President Trump said he’s “not joking” about serving a third term in the White House — and thinks there’s a loophole to make it happen. Morning phone call that “a lot of people want me to do it.” Time will tell whether it will happen.
Trump claimed that “there are methods which you could do it,” including having Vice President JD Vance, 40, run for president with Trump as his vice president. Vance would then resign to allow Trump to regain the top job. “But there are others too,” Trump said, without elaboration. The 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951, says “no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice” — allowing for the potential loophole of Vance resigning in Trump’s favor.
“I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration. I’m focused on the current,” the president said. Trump explained he’s interested in serving as president until 2033 because “I like working.” “I’m not joking,” the billionaire developer and former reality TV star told Welker. “But I’m not — it is far too early to think about it.” Trump has repeatedly mentioned a third term, though initially the idea was perceived as a way to troll Democrats and to avoid the perception that he’s a term-limited lame duck, which would sap his influence as politicians court potential successors.
The president has been greeted at several recent public events with chants of “Four more years!” Franklin Delano Roosevelt is the only American president elected to more than two terms — dying three months into his fourth. Presidents traditionally served just two terms, following George Washington’s example, until FDR’s presidency, which prompted the Constitution to be amended to make it a rule. Trump, the second president in US history to serve non-consecutive terms, is set to be the oldest-ever commander-in-chief when he completes his second term in January 2029 at age 82 years and seven months — beating out former President Joe Biden, who left office in January at age 82 years and two months. He would be nearing age 87 at the end of a hypothetical third term.