President Donald Trump is reportedly telling allies that he may run again in 2024, potentially announcing the move even before President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January.
But at least one person who knows him well is deeply skeptical.
Mary Trump, the president’s niece, told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that Trump’s talk of running again is just to feed his ego ― but he won’t actually do it for one simple reason.
“He will never put himself in a position where he can lose like this again,” she said.
In addition, she said, Trump would have to play a secondary role over the coming four years, something he’s not prone to doing.
She also speculated that some combination of age, health and the law could catch up with him over the next four years:
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) November 13, 2020
At least one commentator has reached the same conclusion.
Paul Waldman wrote in The Washington Post that Trump will likely keep saying he’ll run.
But he won’t actually do it.
“He can keep telling everyone that he really won the 2020 election and it was stolen from him by fraud (and he will, ad nauseam), but the prospect of yet another loss would be too frightening,” he wrote.
