No, he’s not “joking” when he portrays himself as a king and muses about staying in office past 2028. Just look at everything he’s done this month.
Summary
Trump has repeatedly "joked" about seeking a third term, while making concerning moves toward authoritarian control.
He's installed loyalists at the Justice Department (Bondi), intelligence services (Gabbard), FBI (Patel), and military (Caine).
His recent military purge removed six senior officers including those who determine legal orders.
These actions give Trump personal control over legal, intelligence, and military systems—potentially enabling him to declare martial law or invoke the Insurrection Act to bypass constitutional term limits.