Mike Pence will be back on the ticket in 2020 — but he and his boss will both leave if the president loses the next election, according to Donald Trump.
Vice President Pence will stay on for the president’s reelection campaign, Trump promised in a “Meet the Press” interview that aired Sunday morning.
“100%, yes,” Trump told host Chuck Todd.
Speculation had initially arisen after the president hesitated to endorse Pence as his successor, but Trump insisted he was just surprised by the question.
“He’s been a terrific vice president,” Trump said on the morning show. “He’s my friend.”
In the same segment, the president again returned to his false claims of widespread voter fraud, this time wrongly claiming that California “admitted to a million votes;” the state instead agreed to remove a million inactive voters from its rolls.
Todd also forced Trump to address his constant hints about serving more than his Constitutionally restricted two terms, including a video he posted on Twitter Friday that showed a doctored Time magazine graphic that showed pro-Trump signs for elections through 2048 and ended with one that read “Trump 4Eva.”
“I only joke,” Trump said. “There won’t be a third term.”
The president has “joked” on several occasions that he might stay in the White House indefinitely, starting with a March 2018 crack in which he said “it’s great” that China’s Xi Jingping is “President for Life” and suggested “Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot some day.”
In April, upon being presented an accolade from the Wounded Warrior Project, Trump said the trophy would have a home in the White House as long as he’s in office.
“I was going to joke, General, and say at least for 10 or 14 years, but we would cause bedlam if I said that, so we’ll say six.” he said.
Trump’s possible unwillingness to leave office is no laughing matter to Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said during a press conference in May that the public should be prepared for how the president might react if he’s voted out next year.
“We have to inoculate against that, we have to be prepared for that,” she said.
The former reality TV star, who lost to Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million popular votes, but was awarded the presidency through the Electoral College in 2016, complained the democratic process was “rigged” against him leading up to Election Day.
As for the 2020 election, Trump, who kicked off his reelection campaign last week, said he would rather face front-runner Joe Biden than square off again against Hillary Clinton, who he called “a great candidate.”
