Trump "backed away" from Project 2025, too, or at least that's what got earnestly reported. Reporters, at least in oligarch owned media, seem easily convinced by certain factions of politicians.
Certainly. I'm just pointing out that reporting on a regal president "joking" about a 3rd term is even more naive than the reporting on him disavowing Project 2025 was in 2024. Further, the reporting is generally more credulous when the topic is conservative issues.