Can Trump run for a third term? What the US Constitution says
Donald Trump has decided to get a head start on the pranks – with April’s Fools just around the corner – except he insists this one is real.
The US president once again floated the idea of outstaying his welcome at the White House and running for a third term.
While the 22nd Amendment makes that impossible, at least legally, he has long treated it as more of a suggestion rather than the law.
In a Sunday morning phone call with NBC News, he said ‘I am not joking,’ when asked to clarify a remark on seeking another term, adding: ‘There are methods which you could do it.’
The 78-year-old’s comments were the most concrete in terms of referring to plans in place to achieve the goal.
So, can the president stand for a third term? Will he? And what could the consequences be?
What has Trump said about running for third term?
It is not the first time that the Republican has dangled the idea of a never-ending reign in the White House.
He has previously ‘joked’ about running for life, reminding of authoritarians like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and China’s Xi Jinping.
‘We have almost four years to go and that’s a long time but despite that so many people are saying you’ve got to run again. They love the job we are doing,’ Trump said Sunday aboard the presidential jet, apparently referring to his political allies and supporters.
With his latest comment, he could be trying to test the Democrats’ and the media before ploughing ahead with searching for loopholes in the US legal system.
Can Trump run for president again?
Under the 22nd Amendment, no person can be president more than twice. It was added to the Constitution in 1951 after Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected four times in a row.
It reads: ‘No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.’
Any attempt to remain in office would be legally suspect and it is unclear how seriously Trump might pursue the idea.
His own attorney general Pam Bondi said during her Senate confirmation hearing that he is unable to run for a third term under the Constitution as it now stands.
Asked if Trump was allowed to run for a third term in 2028, she responded: ‘No senator, not unless they change the Constitution.’
How could the Constitution be changed or overturned?
Amending the US Constitution to allow a third presidential term would require a two-thirds majority in both the House of Representatives and Senate, which Trump’s Republican Party does not have, or a constitutional convention called by two thirds of the states that would propose changes to the charter.
Both routes appear to be unlikely, given the current number of states and Congressional seats under Republican control.
Whether he goes through Congress or the states, he would then require ratification from three-quarters of all state legislatures.
A constitutional convention has never been successfully called in the US where all 27 constitutional amendments have been passed by the congressional method.
In January, days after Trump took office, Republican Andy Ogles of Tennessee introduced a House joint resolution to amend the constitution to allow presidents up to three terms.
What will happen if Trump is allowed to run again?
Pushing for a third term would put Trump in line with other controversial world leaders who have managed to defy legal term limits.
Trump would be 82 at the end of his second term in 2028. This would mean that he would be at least 86 by the end of a third term.
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