Trump rules out running again in 2028 if defeated in next US vote
Washington, United States–Republican Donald Trump has ruled out running again in the United States’ 2028 presidential election if he loses in the upcoming November poll, according to an interview aired on Sunday.
Responding to a question on whether he would run again if he lost, the 78-year-old former president told US news program “Full Measure”: “No, I don’t. I think that that will be, that will be it. I don’t see that at all.”
The billionaire did, however, say he hoped to be “successful” at the ballot box on voting day on November 5.
Trump is currently neck-and-neck with Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, including in the key battleground states that often decide close US elections.
The Democratic Party has seen a resurgence in support after the withdrawal of President Joe Biden as its candidate in July, following a disastrous debate against Trump.
Trump lost to Biden in 2020 but refused to accept he was defeated, riling supporters by saying the election was “stolen” and fueling conspiracy theories.
On January 6, 2021, fervent Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in an attempt, spurred by his allegations, to stop the certification of the election result.
The Republican has notably refused several times in recent months to commit to unconditionally recognizing the result of the upcoming election.
Trump refuses Harris call for Oct. debate
While in Wilmington on Saturday, Trump rejected a second debate against Harris before the November 5 election, saying it was “too late” with early voting already underway in some states.
Earlier in the day, Harris’s campaign said she had accepted an invitation from broadcaster CNN to participate in a debate on October 23. It would have been the candidates’ second debate, after a September 10 encounter that most pundits said she had won.
“The American people deserve another opportunity to see Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debate before they cast their ballots,” her campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement.
“I hope (Trump) will join me,” Harris posted on X.
Trump claimed during a campaign rally in the battleground state of North Carolina that he would like to debate — calling it “good entertainment value” — but the start of early voting in some states had taken the air out of the idea.
“It’s just too late, voting has already started,” he said.
He added, to a large and enthusiastic crowd of supporters, that while CNN had been “very fair” when he debated President Joe Biden in June, “they won’t be fair again.”
Vice President Harris replaced her boss at the top of the Democratic ticket after the 81-year-old Biden’s disastrous performance against Trump.
His exit from the race left Trump, 78, now the oldest ever presidential nominee, against a much younger Harris, 59.
Voting underway
Saturday’s announcement came as some states have already begun early voting in what is an agonizingly close race.
The result is expected to hinge on seven battleground states, including North Carolina.
Trump addressed the crowd in the port city of Wilmington from behind bulletproof glass, following an apparent second assassination attempt against him.
A gunman was discovered on his golf course in Florida last Sunday, with security agents foiling any plan to harm the former president.
In July, Trump was struck on the ear by a bullet at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, after a gunman opened fire from a nearby rooftop. The US Secret Service — tasked with protecting the candidate — on Friday admitted to “deficiencies” and “complacency” in the shocking security breach.
