Trump’s third term: The president’s frightening comments, explained

Donald Trump has mentioned the possibility of a third term on numerous occasions despite the fact that to do so would go directly against the 22nd amendment. Although The Constitution wouldn’t allow it, Trump has refused to rule it out and recent remarks made by the president to reporters indicates that he isn’t joking about the possibility.

The potential of a third term was brought up again on Sunday after the president told NBC News that “there are methods” which could be used to circumvent the current restrictions preventing him from serving again. Some have theorized that he could become JD Vance’s running partner and then have Vance step down after the election is presumably won, this would allow Trump to succeed him and become president for a third time.

He did not elaborate on his comments, but NPR.org reports that he did tell reporters on Sunday that a lot of people want to see him run for a third term, “I’m not looking at that, but I’ll tell you I’ve had more people ask me to have a third term.” During his interview with NBC News he reiterated that he “was not joking” about the possibility, although he claimed that he wasn’t thinking about it right now, “we have a long way to go. I’m focused on the current.”

Trump and the possibility of a third term

The president has made a number of off-hand remarks about sticking around past Jan. 20, 2029. In his first week in office he publicly joked about running again, asking speaker, Mike Johnson, “Am I allowed to run again? Mike, I better not get you involved in that.” His fellow Republicans took it as a joke, but this wasn’t even the first time he had vocalized the frightening idea.

Trump loyalists certainly didn’t take it as a joke, with some suggesting that The Constitution be amended to allow it, Rep. Andy Ogles suggested tweaking the amendment to allow Donald Trump to run for a third term. Earlier this month, former White House chief strategist, Steve Bannon, also claimed they were “working on” a way to allow Trump to remain president after 2028.

Although Trump has avoided questions on the matter, he has not ruled out the possibility, and his “jokes” regarding the subject seem to slowly be morphing into threats. Him and the people around him seem to have a clear agenda — they want a third term Constitution be damned.

Is it possible?

As previously mentioned, there are a few loopholes some suspect Trump could use to get around it. That being said, the 22nd Amendment does not allow it and changing The Constitution in such a big way would be a huge undertaking, even for Trump’s most deranged loyalists. Overall it’s pretty unlikely, but given how determined Trump and his supporters are we can’t rule out the possibility altogether.