Donald Trump says there is a “way, if not a “plan,” to circumvent the constitutional restrictions that prevent the US president from carrying out three terms.
In an interview that aired on NBC on Sunday, Trump was asked about his attempt to take over his second presidency.
“There’s a way you can do that,” Trump told host Kristen Welker. It was important to say he wasn’t joking this time.
“Well, I have a plan,” Trump told Welker. “It’s not a plan. There’s a way. You know, there’s a way.”
Welker hinted at the alleged loophole, but Trump supporters fantasized about discovering in the 2028 election that he could become a running mate of Vice President J.D. Vance or someone else. Those who Trump will become running in that scenario won and after being sworn as president, they could soon resign and take over to Trump in a row.
Their argument is that the 22nd amendment to the Constitution only explicitly prohibits being “elected” to more than one presidential terms without saying anything about becoming a commander on additional occasions throughout the course of a row.
Vance has not shown that he is interested in taking part in such a plan. And Derek Muller, a professor of election law at Notre Dame, told The Associated Press that the 12th amendment to the Constitution “people who are not constitutionally ineligible to the President’s office are not eligible for the vice president of the United States.”
Mueller said that if Trump is not eligible to run for president again due to the 22nd Amendment, he shows that he is also not eligible to run for office either.
“I don’t think there’s one ‘unique trick’ to get around the presidential period limit,” Muller said.
Nevertheless, Welker theorized that Vance could somehow “pass the baton” to Trump.
“Well, that’s one thing,” Trump replied.
“But there are other things. There are others too.”
When pushed to the details of these methods, Trump said “No.”
Trump then said it was “too early to think about” to appoint two presidential period restrictions in the constitution, and he said he was “focusing on the present.” But he asked if becoming a third president would be too many jobs, he said: “I like working.”
And he likes to say it every time he and his supporters come up with anti-constitutional ideas, so he asked if he was just kidding, he said: “No, no, I’m not kidding. I’m not kidding.”
Trump’s comments came after he previously compared them to “The King” (the royal title with no period limit) on social media.
In February, he challenged the true society to withdraw the crowd pricing program following the New York City executive order, saying, “Crowd pricing is dead. Everything in Manhattan and New York has been saved.
The White House then shared Trump’s quote on social media, accompanied by computer-generated images of the president grinning on a fake time magazine cover while wearing the golden crown behind the New York City skyline.
Meanwhile, Tennessee Republican Rep. Andy Ogres introduced a resolution in January expressing support for amending the constitution to allow the president to serve up to three terms under conditions that he does not serve two consecutive terms.
Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush all served consecutive terms – could not find a third term under the amendment as Ogles argued. He won the presidency in 2016 and November 2024, but in 2020 he lost to Joe Biden, so Trump is the only one eligible for the third term.
Nevertheless, not all members of the Trump-led Republican Party are taking part in the idea that the president will change the constitution in early 2029 to maintain power beyond the end of his second term.
“I haven’t changed the constitution, unless Americans choose to do that,” Marin told NBC.
Changes to the president’s term limits require two-thirds of approval from both the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as three-quarters of the country’s state legislature. Trump’s enablers do not have the numbers needed to easily obtain their approval democratically in such a variety of contexts.
The 22nd Amendment was ratified after Franklin D. Roosevelt served two terms after the election in 1932, and was then re-elected in 1940 and 1944 during World War II. He died as president in 1945, and the 22nd Amendment was ratified in 1951.
