President Donald Trump hasn't ruled out seeking a third term in office, and that's putting a freeze on the potential field until other candidates determine how far he wants to push the rules on running for office yet again, according to a new report.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told NBC News that he doesn't think Trump will run for another term, but he still has good reason to flirt with the possibility, the network reported Saturday.
"Don't underestimate the degree to which he believes any Trump-centered noise is good, because it starves his opponents," Gingrich said.
Trump says that "there are methods" that can make a third term in office possible, even while the Constitution limits presidents to two terms.
This week, the Trump Organization started selling "Trump 2028" merchandise, including hats and shirts that read "Trump 2028 (Re-write the Rules)."
The constitutional rules, ensconced in an amendment, can't be overturned without crossing several steps.
But even the threat of seeking office in 2028 is freezing out potential candidates, as anyone who starts campaigning before Trump officially declares his future risks offending the president's strong MAGA following and inviting "total and complete rejection," said Steve Bannon, a senior White House official during the president's first term in office.
"Trump is MAGA; MAGA is Trump," said Bannon, who has been seeking ways for Trump to remain in office for a third term.
This means that several top contenders, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, and Josh Hawley of Missouri, aren't likely to start building followings until Trump officially backs out of a third term.
Trump's flirtation with a 2028 run "particularly impacts JD Vance and Ron DeSantis and anyone else who wants the favor of Donald Trump," said Asa Hutchinson, a GOP presidential candidate in 2024. "They know they have to stay out of the mix until Donald Trump gives the blessing to go after it and says that he would not be seeking a third term."
But Trump isn't likely to back out soon, according to a source close to potential GOP 2028 candidates.
The party is expecting Trump to draw out the talk as long as he can, because he believes that doing so will keep the public from considering him as a lame duck president, the source said.
DeSantis, for example, got a Trump endorsement in 2018, but when the governor ran against him in 2024, Trump's political base started to distrust him as the then-candidate fought against him in the race.
Trump and DeSantis have been working to rekindle their relationship in recent months, however.
Vance has not made any indication about his plans for a run for the White House in 2028 and said last month that any serious moves in that direction would come after the 2026 midterm elections.
Trump, meanwhile, said in an interview with Time magazine that he is being "inundated with requests, adding, "I'm doing a good job."
He acknowledged there are loopholes that have been discussed, but said that he does not believe in loopholes."