President Donald Trump is once again weighing a third term – despite what the Constitution says.
Speaking at a Congressional Republican conference at his resort in Doral, Florida, on Monday, Trump asked House Speaker Mike Johnson whether he was “allowed” to run again.
“I’ve raised a lot of money for the next race that I assume I can’t use for myself, but I’m not 100 percent sure,” Trump said. “I think I’m not allowed to run again.”
He then directly asked Johnson: “Am I allowed to run again?”
Trump then stopped himself, joking: “Mike, I better not get you involved in that argument.”
Despite Trump’s musings, the Constitution bars any person from being elected to the presidency more than twice.
The 22nd Amendment states: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.”
To change the law, it would require a new Constitutional amendment.
Last week, however, Congressman Andy Ogles of Tennessee proposed to revise the amendment, citing Trump as the “only figure in modern history capable of reversing our nation’s decay and restoring America to greatness.”
“President Trump’s decisive leadership stands in stark contrast to the chaos, suffering, and economic decline Americans have endured over the past four years. He has proven himself to be the only figure in modern history capable of reversing our nation’s decay and restoring America to greatness, and he must be given the time necessary to accomplish that goal,” Rep. Ogles said in a statement.
“To that end, I am proposing an amendment to the Constitution to revise the limitations imposed by the 22nd Amendment on presidential terms. This amendment would allow President Trump to serve three terms, ensuring that we can sustain the bold leadership our nation so desperately needs,” the Tennessee Republican said.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt is the only president in U.S. history to serve more than two terms. He served from 1933 through 1945, when he died. The 22nd Amendment was approved by Congress in 1947.
This isn’t the first time Trump has mused about running for a third term.
“We are going to win four more years,” he said at a campaign rally in August 2020. “And then after that, we’ll go for another four years because they spied on my campaign. We should get a redo of four years.”
Speaking to the National Rifle Association in May 2024, Trump asked the crowd: “You know, FDR 16 years — almost 16 years — he was four terms. I don’t know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?”
Some in the crowd, according to Politico, said: “Three.”
If Trump were to serve as president again in 2028, he would be 82 years old when the term starts.