Former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon on Tuesday predicted the president would run again in 2028 and win a third term, defying the constitutional limit. (Watch the video below.)
The declaration appeared to scuttle reports of Bannon’s own presidential hopes while raising alarms about the lengths Trump allies would go to manifest such an outcome.
“I’m a firm believer that President Trump will run and win again in 2028, so I’ve already endorsed President Trump,” he told NewsNation host Chris Cuomo. “A man like this comes along once every century if we’re a little lucky. We’ve got him now, he’s on fire, and I’m a huge supporter. I wanna see him again in 2028.”
The nationalist firebrand mostly evaded Cuomo’s attempt to allay concerns that the strategy did not involve an “insurrection” or “revolution.”
Bannon, the White House chief strategist in the first Trump administration before he was fired, has no official ties to Trump 2.0. Trump’s team noted after the election that Bannon did not speak for Trump. But Bannon remains popular in the MAGA set and uses his “War Room” podcast as a far-right megaphone after serving 4 months in prison for refusing to comply with a Jan. 6-related subpoena.
Cuomo noted that Bannon finished second behind Vice President JD Vance in a recent CPAC straw poll about early 2028 GOP contenders.
Bannon told Cuomo he was not running but said his old boss will with success. That touched off this uncomfortable exchange that’s been edited for brevity:
“You’re a smart guy. You know he’s term-limited,” Cuomo said. “How do you think he gets another term?”
“We’re working on it,” Bannon answered. “I think we’ll have a couple of alternatives, let’s say that. We’ll see what the definition of term limit is.”
Replied Cuomo: “So you’re talking about litigating this issue, because I don’t want people to listen to our interview and say, ‘Bannon’s cooking up an insurrection.’ .. You know what I mean? I want people to get a straight take on where your head is.”
Bannon, who summoned the possibility of a Trump third term months ago, dodged the question.
Cuomo pressed on, asking, “But you are not suggesting revolution or overthrow or anything that people would condemn?”
Bannon deflected the host’s query in part by touching on Trump’s current beef with judges blocking his deportation mission while claiming, “We’re big believers in Democracy.”
“I just want to make it clear for people so that they can’t paint you as, you know, suggesting revolution. Your analogy is to ’32 and how FDR extended it?” Cuomo said, referring to the election of Franklin Roosevelt four times. The 22nd amendment’s two-term restriction was ratified in 1951.
“We are, but I firmly believe in the revolution you’re seeing going on now, the revolution of common sense to deconstruct the administrative state,” Bannon said.
Trump himself has floated the possibility of running for a third term.