When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Donald Trump at the White House, amid a conversation about Ukraine needing to halt elections during the war, Trump made an out-of-pocket joke about the United States in a similar position. In a clip from the press briefing inside the Oval Office that was shared on TikTok via the Couriers Newsroom, Trump’s joke elicits some laughs.
In the comments under the clip, the American people aren’t laughing. Their reactions are full of disbelief and concern about Trump’s overall plans for the country.
While Trump may very well have been saying in jest that he should start a war to be able to pause elections before the end of his second term, the meaning behind his remarks is not lost on some.
@couriernewsroom This would be a direct violation of the Constitution.
♬ original sound – COURIER
Trump’s joke about starting a war to prevent another election wasn’t funny to many.
According to MSNBC, Zelenskyy was asked if he plans to hold elections in Ukraine at some point soon. Before 2025, the last election was in 2019. Then, any elections were paused due to the ongoing war with Russia.
When Trump hears this in the clip, he chimes in to make a joke about instituting the same thing in the US.
“You say during the war, you can’t have elections,” Trump says. “So let me just see, three-and-a-half years…So you mean, if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections.”
In the US, it would go against the Constitution to not have a presidential election, even if the country was at war with another country. According to PBS, the president cannot stop an election date or change it at all. When Trump made the comment, it was clearly meant as a joke.
However, those who fear what Trump has changed and what he still promises to change in the White House and US overall are worried about his joke.
“Hey so no other president has EVER joked about this,” someone commented on the TikTok clip from the Oval Office press briefing.
Another user wrote, “The only reason he makes this joke is because it’s been proposed, planned, or at least pondered.”
Others in the comment section agreed that Trump is not joking. Some even claimed the comment was his soft launch of sorts of the idea he joked about.
But there has been no evidence of Trump starting a war with another country in order to remain in office toward the end of his second and final term.
The war and election comment from Trump has reminded some of what Trump has said in the past regarding a third presidential term. Although presidents are given two terms, served either consecutively or apart, in May 2025, he spoke to NBC News about a potential and unprecedented third term.
“There are methods which you could do it,” he said at the time, but he would not share the alleged methods he does or doesn’t have in mind. Trump also claimed that “a lot of people” want him to somehow run for and be elected for a third term.
So his off-the-cuff comment and joke about starting a war to do just that has some people worried.
