President Donald Trump said on Sunday (30) that he “wasn’t joking” about trying to serve a third term, a clear indication that he is considering ways to violate the Constitution after the end of his second term in 2029.
“There are methods by which you can do this,” Trump said in a phone interview with NBC News from Mar-a-Lago, his private club.
He elaborated later to reporters on Air Force One that he “has had more people asking for a third term, which in a way is a fourth term because the other election, the 2020 election, was totally rigged.” Trump lost the election to Democrat Joe Biden. While he insists on the claim, there has never been evidence of any fraud in the election.
Trump added: “I don’t want to talk about a third term right now because, no matter how you look at it, we have a lot of time ahead of us.”
The 22nd Amendment, added to the Constitution in 1951 after President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected four consecutive times, states that “no person shall be elected to the office of President more than twice.”
Any attempt to remain in office would be legally questionable. It is still unclear how seriously Trump may pursue the idea. The comments, however, are an extraordinary reflection of the desire to remain in power.
Kristen Welker of NBC asked Trump if a potential path to a third term would be having Vice President JD Vance run for the highest office and “then pass the baton to you.”
“Well, that’s one,” Trump replied. “But there are others too. There are others.”
“Can you tell me another one?” Welker asked.
“No,” Trump replied.
Source: AP