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Agence France-Presse

What does the future hold for Donald Trump? From court battles to road trips with his wife Melania, potential post-White House options are as unconventional as everything else about the 45th US president. Only a couple things are near sure.
One: Trump would likely not settle into a quiet elder statesman role or spend much time working on that traditional presidential library.
Two: unlike many of his predecessors, Trump has lived mostly outside politics and therefore might not mind – might even relish – getting out of Washington.
“I had such a beautiful life before,” he often says wistfully.
Everything else? Not so predictable.
Donald Trump: biography, facts, wealth, health and presidency
Trump TV?
As a businessman, Trump’s inclination will be to use his extraordinary fame to make money.
The name “Trump” has been his main product for years. According to his disgraced former lawyer Michael Cohen, the 2016 presidential run itself was conceived as a “branding opportunity” – until he unexpectedly won.
But instead of more real estate deals, the next move might be into media.
No one can deny Trump has the gift of the gab. At his innumerable rallies, he holds large crowds in a kind of mesmerised attention with stream of consciousness shifts from conspiracy theories to jokes to pet peeves, like his peculiarly passionate criticism of feeble water pressure in bathroom taps.
He sounds a lot like one of America’s right-wing radio talk show hosts. He’s also got form as a successful star in The Apprentice reality TV series.
Could he put those skills together into a Trump television?
Trump has hinted at this in his constant complaints about Fox News being insufficiently right-wing. Viewers, he tweeted: “want an alternative now. So do I!”
And he has a potential ready-made vehicle for the project in the form of openly Trump-supporting cable channels One America News and NewsMax TV – current minnows that a Trump takeover could turn into giants.

Courtroom, prison?
No less plausible is a scenario where an ex-president Trump is embroiled in serious legal problems.
Prosecutors in New York are already probing Trump’s hush money payment to a porn star, his tangled business dealings, and mysterious accounting practices. Then there are those old rape and other sexual assault allegations.
As president, Trump is largely protected from prosecution. Once out of the White House, he’ll be vulnerable, unless a president Joe Biden pardons him in the way Gerald Ford gave the outgoing Richard Nixon a blanket pardon in 1974. Eight Trump associates, including men who served as his campaign managers, lawyer and national security adviser, have already been indicted or imprisoned for serious crimes.
Joe Biden: biography, net worth, family tragedy and political career
A pardoning spree?
After an election loss, Trump would still have 77 days left in office. A presidential pardon is legally uncomplicated and “operates in the way he imagines the presidency to operate – you wave your hand and it’s done,” Quinta Jurecic, the managing editor of the blog Lawfare told Politico.
It’s a power he has used 28 times before, including commuting the sentence of former Republican strategist and close Trump associate Roger Stone in July.
Stone’s commutation shows how the pardon ability offers a means to build relationships that could be useful in transitioning to post-presidential life. This would be particularly useful given the number of lawsuits he may face post-presidency.
Run again?
In Trump’s norm-warping world, an unlikely-yet-anything-is-possible option would be seeking the presidency again in 2024.
The constitution prohibits being president for more than two terms, but there’s nothing in the way of serving two non-consecutive terms.
Virtually always, incumbent presidents either win another four years, like Barack Obama, or retire gracefully after losing, like George H.W. Bush.
The only president to pull off the comeback feat was Grover Cleveland, who lost re-election in 1888 but won again 1892, defeating the man who’d beaten him previously, Benjamin Harrison.
The Republican Party could in theory act to erase the experience from its battered collective memory. But Trump is intensely popular with a radicalised base of voters, so it would be foolish to bet against him entirely.
As The New York Times’ veteran Trump watcher Maggie Haberman asks: “What will prevent him from continuing rallies? Who controls the trove of data he’s amassed? These and many other questions will live on.”

Hit the road?
Or maybe, just maybe, the 74-year-old would want simply to get away from it all.
However implausible this sounds, he has dropped a few hints.
In June at the White House he mused about taking a road trip in an RV with his former model wife Melania.
“Maybe I’ll drive back to New York with the first lady in a trailer,” he said. “I think I’m gonna buy an RV and travel around with our first lady.”
Less romantic but equally heartfelt, he paused mid-speech during a rally in Pennsylvania to admire parked trucks.
“Nice trucks,” the president said. “You think I could hop into one of them and drive it away? I’d love to do it, just drive the hell out of here. Just get the hell out of this.”
Where would he go?
He might of course head straight to one of his golf courses or towers. But while campaigning in Florida’s famous retirement community The Villages, he joked he might join the seniors’ ranks instead.
“I’ll move to The Villages. You know what? Not the worst idea. I like that idea. I like that idea,” Trump said.
And if bingo and water aerobics classes don’t suit, there’s a more extreme option.
“I’m not going to feel so good,” he said about the humiliation of a loss to Biden.
“Maybe I’ll have to leave the country.”
Or he could simply disappear. On September 19, at a rally in North Carolina, Trump joked: “If I lose to him, I don’t know what I’m going to do … I will never speak to you again. You’ll never see me again.”
Additional reporting by Business Insider


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Donald Trump

What will Donald Trump do after his presidency ends?

President Donald Trump waves to the audience after a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa in January. File photo: AFP

US President Donald Trump waves as he walks during a round of golf on the Ailsa course at Trump Turnberry, the luxury golf resort of US President Donald Trump, in Turnberry, southwest of Glasgow, Scotland on July 14, 2018, during the private part of his four-day UK visit. - US President Donald Trump wraps up a four-day visit to Britain, dominated by his blasting of Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit strategy, by spending the weekend in Scotland. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP)

DAY 63 - in this March 23, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump gestures while sitting in an 18-wheeler truck while meeting with truckers and CEOs regarding healthcare on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Donald Trump: biography, facts, net worth, health and presidency

US President Donald Trump hugs the American flag at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2019. File photo: AP

US President-elect Donald Trump boards the elevator after escorting Martin Luther King III to the lobby after meetings at Trump Tower in New York City on January 16, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / DOMINICK REUTER

Developer Donald Trump, accompanied by his wife Melania Trump, is applauded by his daughter Ivanka Trump, right as he's introduced before his announcement that he will run for president of the U.S., Tuesday, June 16, 2015, in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Mr Donald Trump, a casino and property tycoon in the United States, in an interview. He is in Hong Kong for a four-day personal visit. 19AUG93

Donald Trump with contestants from TV show, The Apprentice.

Fred, Donald and Mary Trump Donald Trump with his parents, Fred and Mary Anne, in 1992 JUDIE BURSTEIN/REX FEATURES

Donald Trump dips his new bride Marla Maples after couple married in a private ceremony at the Plaza Hotel, in New York, 20 December 1993, following a six-year courtship. Billionaire Donald Trump, who was born in 1946, Queens, New York, has gained notability for his celebrity lifestyle. He was previously married to Ivana Trump between 1977 and 1992. (Photo by BOB STRONG / AFP)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures and declares "You're fired!" at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, June 17, 2015. REUTERS/Dominick Reuter TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

epa08440038 US President Donald J Trump, wearing a white hat and white Polo shirt, plays golf at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, USA, 23 May 2020. It is the first time the president has played golf since the lockdown over the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. EPA-EFE/JIM LO SCALZO

US President Donald Trump at an Ohio campaign rally in January 2020. File photo: AFP

Joe Biden: biography, net worth, family tragedy and path to presidency

Joe Biden on the campaign trail in Florida. File photo: AFP

In this image obtained from the official website of US Senator Joseph Biden, shows the Senator (C) with his sons Beau (L) and Hunter and his future wife Jill in an undated photo. Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on August 23, 2008 officially announced that he has chosen Senator Joseph Biden as his vice presidential pick. AFP PHOTO/HO = GETTY OUT = (Photo by Senator Joseph Biden / AFP)

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden arrives to speak at a rally at Belle Isle Casino in Detroit, Mich., Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020, which former President Barack Obama also attended. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The wife and infant daughter of Senator-elect Joe Biden (D-Del), were killed on December 18, 1972 in a traffic accident in nearby Hockessin, Delaware. Biden's two other children were seriously hurt in the wreck but later made full recoveries. At left is Senator Biden and his wife Nealia during a recent campaign tour. At right is their 16-month-old daughter Amy, who was also killed in the accident.

(FILES) In this file photo former US Vice President Joe Biden (R) talks with his son, US Army Capt. Beau Biden (L) at Camp Victory on the outskirts of Baghdad on July 4, 2009. - As men in their 70s, both Donald Trump and Joe Biden have large extended families -- some members of which are the subject of scalding controversy, while others live less in the spotlight. Examining the two competing "first families" of the US election reveals the presidential candidates' differing life stories, and how their wives and children are involved in the battle for the White House. (Photo by KHALID MOHAMMED / AFP)

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE - AUGUST 20: : Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden appears oh stage with his wife Dr. Jill Biden after delivering his acceptance speech on the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention from the Chase Center on August 20, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. The convention, which was once expected to draw 50,000 people to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is now taking place virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic. Win McNamee/Getty Images/AFP

US Senator Joseph Biden, D-Del., announces on September 23, 1987 that he is withdrawing from the race for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, as his wife Jill grasps his arm (R). (Photo by Jerome DELAY / AFP)

As Donald Trump became election loser, he golfed and tweeted

US President Donald Trump golfs at Trump National Golf Club. Photo: AFP

President Donald Trump returns to the White House from playing golf. Photo: AFP

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Trump faces serious legal problems, which could occupy much of his time
He might spend some of it at his golf courses or perhaps ‘leave the country’



From court battles to road trips, potential post-White House options are as unconventional as everything else about the 45th US president.


US presidential election 2020

Joe Biden

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.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Trump faces serious legal problems, which could occupy much of his time He might spend some of it at his golf courses or perhaps ‘leave the country’

Trump faces serious legal problems, which could occupy much of his time

He might spend some of it at his golf courses or perhaps ‘leave the country’