Trump 2028?

The path to America’s coming crisis is now clear.

And it means gold is clearly the protector-in-chief at this point. But hold that thought…

If you’ve been reading Field Notes for longer than a few months, you’ll very likely know that for the last three or four years, I’ve been warning that America is destined to struggle through a crisis in the 2027-28 timeframe.

I’ve regularly asserted that this crisis-to-come could explode at the end of one (or many) of several lit fuses: monetary, fiscal, social, or political.

Now, we have a clear understanding of which one of those is destined to explode. Others could explode too, of course, but one is now all but guaranteed: Political… which will devolve into both social and monetary crises.

Maybe you saw last week the ravings of Donald Trump’s version of Rasputin, one Stephen K. Bannon, a lunatic podcaster fomenting hatred on the far-right side of the political spectrum (and do not read anything into the pejorative “lunatic;” I sprinkle that word with abandon across the political landscape, including on left-wing lunatics like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.)

Bannon told The Economist that “there is a plan” already taking shape—and to which he is party—for Trump to seek a third term as president in 2028… in 1,000% clear violation of the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment that says no clown gets to run the circus more than twice.

As Raspbannon told The Economist: “At the appropriate time, we’ll lay out what the plan is. But there is a plan.” He refused to define said plan, but he assured those watching the videotaped interview that “Trump is going to be president in ’28, and people ought to just get accommodated with that.”

Of course, it gets worse…

Because Bannon called Trump “an instrument of divine will.”

At one point in America’s history, the vast majority of Americans took to heart and fully accepted the indisputable fact that the framers of the American experiment specifically kept the church out of state affairs.

Now, we have one of the loudest megaphones on the far right insisting that Trump’s assured ascendancy to term number three is somehow divine right. An ascendancy to the crown, no doubt.

All of that, dear reader, is the path to the crisis I’ve been warning about.

Before I continue, I feel compelled to address the idea that some will say I’m too negative toward Trump’s presidency, his policies, and his actions.

I am not.

I am expressing the alarm this moment is due.

And I am compelled to tell my readers what I see unfolding based on what is actually said or done within the administration (any administration), or by the lunatics who are administration-adjacent.

Words lead to actions, actions lead to consequences, and if you are not prepared for those consequences—even if you are a Trump acolyte—then those consequences can and certainly will slam into your life like a lovebug running into the windshield of a car traveling the interstate.

In light of Raspbannon’s comments, a lot of the machinations occurring in recent months suddenly make a lot more sense.

Those “Trump 2028” MAGA hats that have begun appearing… turns out they weren’t a joke to “own the Libs.”

They were a promise.

Tearing down the East Wing of the White House to build a gaudy disco parlor… That’s happening because Trump wants an over-the-top American Versailles to fete global leaders during the reign of Trump 3.0 and likely beyond.

And all those efforts to gerrymander various states… That’s designed to pack Congress with more Trump sycophants in the upcoming 2026 midterms.

That will give Republicans in Congress the numbers they need to overrule Democrats with a supermajority of legislators.

Soon thereafter, likely before the end of 2026, Trump will announce that he’s seeking that third term, based on some specious and purposefully warped reading of some archaic US law.

That’s where our crisis really begins.

The majority of Americans simply will not cotton to this deranged notion that Donald Trump is divine in even the most bastardized definition of that word. And they’re certainly not going to submit to Bannon and Crew dismantling the Constitution to give this uniquely divisive president a third at-bat.

But the effort to do so is nevertheless underway, according to Bannon. And I realize that a segment of American society exists on the far right and that will absolutely bring out the guns to ensure that a theological monarchy/autocracy finally takes root in America, with laws predicated on biblical canon. (I won’t go into this here, but I’d encourage you to read up on the Seven Mountains Mandate and the politicians and others who are part of that.)

Once Trump announces he’s running for a third time, the wheels on the American bus come off.

The fighting begins.

Whether that fighting is just words or bang-bangs, hard to say.

Lawsuits will certainly fly.

But given the gerrymandered Congress, and the fact that a now-biased Supreme Court leans heavily into Trump-think, the lawsuits will likely go nowhere.

Which means we’ll probably see the first meaningful secession movements in America since the South’s failed foray into sovereignty. Look out West to coastal California, Oregon, and Washington, and across parts of the Northeast. Maybe metro Chicago leaves Illinois to exist as the Singapore of the Midwest—meaning a regional financial city-state. Maybe Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico link up in a new nation we’ll call Silverado.

Such secession efforts will deepen the crisis.

They also spell doom for the dollar, which is where we return to gold’s role in all of this as protector-in-chief.

What country is going to want to hold the currency of a nation in the midst of social and political upheaval?

Why would such a currency remain in place as the global reserve?

Sure, no other currency is large enough or respected enough to replace the dollar. Then again, I go back to the first question: What country is going to want to hold the currency of a nation in the midst of social and political upheaval?

Would it really matter that no official alternative exists?

I mean, if the gangrene is certain to kill you, do you keep the leg even if there is no replacement?

The world will find a workaround—be it crypto, or gold and silver, or baskets of regional currencies. Or maybe even the existing Special Drawing Rights overseen by the International Monetary Fund that are based on a basket of global currencies.

One fact is certain: Gold is an asset humans have adopted as the money of last resort. My bet is that as Raspbannon’s words ring increasingly true in 2026 and beyond, gold is going to climb to levels that will shock and shake the unbelievers.

So don’t be an unbeliever.

As I regularly say: Take this administration at its word.

If the plan is to jimmy with the laws to ensure Trump remains in power, then you, like a good Boy Scout, have to prepare for the impact.

All of that, for the moment, is still a bit down the road.

But if Raspbannon is being truthful about behind-the-scenes efforts already underway so that a “divine” Donald Trump can run for a third term, then 2026 is going to be the year that launches America into a country-defining crisis that explodes in 2027-28.

So stick around with me. The show’s about to begin, and it promises to be compelling…

Oh, and it’s BYOG: bring your own gold.