Trump floated the idea of a third term to NBC News’ Kristen Welker

Well, somehow, this is not at all surprising. You might even say it was half-expected.

But now he said it out loud. And it’s alarming.

In a phone interview Sunday morning with NBC News and “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker, President Donald Trump floated the idea of running for a third term as president — something prohibited by the Constitution under the 22nd Amendment.

“You know, a lot of people would like me to do that,” Trump told Welker. “But, I mean, I basically tell them, we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.”

Welker followed up by asking if he had been presented with any plans of trying to run for a third term, Trump said, “There are methods which you could do it, as you know.”

Welker threw out one potential scenario in which current Vice President JD Vance would win the 2028 election and then turn the presidency back over to Trump.

Trump said, “Well, that’s one. But there are others too. There are others.”

And, no, he was not kidding. Welker even said to him, “Sir, I’m hearing — you don’t sound like you’re joking. I’ve heard you joke about this a number of times.”

Trump said, “No, no, I’m not joking. I’m not joking. … But … it is far too early to think about it.”

“Would you want to serve a third term, sir?” Welker asked.

Trump said, “Well, I like working.”

One could question Welker for even asking if Trump would want to serve a third term, as if it could actually happen. But Trump obviously doesn’t see even the Constitution as a deterrent to his whims and wishes.

MSNBC analyst David Jolly, a former Republican Congressman from Florida, said on Alex Witt’s MSNBC show on Sunday, “I think the biggest mistake of the last eight years is we somehow fail to give credibility to Donald Trump’s whims and his impulses, but we know it’s true. And Jan. 6 was a perfect example. If he says that he’s not ruling it out, he’s not ruling out, then we should consider it a constitutional threat.”

Trump supporter Steve Bannon, who has worked closely in the past with the president, recently told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo that term limits might not be an issue for Trump, saying, “We’re working on it. I think we’ll have a couple of alternatives. We’ll see what the definition of term limit is.”

Bannon added, “I’m a firm believer that President Trump will run and win again in 2028. We’ve had greater long shots than Trump 2028.”

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The WHCA’s controversial decision

Add the White House Correspondents’ Association to the list of those who have appeared to have bowed down to President Donald Trump.

The WHCA announced Saturday that it has canceled the appearance of comedian and writer Amber Ruffin from this year’s WHCA dinner. Breaking a longstanding tradition, the dinner is now not scheduled to have an entertainer poking fun at politicians like in the past when featured acts included a who's who of comedy stars: Colin Jost, Trevor Noah, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Wanda Sykes, Stephen Colbert and Jay Leno, just to name a few.

And Ruffin — one of the stars of CNN’s “Have I Got News For You” and formerly a writer on Meyers’ show and host of a program on Peacock — was to join that long list. But WHCA president Eugene Daniels announced in a statement Saturday, “As a first step, I wanted to share that the WHCA board has unanimously decided we are no longer featuring a comedic performance this year. At this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists.”

So what happened? Well, many are pointing to Ruffin’s comments on a Daily Beast podcast last week and the White House’s reaction to them.

On Thursday, according to The Daily Beast’s Liam Archacki, “(Ruffin) sparked MAGA outrage when she said that she wouldn’t try to make sure that her jokes targeted both sides of the political spectrum during her set, as she had been instructed to do by the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA). … She told hosts comedian Samantha Bee and Beast Chief Content Officer Joanna Coles that the Trump administration are ‘kind of a bunch of murderers,’ adding that playing to both sides ‘makes them feel like human beings, but they shouldn’t get to feel that way, ‘cause they’re not.’”

Ruffin also said on the pod, “They were like, ‘You need to be equal and make sure that you give it to both sides,’ And I was like, ‘There’s no way I’m going to be freaking doing that, dude. Under no circumstances.’”

On Friday, a day after those comments went public, White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich wrote on X, “This year’s @whca dinner will be hosted by a 2nd rate comedian who is previewing the event by calling this administration ‘murderers’ who want to ‘feel like human beings, but they shouldn’t get to feel that way, because you’re not.’ What kind of responsible, sensible journalist would attend something like this? More importantly, what kind of company would sponsor such (sic) as hate-filled and violence-inspiring event?”

Then came Saturday’s announcement that Ruffin had been canceled.

Daniels, formerly of Politico and about to start his own show on MSNBC, said in the statement, “For the past couple of weeks, I have been planning a re-envisioning of our dinner tradition for this year. As the date nears, I will share more details of the plans in place to honor journalistic excellence and a robust, independent media covering the most powerful office in the world.”

It’s all well and good if Daniels and the WHCA started having second thoughts about what the dinner has turned into. Maybe the event has started to focus too much on what has essentially become a roast of politicians instead of recognizing the work of the White House press corps. But maybe “re-envisioning” the dinner would have been a good idea before you went out and hired a main speaker.

It was only in early February that the WHCA announced that Ruffin would be the featured speaker, and Daniels himself wrote in the announcement, “When I began to think about what entertainer would be a perfect fit for the dinner this year, Amber was immediately at the top of my list. She has the ability to walk the line between blistering commentary and humor all while provoking her audience to think about the important issues of the day. I’m thrilled and honored she said yes.”

He added, “Amber’s unique talents are the ideal fit for this current political and cultural climate. Her perspective will fit right in with the dinner’s tradition of honoring the freedom of the press while roasting the most powerful people on all sides of the aisle and the journalists who cover them.”

So two months ago, she was a perfect fit and now she isn’t? In his Status media newsletter, Oliver Darcy wrote the WHCA was already considering removing Ruffin before her podcast comments “gained traction.”

Still, by cancelling her now, the WHCA not only looks weak, but it has put Ruffin in a bad spot. Now, she can be even more of a target for the right, who can say, “See? Even the liberal-biased media doesn’t want to be associated with her.”

Actress Ellen Barkin actually had a really good point on X about this:

Let’s see if I got this right…

This year the White House (sic) Correspondence Association will give special honor to “journalistic excellence and a robust and independent media”.

So they cancelled Amber Ruffin’s performance cuz the WH doesn’t like her.

That’s certainly how it comes off.

And the kicker is that it will be stunning if Trump actually shows up for the event. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who works closer with the WHCA and White House press than anyone in the administration, already said she won’t be attending. And if the WHCA somehow thinks the White House will appreciate them removing someone they feared would be too mean to Trump, they are being ridiculous.

In the end, maybe Ruffin’s comments last week were bad enough that the WHCA felt like the dinner could be a powder keg — making the already tense relationship between the White House press and Trump even worse. Maybe they think the dinner has just become too ugly and known for the wrong things. Maybe Daniels thought saying it’s time to “re-envision” the dinner would somehow take the heat off Ruffin.

But in the end, it does feel as if the WHCA gave in out of fear of Trump. Which leads to the next item …

Another jab in the fight

While the White House Correspondents’ Association was making moves (canceling Ruffin’s dinner appearance) to seemingly turn the temperature down in its already simmering relationship with Trump, the administration was shrugging and turning the heat back up.

Axios’ Mike Allen reported Sunday that the White House wants to take over the seating chart in the White House briefing room. Right now, the WHCA is in charge of who sits where. Those from the traditional main media outlets get the better seats up front. As Allen notes, “Prominent seats in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room are coveted because it's easier to catch the press secretary's eye to ask tough and probing questions. Those correspondents' interactions are also more likely to be showcased on TV.”

Another way to look at it: Media outlets that give Trump favorable coverage are more likely to get better seats, while those tougher on Trump could be relegated to the back of the room.

Allen wrote, “Discussing the coming seating chart, the senior White House official said plans have already been formalized for a ‘fundamental restructuring of the briefing room, based on metrics more reflective of how media is consumed today.’ The new layout will include representatives of TV, print and digital outlets. The digital assignments will include both online influencers and newer organizations such as Axios, NOTUS and Punchbowl.”

The official told Allen, “The goal isn't merely favorable coverage. It's truly an honest look at consumption [of the outlets' coverage]. Influencers are important but it's tough because they aren't (equipped to provide) consistent coverage. So the ability to cover the White House is part of the metrics.”

Megyn Kelly calls herself a journalist

The New York Times’ Lulu Garcia-Navarro has a lengthy Q&A with Megyn Kelly: “Megyn Kelly Is Embracing Her Bias and Rejecting the ‘Old Rules.’”

Oliver Darcy wrote in his newsletter, “The NYT — for some odd reason — conducted a softball interview with Megyn Kelly …”

In the interview, the former Fox News and NBC host who has since gone into the podcasting world, says she still considers herself a journalist.

“Yeah, I’m still a journalist,” Kelly said. “I break news all the time, and when I sit with Trump or anyone else in the administration, I ask tough questions.”

Know what else she did? Stood on stage and endorsed Trump for president. That should’ve removed the word “journalist” from her title.

Meanwhile, disturbingly, someone who considers herself a journalist said she is “in favor” of Trump’s attacks on the press.

“I share his feelings,” Kelly said. “Just like most people on the right, I have a healthy amount of loathing for a large portion of the media, and they are fake news. And Trump did a very effective job of pointing that out, and he had to because they were all against him. So what was his choice other than to try to demonize them as a group?”

Media tidbits

• For Poynter, Pete Croatto talks to the female sportswriter who sued Major League Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn after being denied locker room access during the 1977 World Series: “Melissa Ludtke reflects on her path from cultural footnote to journalism icon.”
• The Wall Street Journal’s Katherine Sayre with “He Wanted to Fix Local News. It’s Harder Than He Thought.”
• The New York Times’ Adam Nagourney — who wrote the book “The Times: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn, and the Transformation of Journalism” (and I highly recommend it) — writes about Max Frankel, the former Times executive editor who recently passed away: “An Executive Editor Who Was the Last of His Kind.”

Hot type

• ProPublica’s Jessica Lussenhop with “‘A Wholly Inaccurate Picture’: Reality Cop Show ‘The First 48’ and the Wrongly Convicted Man.”
• “CBS News Sunday Morning” and correspondent Tracy Smith with “Elton John, Brandi Carlile on their dream collaboration.”
• “Saturday Night Live” had a funny cold open making fun of the embarrassing Signalgate blunder.

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Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected].