2 days Ago By Ari Yanover
President Donald Trump said Sunday that “I’m not joking” about trying to serve a third term, the clearest indication he is considering ways to breach a constitutional barrier against continuing to lead the country after his second term ends in early 2029. “There are methods which you could do it,” Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News. He also said “it is far too early to think about it.
” The 22nd Amendment, which was added to the Constitution in 1951 after President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected four times in a row, says “no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Trump if one potential avenue to a third term was having Vice President JD Vance run for the top job and “then pass the baton to you.
” “Well, that’s one,” Trump responded. “But there are others too. There are others.
” “Can you tell me another?” Welker asked. “No,” Trump replied. Vance’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Derek Muller, a professor of election law at Notre Dame, noted that the 12th Amendment, which was ratified in 1804, says “no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.” Muller said that indicates that if Trump is not eligible to run for president again because of the 22nd Amendment, he is not eligible to run for vice president, either. “I don’t think there’s any ‘one weird trick’ to getting around presidential term limits,” Muller said.
In addition, pursuing a third term would require extraordinary acquiescence by federal and state officials, not to mention the courts and voters themselves. He suggested that Trump is talking about a third term for political reasons to “show as much strength as possible.” “A lame-duck president like Donald Trump has every incentive in the world to make it seem like he’s not a lame duck,” he said.
Trump, who would be 82 at the end of his second term, was asked whether he would want to keep serving in “the toughest job in the country” at that point. “Well, I like working,” the president said..
