I once again ask you to assume that Trump plans to follow the Constitution and permit a free and fair presidential election that doesn’t include him as a candidate. How will he handle this state of affairs?
He can’t tolerate someone else being the focus of attention, and he loves competition and cliffhangers, so the answer is fairly obvious. First, he will make “jokes” about running for a third term as long as possible in order to keep up the suspense and paralyze all of the potential campaigns. At the last reasonable moment, he will concede that he isn’t running but insist that all of the candidates suck up to him in order to win the one-man primary. Only at the very end of the process will he reveal his endorsement. He will then dominate the convention and, in all likelihood, the last few months of the campaign.
That will be his plan, anyway. It won’t work if an insurgent wins the nomination, which is a legitimate possibility. That would drive him absolutely nuts.