Donald Trump’s potential “endgame” after weeks of political turmoil has been suggested by an expert.

In the United States, individuals are only allowed to serve a maximum of two terms before they must give way, regardless of whether those terms are consecutive.

However, with Trump’s lust for power and comparative friendliness with the likes of Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, some think he may follow that dictatorial trio and try to remain in power longer than is allowed.

The prediction was made by author and renowned political commentator Michael Lewis. He told Channel 4’s Matt Frei what he thought the 45^th and 47^th President’s ‘endgame’ was, one that would spell the end for American democracy as we know it.

He told Mr Frei: “I do think that for Donald Trump the endgame is ‘I just get to be President for as a long as I want to be President and we don’t have real elections’. Now, the trick to understanding Trump is that he accuses people of he’s guilty of.

“And so, when he says ‘They’re rigging elections’, that’s what he wants to do. So yes, I think that it’s that kind of existential threat.”

The idea of Trump running in 2028 isn’t to be taken lightly with key figures from his first administration, such as his former chief strategist Steve Bannon, calling for Trump to run in 2028 despite the fact he currently legally can’t.

The move would bear a chilling similarity ot Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. When Putin was named president in 1999, Russia’s constitution limited him to two consecutive terms. After his second term ended in 2008, he served as prime minister before becoming president again in 2012.

However, in January 2020 – when his time should have been coming to an end – he drafted a constitutional amendment allowing him to remain for two more terms.

While Trump currently cannot run for a third term, if the Constitution was amended so he could. And he wouldn’t be the first to have one.

Famously, Franklin Roosevelt served in the role four times between 1933 and 1945 before the 22^nd Amendment brought in the two-term role, something Trump has reportedly longed to change.

This longing, or at least desire, to run for a third term stretches back to the 2020 election campaign where Trump said that if he won he would “go for another four years”. Instead, he disputed the result of the election when he lost.

Four years later, in 2024, he was asked by NBC if he would run for a third term and this time said “No”, reports Sky.

While Trump has suggested he wouldn’t run for a third term, this doesn’t mean he will have to as during a speech at a Christian Turning Point Action event in last July he hinted: “In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not going to have to vote.”

The caveat with all this is Trump’s famous unpredictability with speculation swirling that instead of trying to amend the constitution, Trump may put forward his son Donald Trump Jnr, reports Newsweek.

However, the publication has reported that Trump Jnr issued an angry public rebuttal over any suggestion he may run again after helping JD Vance – who may also run in four years time – secure the Vice President position.