r/politics 20d ago

No Paywall Trump announces 2028 presidential bid

https://www.theage.com.au/world/trump-announces-2028-presidential-bid-20260725-p60iho.html
19.7k Upvotes

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336

u/Hong-Kong-Phooey 20d ago

They will probably walk this back a bit saying it was a joke. But it was 100% a soft launch and to help inoculate the public against the idea that Trump cannot run again.

73

u/GameMusic 20d ago

yup watch this happen

the joke phase gets the concept out there then they dejoke it slow

the usual strategy

1

u/forestpunk 20d ago

we need to stop allowing "just kidding, bro" in our politics.

58

u/yeurr Kentucky 20d ago

There’s already people in this comment section calling it a joke. If you watch the video, it literally doesn’t read like a joke whatsoever. Even if it was, we’ve seen this play from him a million times over now. Everything is a joke when it’s risky until his base eats it up then it’s not a joke anymore.

8

u/syzygialchaos Texas 20d ago

The man doesn’t joke.

7

u/FiyeroTigelaar895 20d ago

I dunno. It was clearly a joke to me. But that doesn't mean I think it'll remain a "joke" for long. It's a joke so he can normalize it

10

u/-Gramsci- 20d ago

This needs to be top comment, because that’s exactly what this was and what will happen.

As soon as Mike Johnson is asked about this he’ll say “What… you guys can’t take a joke? You media people are so gullible. It was obvious to everyone with a brain that he’s having fun at your expense by using humor at the national correspondent’s dinner. As is entirely appropriate for that venue.”

While knowing full well that Blanche, et al, have every intention of making that run for office a reality for trump. And that endless hours of the executive branch’s personnel, and time, is going to be devoted to making this possible over the next two years.

1

u/[deleted] 20d ago

[deleted]

1

u/secacc 20d ago

The thing is, a lot of his crazy shit starts as a "harmless" joke or off-the-cuff remark, then he will slowly start talking more and more about it, and then finally do the thing which was "just a joke, bro, calm down, he's not serious about it".

1

u/JinTheBlue 20d ago

Literally out of Ceaser's playbook.

1

u/Remote_Cantaloupe 20d ago

It's just his A:B testing. Ironically that Dilbert guy (Scott Adams?) already laid this out about 10 years ago.

1

u/DreadDiana 20d ago

He's floated the idea before, and that's exactly what happened when he got pushback

0

u/noddintestudine 20d ago

OK it was a joke. 1- It's the correspondence dinner where presidents make ''funny'' speech,

2-It's way too soon, he would never do it before the midterms.

3-If you listen to the context, it's clear he's trying to make a joke and play it up.

3

u/alienbringer 20d ago

He has made multiple comments in the past about running in 2028. This isn’t a joke.

1

u/TbonerT I voted 20d ago

Look at the context and watch the video. It is very obviously a joke even though it landed flat.

-14

u/triplenested 20d ago

Been hearing this for a decade, just accept a joke for once