President Donald Trump was speaking at a small business summit on Monday when he made a chilling prediction about when he plans to leave office.

″...And this way, when I get out of office, in, let’s say, eight or nine years from now, I’ll be able to use it myself,” Trump said about small business tax deductions.

Trump has frequently mentioned the idea of seeking a third term in office. Last year, he told NBC News that he was not “joking” about the prospect, saying “a lot of people want me to do it.”

“I’m not looking at that,” he told reporters on Air Force One in March 2025. “But I’ll tell you, I have had more people ask me to have a third term, which in a way is a fourth term because the other election, the 2020 election, was totally rigged, so it’s actually sort of a fourth term.”

While many Trump supporters have dismissed the idea as a joke, critics contend the public should take the president at his word.

“I fear that we will not have an election in 2028. I really mean that in the core of my soul − unless we wake up to the code red, what’s happening in this country, and we wake up soberly to how serious this moment is,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said last year.

Trump has even had “Trump 2028” merchandise made and prominently features it in his official Trump store.

Critics on social media were quick to sound off on Trump’s latest suggestion that he should not only serve a third term, but seemingly a fourth as well:

This is how he started with the whole “if I lose the election is fraudulent” shtick. If we don’t listen to this, shame on us. That man isn’t building a ballroom for the next guy. https://t.co/L0lR4x4V9m

Hahaha it’s funny because he hates the Constitution. https://t.co/SFdmLwdUCV

He's not leaving peacefully or legally, folks. Take him literally and seriously.Also, if he plans on sticking around for 8 years, he should put down the steak, burgers and Diet Cokes. https://t.co/wNeJZQKjFN

No bitch you will leave when the time is up. https://t.co/BLAgvMYjDA

“He’s just joking,” they’ll say. Folks, no president should be making jokes about this, but one who attempted to steal an election most definitely shouldn’t. And no American should find it amusing. No matter the tone, it’s a threat to our Constitutional order. https://t.co/acbGePUOff

You think he’s kidding? https://t.co/yzot4KJwY5

Mortality aside, he keeps making it clear he never plans on leaving. And that he will never leave peacefully or voluntarily. This is why his judicial picks all refuse to say that he isn’t eligible to run for a third term despite the plain language of the 22nd Amendment. https://t.co/HLOrkURiKN

He’s planning to stay in his ballroom bunker https://t.co/mriiRdPWuy

Serious question, but do we even have a constitution anymore? https://t.co/dL2EPJlpzm

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