President Donald Tump said he is “not joking” about pursuing a third term in the Oval Office, but according to the constitution, he can’t.
It’s fair to say that President Trump has had a divisive start to his second, non-consecutive term in the White House. He has been criticised over his slew of anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders, for making false claims about transgender mice and for his attempts at trying to “buy” Greenland.
And on Sunday (30 March), he told NBC News that he might attempt to seek a third term as president, despite being constitutionally unable to. “There are methods [by] which you could do it,” he told the outlet. “I’m not joking.”
He added that his allies are rallying for him to have a third term. “A lot of people want me to do it. But, I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.”
The outlet asked whether Vice President JD Vance could run for president in future, win the election and hand over the presidency to Trump. To this, Trump responded, “That’s one [method]” and added, “but there are others, too.”
When pressed on sharing another method, he said “no”.
Can Trump run for a third term?
Due to the rules of the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment, it is prohibited for anyone to be elected as president more than twice.
This Amendment was enacted in 1951 after Franklin D Roosevelt was elected as president four times, making him the longest-serving president and the only president to have served over two terms.
Meanwhile, the 12th Amendment states: “No person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.”
For Trump to change the Constitution, a two-thirds vote would be required in Congress, or a constitutional convention, which 34 out of 50 states would need to request. As per NPR, “given the congressional deadlock — not to mention how the country is divided politically — the prospect of this appears slim”.
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