Donald Trump has joked about a third term as the President of the US despite it being banned by the US Constitution.
Donald Trump may’ve recently been sworn in as the President of the United States for the second time, but apparently his mind is already on making it a hat trick.
And while ‘hints’ may seem a bit of a reach given it’s literally banned by the Constitution, a new bombshell proposal – if passed – wants to keep Trump in office until 2032.
Trump’s joke
Yesterday (January 27) in front of the House of Republicans Trump joked about running for president again in 2028.
He said: “I’ve raised a lot of money for the next race that I assume I can’t use for myself, but I’m not 100 percent sure because I don’t know, I think I’m not allowed to run again, I’m not sure. Mike? I better get you involved in that argument.
“No, we raised a lot of money, a tremendous amount. And our tele-town halls are something very special that nobody else is able to even contemplate using – we’ve got a lot of people elected using those tele-town halls.”
One thing getting in Trump’s way should he really decide to apply for the third time? The 22nd Amendment has a ‘two-term limit on presidency’.
Donald Trump has joked about running for president for a third time (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The amendment
The National Constitution Center details the 22nd Amendment on the two-term limit, noting under Section 1 ‘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’.
It continues: “But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.”
The constitution thankfully doesn’t allow it (Ian Maule/Getty Images)
Section two of the amendment notes the article shall be ‘inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress’.
A blog post further down the page refers to talk about Trump staying on in 2028 – noting it could happen, but probably not quite how he hopes.
It notes while Trump could ‘possibly’ serve ‘in a temporary role under some unusual scenarios’ ultimately the amendment ‘directly restricts’ him being able to run again.
Although, if US Representative Andy Ogles has his way, the blog post may regret tempting fate.