28.” pic.twitter.com/TyDlPYkjAE
— Marco Foster (@MarcoFoster_) October 23, 2025
“Well he’s gonna get a third term. Trump is gonna be president in ‘28 and people ought to just get accommodated with that.”
And as for getting around the 22nd amendment? “There’s many different alternatives. At the appropriate time, we’ll lay out what the plan is, but there’s a plan and President Trump will be the president in ‘28.”
“An instrument of divine will”
Bannon goes on to say that America “needs” Trump to “finish what we started” and bills him as a “vehicle of divine providence”. He admits he’s “not perfect” (yeah, no kidding…) and that he’s “not churchy or religious” but is an “instrument of divine will”.
Notably, Bannon’s saying this is met with smug and disbelieving smirks from the two interviewers, who are clearly not taking what he’s saying seriously. They should take Bannon at his word – as what better way to demonstrate power than to explain precisely what you’re going to do and then do it.
If you’re reading this and still find the idea of a third Trump term to be far-fetched, then you’re cruising for a nasty shock very soon, and you won’t be able to say you weren’t warned. Sure, Trump will be 82 at the end of his second term, but I wouldn’t bet on waiting out the clock to win this battle.
