In an interview with Spectator.us, former Trump campaign manager Roger Stone said he believed the president is not up to run for another term in 2020.

From Spectator USA:

Stone thinks the President is not going to run for re-election. He believes that Trump likes ‘the adulation part’ of being President but not the actual governing. And: ‘He doesn’t like the fact that half the people in the country hate his guts. He’s hypersensitive to criticism. I could easily see him saying, “Well, I made America great, I’m heading to the golf course. Mike, good luck.” ’ Again, Stone says his opinion does not come from being in possession of inside information. In this case, it’s a judgement he says comes from knowing Trump for some 40 years.

After many believed Stone was officially declaring Trump had abandoned his re-election bid, he clarified his comments in a follow-up interview with Infowars.com on Tuesday:

If you see it in context, what I said was Donald Trump, unlike previous presidents, doesn’t need to be president for his self worth or his self-esteem. This job has cost him $2 billion personally, unlike the Obamas and the Clintons who made money out of the presidency, this is costing our president.

All I said was, if the economy continues to come roaring back as it has, if he renegotiates the multi-national, international trade deals to get us better individual trade deals with our trading partners, if he seals our borders, I could see him saying, “I have kept all of my promises to the American people,” and walking away. And he will have gone down as one of our greatest presidents. Just the economic recovery already is historic.

So I was not saying he would could not run for re-election – I think he certainly could, but at what cost to himself and his family, Alex? Every single day he’s got to put up with the same kind of personal, vicious personal attacks that you and I have to put up with, only his are worse.

So that was my point.

This is not based on any internal knowledge. It’s just knowing the man. Perhaps he won’t run. If he’s achieved his goals, he’s not hanging on for the status of being president. That’s not why he ran.

The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!