Former President Donald Trump has said he does not expect to run for election again in 2028 if he is defeated in this November’s US presidential poll.
Trump, 78, has been the Republican candidate for three national elections in a row and has reshaped the party greatly over the last eight years.
In an interview with Sinclair Media Group, he was asked if he could foresee another run in the event that he loses to Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris. “No, I don’t. I think… that will be it,” Trump said. “I don’t see that at all.”
But he added that “hopefully, we’re going to be very successful”.
US law bars presidents from serving more than two terms, and so Trump is not expected to run in 2028 if he wins, either.
In the past, the real estate mogul has rarely acknowledged the possibility of losing the election, more often firing up supporters with speeches and social media posts pledging victory at the polls.
But this is the second time in four days he has mentioned a chance of defeat.
During an event held by the Israeli-American Council on Thursday, he brought up losing, and suggested that any such loss would partly be the fault of Jewish voters.
“Do they know what the hell is happening if I don’t win this election?” he said, according to various media reports. “And the Jewish people would have to do a lot with that if that happens because at 40% [support] that means 60% of the people are voting for the enemy.”
The comments were condemned by the Harris campaign and by the nonpartisan American Jewish Committee and Anti-Defamation League.
Trump’s acknowledgments of a possible loss may reflect how the Democratic Party’s prospects have changed since Harris became its nominee following President Joe Biden’s decision to quit the race.
Her campaign raised more than $190m (£142m) in August, compared to $130m brought in by the Trump campaign and affiliated organisations.
In national polling averages tracked by the BBC she is ahead of Trump, and a poll released on Sunday by CBS indicated she leads Trump 52% to 48% nationally.
In key US battleground states which look set to prove decisive to the overall result, Harris has a narrower lead of 51% to 49%, which is a slight improvement from the even 50% in a similar poll conducted last month by CBS, the BBC’s news partner.
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Another poll released on Sunday by NBC indicated Harris had a five percentage point lead over Trump across the US.
It also found that 48% of registered voters see her positively compared to 32% in July – the largest jump since then-President George W Bush’s favourability surged after the 11 September 2001 attacks.
But like other surveys, the NBC poll suggested Trump held a clear advantage with voters on some of the election’s biggest issues, including the economy, the cost of living and immigration.
The BBC has contacted the Trump campaign for comment on the polling data.