Barack Obama could joke about a third term and the media laughs along. Meanwhile, they force President Donald Trump through the constant humiliation ritual of him promising that he’ll leave office on Jan. 20, 2029 — which he’ll have to do.
We went through the rigamarole again with Tom Llamas of NBC News. The answer was perfect: Wouldn’t you hate it if you didn’t have something to speculate on?
The interview with the “NBC Nightly News” anchor was part of a much wider discussion published Wednesday which touched upon affordability, immigration, and the issues in Minneapolis.
But, of course, we had to have this: “On Jan. 21, 2029, do you see any scenario where you are still president?” Llamas asked.
We know the answer to this question. First, it’s because Trump questioned the results of the 2020 election. So did many people. Second, it’s because left-wing scare artists believe he’ll find a way to stay in office despite the 22nd Amendment prohibiting more than two terms or 10 years in power.
If Trump could circumvent this and he was a Threat To Democracy™ by challenging the 2020 results, then that logically meant he would have found a way to be president on Jan. 21, 2021, too. He did not then. There was an orderly procession to Joe Biden. Thus, logically, he will not in 2029, as well, because he cannot.
But Trump handled this the best way he could have: as an entertainer.
“I don’t know,” he said, followed by a smile: “It would be interesting.
“But wouldn’t it be terrible if I agreed with — if I gave you the answer that you’re looking for?” he continued. “It would make life so much less exciting, right? It would be so much less exciting.”
Then, getting back on message: “But I only do this for one reason: make America great again. And that’s what we are doing. We are making America great again — greater than ever before.”
“On January 21, 2029, do you see any scenario where you are still President?”@POTUS: “Wouldn’t it be terrible if I gave you the answer that you’re looking for? It would make life so much less exciting… I only do this for one reason: Make America Great Again.”
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 4, 2026
Now, we know why he’s doing this. First, it’s funny. Second, he’s leaving office Jan. 20, 2029, and everyone knows this. Third, Llamas wants him to say exactly that so either he gets his smiley-face moment of smugness in, or segues into a similarly smug question. And fourth, Trump decided to have that moment.
Even NBC News, in its coverage of the interview, was forced to concede that this was a bit of a troll:
Llamas also pressed Trump — who has occasionally suggested an interest in serving an unconstitutional third term — about whether he sees “any scenario” in which he’s still president on Jan. 21, 2029 — the day after a successor would be sworn into office. Trump’s response indicated that he enjoys stirring drama around the subject.
Better than asking a stupid question and getting a stupid answer, I suppose, but where was the hand-wringing when this happened on Stephen Colbert’s show in November of 2020?
FLASHBACK
Barack Obama in November 2020: “If I could make an arrangement where I had a stand-in or front man or front woman [to be POTUS], and they had an earpiece in, and I was just in my basement in my sweats looking through the stuff, and I could sort of deliver the lines… pic.twitter.com/Tp6iUCXshF
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) August 3, 2023
And that’s doubly unfunny when you consider that, as Barack Obama was talking about a meat puppet in the White House while he sat around in sweats, the Democrats were preparing an actual barely sentient meat puppet who happened to be Barack Obama’s vice president to take the Oval Office.
Nobody ever “pressed” Obama about whether he was the guy typing into Biden’s teleprompter during those years, did they? Nobody ever questioned whether there was some kind of “unconstitutional” third-term arrangement going on.
That’s because (duh) there wasn’t. This would make a great high-concept movie and a lousy way to run the White House. (Plus, knowing Biden rather intimately, do you really think Barack labored under the misapprehension Scranton Joe could pull it off? He wasn’t even capable when he didn’t have dementia.)
However, it’s a great way to put a spotlight, again, on the media’s meaningless obsession with this. There’ll be a new president on Jan. 21, 2029. It won’t be Donald Trump in a costume mustache going by the name “Il Donaldo de Trumpia.” Next?
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