President Donald Trump has repeatedly teased running for a third term in violation of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which limits presidents to two terms.
Until now, it has been unclear whether he was making such comments seriously. But in a phone call with Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker of NBC News on Sunday, Trump gave his clearest indication yet that he is indeed serious. “I’m not joking,” he reportedly said. “But I’m not—it is far too early to think about it.”
“There are methods which you could do it,” Trump continued. NBC reports that when Welker asked about the plausibility of Vice President JD Vance running for office and then passing power to Trump (who would try to run as VP in 2028, and then take over when Vance resigns, according to the theory) Trump replied, “That’s one,” adding, “but there are others too.” He declined to provide specific examples, NBC reported.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung did not respond directly to a question from Mother Jones about what “methods” Trump specifically was referring to; instead Cheung sent a statement claiming: “Americans overwhelmingly approve and support President Trump and his America First policies. As the President said, it’s far too early to think about [a third term] and he is focused on undoing all the hurt Biden has caused and Making America Great Again.” (Polls do not indicate “overwhelming approval” for Trump: The latest CBS/YouGov poll shows Americans split down the middle, and several recent others others show that majorities of Americans disapprove of him.)
When asked by Welker if he would like to serve a third term, Trump replied, “I like working.”
Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said in a post on X that there may be three ways Trump could attempt to “grab” an illegal 3rd term: 1) Ignore the Constitution and dare anyone to stop him. 2) Have GOP-run states just appoint Trump electors since any state not voting Trump is by definition ‘corrupt’. 3) Military coup and martial law—i.e., a successful January 6.”
NBC reports that Trump also claimed, “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.”
Some public figures have indeed voiced sycophantic support for this idea of an illegal power grab. They include longtime Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who has claimed Trump may be able to get around the 22nd Amendment and told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo that “Trump will run and win again in 2028.” In January, Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee, introduced a farfetched resolution proposing to amend the 22nd Amendment so that Trump could serve a third term. Additionally, GOP activists behind an initiative called the Third Term Project are advocating for amending the constitution to allow Trump to run again in 2028, or to have Trump run as VP with the understanding that the presidential candidate on the ticket would resign after being elected, to allow Trump to retake power.
Success in amending the Constitution—especially to set up a possible third term for Trump—would be extremely unlikely, as it would require approval from two-thirds of both chambers of Congress, and then ratification from three-fourths of state legislatures.
