Henry H.
Hey, Henry. Thanks for writing in. Last month, Trump made comments to NBC News about “methods” he could use to run for a third term. It followed months of quips despite the clear constitutional prohibition on it.
While the administration hasn’t outright mentioned the 12th amendment, which prohibits someone from serving as president for more than two terms, trying for another also would flatly violate the Constitution.
AP reporter Nicholas Riccardi answered some questions related to Trump’s musings on a third term. Here’s some of what he reported:
It’s a fairly straightforward ban on serving more than two terms. Some Trump supporters argue the language is meant to apply only to two consecutive terms because Roosevelt’s terms were consecutive, but notably that’s not what the amendment says.
Others contend that because the ban is just on being “elected” more than twice, Trump could run as the next president’s vice president and, if the ticket won, could simply replace that person if he or she resigns, a possibility the president himself floated.
To put it mildly, that would be quite a complex plan to pull off, in no small part because Trump would be 82 during the next election, a year older than former President Joe Biden was during last year’s campaign. Also, the Constitution says only people qualified to be president can be vice president, which would seem to bar Trump from pursuing the scheme.
At least one Republican in Congress has been bold enough to propose a constitutional amendment that would allow Trump to seek another term. It has no chance of going anywhere, given the high bar for amending the Constitution, and has yet to move in the new Congress’s first months.
Even assuming Trump would attempt another run, a combination of election officials and courts would virtually ensure that he stayed off the ballot.