Trump Explains Why He Decided To Run Again: To ‘Shove It Up Their A**’

President Donald Trump said he decided to run again after his 2020 defeat to “shove it up their a**” and reap the benefits of major events he scored for the United States during his first term.

Trump, who chairs the Kennedy Center board, spoke to the center’s board members during a dinner in the White House’s State Dining Room on Monday evening. During the speech, Trump touted some accomplishments from his first term: securing the Olympics for 2028 and the World Cup for 2026 in the United States.

“We got the Olympics and then we got through Gianni, he’s the boss, he’s a friend of mine, we got the World Cup, we got them both,” said the president. “I said, ‘Man, I won’t be president. I got the Olympics and the World Cup, and I won’t be president, and they’re gonna forget that I got them, nobody’s gonna mention it, because you know, a little bit, that’s the way life is.”

“And then, you know, they rigged the election,” he added. “And then I said, ‘You know what I’ll do? I’ll run again, and I’ll shove it up their a**.'”

The crowd burst into laughter and applause.

“I then realized,” Trump continued, “I got the Olympics, I got the World Cup, and I got the 250th. Look at the way this works out.”

“If they would have left us alone and wouldn’t have cheated on the election and wouldn’t have rigged it, I would have been retired right now. I would have been happily doing something else. And instead, they have me for four more years. Can you believe it?” the president said.

????TRUMP: “They rigged the election. I said ‘You know what I’ll do? I’ll run again and I’ll shove it up their ass.”pic.twitter.com/V0hDh8Csgf

— Autism Capital ???? (@AutismCapital) May 20, 2025

Trump announced in February that he would serve as chairman of the board for the Kennedy Center after firing all of its previous board members. Trump has since replaced the board members with allies including Attorney General Pam Bondi, second lady Usha Vance, and singer Lee Greenwood.

The president installed Richard Grenell, who served in the first Trump administration as acting director of national intelligence, as president of the Kennedy Center. Grenell said on Monday that he would refer an investigation into the Kennedy Center’s finances to the Justice Department.

Investigators looked into the center’s finances for the past two years and “found $26 million in phantom revenue, fake revenue,” said Grenell, adding that what was found was “criminal,” according to The New York Times.

Trump and the new board have taken steps to overhaul the Kennedy Center’s programming, removing what the president has referred to as “woke” and “terrible” programming in the past. The moves have included scrapping a week’s worth of gay pride programming scheduled for the month of July.