Amid falling ratings and mounting criticism, which has reached demands for impeachment, Donald Trump has slightly changed the tone of his speeches. An interview has been published from which it follows that the current president, contrary to earlier statements, is not going to circumvent the Constitution and run for a third presidential term in 2028. In addition, Trump promised to influence the most frequently attacked member of his team by the press lately, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Thus, the president has demonstrated that he is aware of the danger of the current situation, when more and more of his voters are disappointed in him.
The Atlantic magazine published a lot of material based on two conversations between the staff of this publication and Donald Trump. One was at the end of March, the other the other day. The very fact of this kind of publication is significant. In March, with the light hand of The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, a loud scandal broke out, dubbed “Alarmgate.” It turned out that security officials from the Trump team were discussing the details of the military operation in Yemen in the unsecured Signal messenger. Moreover, Goldberg himself was mistakenly added to the chat, which he told about. Trump then stood up for his subordinates. The president called Goldberg a “scoundrel” and a “loser.” However, few people knew that in the same month, The Atlantic editor and Trump had a telephone conversation. The president gave a second, but already face-to-face interview to Goldberg and two correspondents of the publication, Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer, when the “Alarmgate” continued and the head of the Pentagon was at its center. Hegseth managed to share in an unsecured chat a schedule of combat sorties of American aircraft attacking targets in Yemen.
It is unlikely that the publication of the contents of the two conversations took place without the approval of the White House. Apparently, Trump wanted his point of view on many controversial issues to become public right now.
What did the president say? The first and most interesting discovery that the Americans made from The Atlantic publication is that Trump has changed his mind about staying in the White House for a new term. In a March conversation with Goldberg, he denied information that appeared in the press that the presidential administration allegedly asked the Ministry of Justice to check whether there are legal ways to run for a third term for someone who has already been in power for two terms. As you know, the 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution explicitly prohibits this. However, Trump has publicly stated several times that he may remain at the helm after 2028, when presidential elections are due to take place. “I don’t intend to do that. I think it would be very difficult,” he told Goldberg in March.
In an April interview, Trump was even more peaceful and tried in every possible way to demonstrate that he did not intend to violate American law, ignore the decisions of American courts, or settle scores with his enemies. The president, in particular, said that there are “two types of people” in his administration: those who want him to make the country great, and those who want him to make the country great, while seeking revenge on their alleged persecutors. “I’m in the first group, believe it or not,” The Atlantic quoted Trump as saying.
As the interviewers noted, the president often avoided answering direct questions (perhaps that is why the verbatim transcript of the interview was not given), but nevertheless they were told something specific. It turned out, for example, that he would not dismiss Hegseth. Trump only promised that the Defense minister would “come to his senses.” Interestingly, in the April part of the communication with The Atlantic, the Russian-Ukrainian theme was ignored. In March, Trump spoke well of Vladimir Putin and poorly of Vladimir Zelensky in a conversation with Goldberg. Now, he apparently chose not to talk about this slippery topic at all.
In general, a conversation with a publication critical of the president gives the impression of an attempt to smooth out the negative impression of Trump’s policies, which is definitely developing in society. Polls conducted by the 100 days of his presidency indicate that Americans, who had previously supported him, are rapidly becoming disillusioned with him (see NG dated 04/28/25). The main complaint against him is his voluntaristic course in politics and economics, as well as authoritarian habits. Actually, for ignoring American laws, a member of the House of Representatives, Sri Thanedar, proposed to dismiss Trump from office. “I submitted a resolution on impeachment to Trump on several articles at once. Donald Trump is not above the law. If he ignores the Constitution, he must take responsibility for it,” said this congressman from Michigan in a three–minute video posted on one of the social networks. This resolution, of course, has no chance of passing now. Thanedar is a Democrat, and his initiative will surely be supported by his party members, but the Democratic Party does not have a majority in either of the two chambers of Congress. There is no Republican rebellion against the president yet. Nevertheless, it is still not worth minimizing the danger of this alarm call for Trump. The year 2026 is just around the corner, when the midterm congressional elections will take place. If this goes on, it is highly likely that the Republicans will lose them. And then impeachment can become a practice from theory.