President Donald Trump raised eyebrows on Monday when he cracked a dark joke about holding onto power past the end of his second term, by dragging the U.S. into a war.
The comment came during his Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump was responding to a reporter’s question about why Ukraine hasn’t held an election. Zelensky’s term, which began in May 2019, was due to end in May 2024, but Russia’s invasion has made voting impossible.
That seemed to spark an unsettling thought for Trump. “During the war you can’t have elections? So let me just see — three and a half years from now, if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections. That’s good,” he quipped.
There it is.
Trump says he likes the idea of starting a war so he can declare “no more elections” and stay in office forever. pic.twitter.com/W3AycWoEEW
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) August 18, 2025
It was delivered as a joke, but for a president who has repeatedly floated the idea of a third term, the remark hit a nerve. Trump has never been shy about exploiting obscure rules to his advantage, and critics worry this may be more than casual banter. Netizens showed disappointment on X over his use of words.
One comment wrote, “I can’t believe he joked about that. Like what ?? This is not a funny topic.” Another person said, “It’s not funny…. Cause you know DAMN well it has already crossed his mind, that to me is scary!!! YOU’RE NOT FUNNY TRUMP!!!!”
He’s already shown a willingness to push legal limits. In March, he dusted off the centuries-old Alien Enemies Act to justify deporting hundreds of Venezuelan migrants without trial.
Legally, the 22nd Amendment makes it clear: a president can’t serve more than two elected terms. Yet Trump has repeatedly mused about ignoring that restriction. In a March interview with NBC News, he said, “A lot of people want me to do it. But, I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration. I’m focused on the current.”
When pressed if he was serious, he added: “I’m not joking. But I’m not — it is far too early to think about it.”
That tension between “just kidding” and “dead serious” has defined Trump’s political playbook ever since his 2016 entry into politics. Time and again, laws have served as obstacles he tries to bend or bulldoze through.
In 2024, while running for re-election, Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records, tied to hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 vote.
Trump made it very clear a long time ago that he opposes the United States Constitution.
— Dark Chayse🇺🇦 (@DarkChayse) August 18, 2025
And, of course, on January 6, 2021, he infamously urged thousands of his supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol in a violent attempt to stop Joe Biden’s victory from being certified, after his own vice president, Mike Pence, refused to overturn the results.
More recently, Trump’s administration attempted to scrap birthright citizenship by executive order, a move legal experts quickly labeled “blatantly unconstitutional.” Court battles over that effort are still ongoing.
So when Trump jokes about war as a loophole to stay in power? For many, it feels less like humor and more like another warning sign.
