President Donald Trump has simply began his second time period, his final one permitted under the U.S. Constitution. However he’s already began speaking about serving a 3rd one.
“There are strategies which you are able to do it,” Trump insisted to NBC Information in a phone interview on Sunday.
That follows months of Trump making quips a few third time period, regardless of the clear constitutional prohibition on it. “Am I allowed to run once more?” Trump joked throughout a Home Republican retreat in Florida in January. Only a week after he received election final fall, Trump recommended in a gathering with Home Republicans that he would possibly wish to stick round after his second time period was over.
Trump’s musings usually spark alarm amongst his critics even once they’re legally inconceivable, provided that he unsuccessfully tried to overturn his 2020 election loss and has since pardoned supporters who violently attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
However Trump, who can be 82 when his time period ends, has additionally repeatedly stated that this can be his final time period. Attempting for one more additionally would flatly violate the Structure. The present gambit appears extra like a termed-out president making an attempt to persuade his occasion and the general public that he may nonetheless be in energy 4 years from now.
Listed here are some questions and solutions associated to Trump’s occasional feedback a few third time period:
What does the Structure say?
“No individual shall be elected to the workplace of the President greater than twice,” begins the twenty second Modification, adopted after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected 4 instances in a row. He was final elected in 1944.
It’s a reasonably simple ban on serving greater than two phrases. Some Trump supporters argue the language is supposed to use solely to 2 consecutive phrases as a result of Roosevelt’s phrases had been consecutive, however notably that’s not what the modification says.
Others contend that as a result of the ban is simply on being “elected” greater than twice, Trump may run as the subsequent president’s vp and, if the ticket received, may merely exchange that individual if she or he resigns, a risk the president himself floated on Sunday.
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To place it mildly, that might be fairly a fancy plan to tug off, in no small half as a result of Trump can be 82 throughout the subsequent election, a yr older than former President Joe Biden was throughout final yr’s marketing campaign. Additionally, the Structure says solely individuals certified to be president might be vp, which would appear to bar Trump from pursuing the scheme.
At the very least one Republican in Congress has been daring sufficient to suggest a constitutional modification that might enable Trump to hunt one other time period. It has no probability of going anyplace, given the excessive bar for amending the Structure, and has but to maneuver within the new Congress’ first months.
Even assuming Trump would try one other run, a mix of election officers and courts would nearly be certain that he stayed off the poll.
State officers have lengthy stored would-be candidates off presidential ballots in the event that they didn’t meet the essential constitutional standards, similar to being a natural-born U.S. citizen or being not less than 35 years previous. They might do the identical with somebody clearly violating the restrict on presidential phrases.
A model of this unfolded in 2023, when a couple of states tried to maintain Trump off the poll as a result of they discovered he violated the 14th Modification’s ban on officers who engaged in revolt. The U.S. Supreme Courtroom reversed these choices as a result of nobody had ever used the revolt clause on a presidential candidate earlier than and there have been plenty of authorized questions on its implementation.
There can be no comparable questions concerning the that means of the twenty second Modification, stated Derek Muller, a professor at Notre Dame Legislation College.
“You wouldn’t have the factual disputes, so it could be a lot wider,” Muller stated of the variety of states preserving Trump off their ballots. “I’m not persuaded the Supreme Courtroom goes to roll over.”
So why is Trump doing this?
Trump has an extended historical past of taunting his critics to flex his energy, however there additionally might be a strategic cause for his preserving the third-term dialogue alive.
Trump is a lame duck president in his remaining time period. As a result of termed-out politicians won’t ever be on the poll for a similar workplace once more, their political clout normally wanes shortly. The third-term flirtation is a strategy to attempt to persuade those that Trump can be round sooner or later.
On Sunday, he informed NBC he was critical about contemplating the likelihood: “I’m not joking,” he stated.
Trump’s aggressive actions firstly of his new time period reveals that he is aware of his time is dwindling, Muller stated.
“He’s governing like he’s a lame duck proper now, with nothing to lose,” he stated.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
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