President Trump on Wednesday tweeted a video showing him running for president indefinitely minutes after the Senate voted to acquit him on allegations he abused his power and obstructed Congress.
The video, which Trump has shared before, plays on a Time magazine cover from October 2018 that showed campaign signs showing Trump running for office every four years from 2024 until 2044. The cover story that month was titled “How Trumpism Outlasts Trump.”
pic.twitter.com/JDS4zUXXJG
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2020
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Trump did not mention impeachment at all in the tweet, but it marked his first public statement since the GOP-controlled Senate voted to acquit him Wednesday afternoon. Trump later said that he would make a public statement about impeachment at 12 p.m. on Thursday at the White House to “to discuss our Country’s VICTORY on the Impeachment Hoax!”
Trump often jokes at his campaign rallies that he could serve more than two terms as president. U.S. presidents are limited to serving two terms in the White House.
The edited clip that Trump shared on Wednesday afternoon is set to the tune of “Peer Gynt Suite No. 1.” It zooms in on an additional campaign yard sign reading “Trump 2048” that Trump is standing behind. The sign ticks up by several hundred years and eventually transforms to read “Trump 4EVA.”
A number of Trump’s advisers and campaign aides have weighed in on the impeachment verdict on Twitter and in written statements, but Thursday will offer the president’s first extensive remarks on the subject of the acquittal vote.
Trump has regularly derided the impeachment as a partisan “witch hunt” aimed at damaging him politically ahead of 2020. His past remarks suggest he is likely to use the remarks to take a victory lap following his acquittal and criticize House Democrats for voting to impeach him in December.
resident Donald Trump shared a bizarre video on Twitter Wednesday afternoon suggesting that he would be president “4EVA,” shortly after he was acquitted in his Senate impeachment trial.
The GOP-led Senate voted against removing the president from office—48-52 on abuse of power and 47-53 on obstruction of justice charge. Senator Mitt Romney was the sole Republican to vote against an acquittal, joining Democrats on the abuse of power charge.
Within an hour of the acquittal, Trump took to Twitter to share a video of an edited Time magazine cover, showing the president standing behind campaign signs for hypothetical elections in 2024, 2028, 2032 and onwards. The last sign eventually read “4EVA.” Presidents are constitutionally prohibited from serving longer than two terms of 4 years each. Since his inauguration in 2017, Trump has flirted with the notion of an indefinite presidency several times by “joking” about the prospect.
pic.twitter.com/JDS4zUXXJG
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2020
“When I ultimately leave office in six… years, or maybe 10 or 14 (just kidding), they will quickly go out of business for lack of credibility, or approval, from the public,” said Trump in a series of tweets on July 11, 2019. “That’s why they will all be Endorsing me at some point, one way or the other.”
“Could you imagine having Sleepy Joe Biden, or Alfred E. Newman… or a very nervous and skinny version of Pocahontas as your President,” he added, disparagingly referring to his potential Democratic opponents. “Rather than what you have now, so great looking and smart, a true Stable Genius!”
…years, or maybe 10 or 14 (just kidding), they will quickly go out of business for lack of credibility, or approval, from the public. That€™s why they will all be Endorsing me at some point, one way or the other. Could you imagine having Sleepy Joe Biden, or Alfred E. Newman…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 11, 2019
Trump has also previously praised the abolition of term limits by Chinese President Xi Jinping and suggested that the U.S. might want to “give that a shot someday.” He has also shared tweets wondering whether people would “demand” he stay in office beyond two terms.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
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Trump’s term could have fallen well short of eternity if the Senate had voted to remove him from office, although the result was never really in doubt due to the highly partisan nature of the chamber. His impeachment by the House on December 18 was also a partisan affair, with most lawmakers voting along party lines.
Romney was the first senator in U.S. history to vote for removing a president from his own party. His decision invited backlash from Republicans, with some deeming him a “traitor” over the vote. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, called for Romney to be expelled from the GOP, although there is no indication that is likely.
“I am aware that there are people in my party and in my state, who will strenuously disapprove of my decision, and in some quarters, I will be vehemently denounced,” Romney said on Senate floor before the vote. “I am sure to hear abuse from the president and his supporters. Does anyone seriously believe I would consent to these consequences other than from an inescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded it of me?”
Although the Senate voted against removing Trump from office, he remains one of only three U.S. presidents to have been impeached by the House, joining Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.
President Donald Trump