Donald Trump and the Temptation of a Presidential Third Term

A week just after Trump was elected U.S. president on November 5 last year, he met with Republican lawmakers, telling them he might run for a third term, something they brushed off as a joke. 

On Sunday, March 30, Trump reiterated his wish to run for a third term in a phone call with NBC News. As quoted by The Huffpost, Trump said he’s not joking about it, and that “A lot of people want me to do it."

When "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker asked if he is truly interested in serving a third term, which theoretically would begin when he is 82 years old, Trump said, "I like working." He emphasized that he is not joking. "But I’m not — it is far too early to think about it," he said.

Does the US Constitution Allow Trump's Ambition for a Third Term?

Constitutionally, a third term is not allowed. The 22nd Amendment states that "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice." According to NPR, the states ratified this restriction in 1951 after the controversial third and fourth terms of President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II, who opposed the two-term norm set by George Washington.

Changing the presidential term limit with a new constitutional amendment would require the support of three-fourths of the states. However, some legal experts have proposed a plausible strategy for attempting end runs around the 22nd Amendment under unusual scenarios.

What do Political Experts Say About a Third Term?

Although Trump regularly makes news cycles with surprising or unprecedented comments, his latest public remarks are not the first time that the 78-year-old president has mentioned the possibility of pursuing a third term. He expressed it after being re-elected as President of the United States last November.

Trump's statement quickly drew a response from Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman from New York. Goldman promptly introduced a House resolution to reaffirm that the term limits for elected presidents stipulated by the Constitution apply to Trump and his non-consecutive term.

The language of the 22nd Amendment would undermine any argument suggesting that Trump's non-consecutive term gives him an exception to the two-term limit, said William Baude, a professor leading the Constitutional Law Institute at the University of Chicago Law School.

Baude stated that there is no wiggle room in the rule that a president cannot be elected more than twice. "That's a clear statement of the Constitution, and I don't think any serious person is going to interpret it otherwise," he said.

Are There Loopholes Trump Could Exploit?

Three days after Trump's second inauguration, Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee introduced a joint resolution to amend the Constitution so that a person can be elected president three times if they were not previously elected in two consecutive terms.

Winning an election is not the only way for someone to become president. There are hypothetical situations involving presidential succession, said Baude, which are "not addressed as fully" by the text of the Constitution. These situations reveal ways in which the common understanding of the term limits of the 22nd Amendment can be challenged in court.

Trump agreed with NBC News' Kristen Welker that there are methods that could bring him back as president for a third term. One of the methods is to reverse the absentee ballots in 2024. The scenario is that JD Vance becomes a presidential candidate and Trump vice president. After serving, Vance would resign as president, and Trump would take over for a third term.

This method is considered to circumvent the limitation set in the 22nd Amendment that a person cannot be elected more than twice. However, this constitution does not mention a prohibition for serving more than twice.

Has There Been Previous Discourse on a Presidential Third Term?

Brian Kalt, a law professor at Michigan State University, once wrote about the method exactly proposed by Trump in his book Constitutional Cliffhangers: A Legal Guide for Presidents and Their Enemies. He raised a story of a two-term president who nominated himself as vice president - pointing out a gap in the two-term limit of the 22nd Amendment.

Dwight Eisenhower, the first U.S. president constitutionally banned from running for a third term, mentioned this in 1960. At a press conference, he was asked whether he wanted to officially express his support for Vice President Richard Nixon as a presidential candidate for the Republican Party. Eisenhower responded that the only thing he knew at that time about the future presidency was that he could not run.

In the decades since then, similar discussions regarding legal and political loopholes have surrounded two-term elected presidents, including Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.

According to Kalt, conversations were never as serious back then. But in certain situations where a president is more popular than the common understanding of the Constitution, he said, people will exploit any loophole they can. "And we've seen it in other countries. Everywhere there are term limits, there are vulnerabilities," Kalt said.

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