During a gaggle with reporters before leaving for an event in North Carolina, President Trump spoke about the U.S. hosting World Cup games in 2026, and, noting that it would be a couple years after the end of his second term, made this comment:

Trump jokes about extending his second term to 2026 so he can still be in office when the U.S. (along with Canada and Mexico) hosts the World Cup — Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) September 9, 2019

Oops, messed up the World Cup date. World Cup is in 2026; Trump said that, to make it, "We're going to have extend my second term…I'm going to have to extend it for a couple years." (He has previously said this is a joke he makes to drive the media crazy.) — Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 9, 2019

Trump "jokes" about extending his term to 2026 pic.twitter.com/QGnl5IjlY9 — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 9, 2019

Trump says things like that to get a rise out of the Resistance, and it hasn’t stopped working:

This is neither the first nor, I fear, the last time that Trump jests about casting aside term limits to stay in power. Yes, we can disregard some of what he says as off-the-cuff BS. But Trump consistently undermines democratic norms & we can't take for granted that he's joking. https://t.co/uTNLrJ6kfs — Miranda Yaver (@mirandayaver) September 9, 2019

He's done this like a dozen times. At what point do we understand that this is one of those "I'm just kidding! But seriously…" "jokes"? https://t.co/HzLQkIrzQk — Matt Ortega (@MattOrtega) September 9, 2019

Love having a president who regularly, repeatedly fantasizes about overriding the constitution so he can be president for life https://t.co/T4GGIIBzKJ — Christopher Moskal (@MoskalMedia) September 9, 2019

I don't think he's ever really joking when he talks about unconstitutionally extending his term. He's, at heart, an autocrat. https://t.co/q8gVOObQas — Clyde Haberman (@ClydeHaberman) September 9, 2019

Democracy is not a joke. https://t.co/bynEHS7YfF — Brody (@headphoneson) September 9, 2019

Pro Tip: He's NOT JOKING . . . . (He wants to be Leader for Life, like Xi & PUTIN) — Alison L. Dunn ♥️ (@AlisonDunn13) September 9, 2019

This is not a joke, it's a temprature check. It's so blantantly obvious and still perfectly performed.

If he gets a lot of backlash he'll use it to mobilize his fanatic base.

If he doesn't get enough backlash he'll just try to walz through with this idea. https://t.co/lC2rgdWXil — Stefan (@stefanhoth) September 9, 2019

It’s not a joke. He’s testing the waters — Sanity (@stupidlogik) September 9, 2019

He is NOT joking. This is what he wants. This is extremely dangerous and needs to be shut down immediately. https://t.co/WqsHB1U3Cp — Xavier Gonzalez Jr (@xavierfnews) September 9, 2019

Obviously not everybody thought what Trump said was funny.