Donald Trump triggered a fresh round of speculation about whether he intends to pursue an unconstitutional third term after he posed in the Oval Office with bright red caps embroidered “TRUMP 2028,” sharing photos of the display from a meeting with congressional leaders as Washington slid toward a shutdown. Images posted late Tuesday on his social platform showed two of the hats placed squarely on the Resolute Desk in front of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, with the president looking on from behind the desk. The White House did not issue an explanation for the props, but the tableau immediately fueled questions Trump has stoked for months about 2028, despite the Twenty-Second Amendment’s two-term limit.
Jeffries, asked about the scene in a CNN interview, called the caps’ appearance “the strangest thing ever,” saying the hats “randomly appeared” in the middle of the meeting and underlined, in his view, a lack of seriousness as the sides attempted to avert a lapse in funding. Conservative and liberal outlets alike amplified his account, while cable news loops replayed the stills of Schumer and Jeffries seated across from Trump with the “TRUMP 2028” stitching visible in the foreground. “Randomly appeared,” Jeffries repeated, declining to speculate on who placed them there.
The episode was not an isolated tease. Earlier this year the Trump Organization’s official merchandise site began selling “Trump 2028” hats for $50, pitched with the tagline “Rewrite the rules,” and in August the president appeared in social videos flanked by the hats while showing off campaign-branded stock. The caps have surfaced at rallies and in social posts by allies, part of a merchandising push that has tracked with Trump’s public musing that there are “methods” by which he could serve again after 2028—comments that constitutional scholars have uniformly dismissed.
On Sunday, March 30, when NBC News asked directly whether he was joking about a third term, Trump replied, “I’m not joking,” adding, “There are methods which you could do it,” and sketching a scenario in which he might run as a vice-presidential candidate and later assume office. Legal experts interviewed the next day said the suggestions are foreclosed by the Constitution. “Trump may not want to rule out a third term but the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution does,” said David Schultz, a professor of constitutional law, while Michael Gerhardt of the University of North Carolina called it “completely unprecedented” and said “there is no constitutional basis for the current president to try to serve as president after two elected terms.” Hofstra’s James Sample put it more bluntly: “The 22nd Amendment, however, is black and white.” pic.twitter.com/AdZzv7LJLt — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2025