Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio suggested it wouldn’t be impossible for President Donald Trump to run for President again in the 2024 election if pending election ultimately results in Joe Biden being inaugurated, describing Trump as the clear “frontrunner” for the Republican nomination if a situation were to occur.
“If he runs in 2024, he’ll certainly be the front-runner and will probably be the nominee,” Rubio told congressional pool reporters Tuesday. “But again I’m still being presumptuous here, we’re not even through with 2020.”
Axios has reported that the President has already discussed the possibility of running for a ‘comeback’ term in 2024 with friends and advisors, although he’s still in litigation regarding the outcome of the 2020 election.
President Trump would be 78 in 2024, slightly younger than Democrat candidate Joe Biden is now. It’s hard to imagine any Republican defeating Trump in a primary, who would be running as a former President with experience in the office. Rumors circulated on Thursday that President Trump could even announce he’s running for a comeback term by the end of the year while he’s still in office.
One President in American history served one term, was defeated by his opponent, and returned to serve another term as president four years after leaving office. That President was Democrat Grover Cleveland, who lost his 1888 bid for re-election to Republican Benjamin Harrison. Cleveland would ultimately go for a second round with Harrison in 1892, defeating his own successor and becoming the first American President to serve non-consecutive terms.
To be entirely clear, the results of the 2020 presidential election aren’t even finalized yet. There is pending litigation in several states, mandatory recounts, and possibly even state legislative processes to appoint electors to the electoral college. But Rubio is correct to point out that the first President ever without prior military or government service could very plausibly become to second president to serve non-consecutive terms.