Washington — President Trump gave the clearest indication yet this week that he is looking at ways to serve a third term in office, though the Constitution bars any person from being elected more than two times.
The president told NBC News in an interview Sunday that he’s “not joking” about seeking another term in office, after repeatedly publicly musing about the possibility in recent months. He also said that despite the constitutional limitations, “there are methods which you could do it.”
Trump supporters like former strategist Steve Bannon have called on the president to run again, and Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican, introduced a resolution earlier this year to amend the Constitution to allow Mr. Trump to be elected to another term. Senate Majority Leader John Thune also said of Mr. Trump’s prospects of serving a third term, “not without a change in the Constitution.” He told reporters, “I think that you guys keep asking the question and … I think he is having some fun with it, probably messing with you.”
Experts say changing the Constitution is extremely unlikely. Election law scholars raised the possibility that talk of a third term, whatever its likelihood, may function as a show of strength to try to stave off the perception that Mr. Trump is a lame-duck president.
Here’s a timeline of Mr. Trump’s comments on a third term:
September 2020
Mr. Trump flirted with additional time in office beyond two terms when he sought reelection in 2020. During a rally in Minden, Nevada, the president predicted he would win four more years in the White House, and even suggested that he could go on to another term after his second.
“We’re going to win four more years in the White House. And then after that, we’ll negotiate, right?” Mr. Trump said. “Because we’re probably, based on the way we were treated, we’re probably entitled to another four after that.”
January 2025
Shortly after returning to office, Mr. Trump again made reference to another term at a rally in Las Vegas on Jan. 25.
“It will be the greatest honor of my life to serve, not once but twice — or three times or four times,” Trump quipped to applause from the crowd, before adding that “no, it will be to serve twice.”
Then on Jan. 27, Mr. Trump joked to Republican lawmakers about a third term. Speaking before the House GOP conference in Florida, Mr. Trump touted the money he’d raised for another race that he said “I assume I can’t use for myself.”
“But I’m not 100% sure because, I don’t know,” the president continued, to laughter from House Republicans. “I think I’m not allowed to run again. I’m not sure. Am I allowed to run again?”
February 2025
At the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 6, Mr. Trump said, “They say I can’t run again — that’s the expression.”
“Then somebody said, ‘I don’t think you can.’ Oh,” the president added.
On Feb. 20, the president again joked about an additional term at a White House event to mark Black History Month, as he celebrated the support he saw from Black Americans in the 2024 election.
“Should I run again? You tell me,” Trump said, as supporters chanted, “four more years!”
March 2025
In an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker on March 30, Mr. Trump said, “I’m not joking” about serving a third term, and for the first time mentioned an awareness of potential paths.
“There are methods which you could do it,” Mr. Trump said in a phone interview, adding that “it is far too early to think about it.”
The president pointed to his favorability rating and suggested that Americans would like him to serve a third term. Mr. Trump told Welker, “I have had more people say, ‘please run again,'” while noting “‘we have a long way to go before we even think about that.” On Air Force One Sunday night, he spoke with reporters and briefly addressed questions about a third term and reiterated that it’s still a distant consideration.
“No matter how you look at it, we’ve got a long time to go. We have a long time. You know, we have almost four years to go,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “But despite that, so many people are saying, ‘you’ve got to run again.’ They love the job.”
While speaking to reporters on Monday in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump denied that he has ever looked into running for another term.
“People are asking me to run,” he said. “There’s a whole story about running for a third term. I don’t know. I never looked into it. They do say there’s a way you can do it. But I don’t know about that. But I have not looked into it.”
Mr. Trump was also asked whether it would open the door to Democrats running former President Barack Obama, who served two consecutive terms, against him.
“I’d love that,” Mr. Trump said. “That would be a good one. I’d like that.”
Caitlin Yilek
contributed to this report.
#Trump #pursuing #term
