MS NOW national affairs analyst John Heilemann warned that things could get “ugly” in the aftermath of the 2028 presidential election, as questions continue to swirl over whether President Donald Trump will accept the will of the American people or try to cling to power once again.
Despite the fact that Trump is constitutionally barred from running for a third term in 2028 by the 22nd Amendment, the president has repeatedly floated the possibility.
Heilemann sat down with Wallace for an episode of her podcast, “The Best People,” and told her that he sees “three possibilities” for how Trump could leave office. The first, he said, is that Trump “leaves willingly.”
“Another possibility,” he continued, “is Donald Trump tries to stay in office, but whether it’s people in his own party, his successor, or the courts or the military, they say, ‘Sorry, sir, you’re done.’”
The veteran journalist and chief political columnist predicted that, in the second scenario, it’s likely they will have to “escort him out, kicking and screaming.”
But the third possibility, Heilemann warned, should worry Americans the most.
“The third thing is that he tries and succeeds,” he told Wallace. Heilemann said that in his view, it’s not impossible that Trump could do “a giant ugly thing that extends months into 2029,” as he did in 2020 when he led an effort to challenge the results of the presidential election.
“It doesn’t take a lot of creativity to write that screenplay,” he added.
While Heilemann admitted he believes “the first the first two options are way more likely than the third,” he said one of the major lessons he has taken from the Trump era is to expect the unexpected.
“The only thing I’ve learned in 10 years is that all the stuff that I was like, ‘That can’t happen’ has happened,” he told Wallace. “It’s like the only reliable rule.”
You can watch Heilemann’s comments at the 35:37 mark in the video below, and listen to the full episode of “The Best People with Nicolle Wallace” here.
The post John Heilemann maps out Trump’s possible exits, including one ‘ugly’ scenario appeared first on MS NOW.
