Former President Donald Trump said Sunday that he is seriously considering ways to serve a third term in office, a move that would directly defy the U.S. Constitution's two-term presidential limit and spark a potential constitutional crisis if pursued.
"There are methods which you could do it," Trump told NBC News in a telephone interview from his Mar-a-Lago estate. "No, no I'm not joking."
Later that day, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated: "I've had more people ask me to have a third term, which in a way is a fourth term because the other election, the 2020 election, was totally rigged."
While Trump did not provide details on how he might circumvent the 22nd Amendment, which bars anyone from being elected president more than twice, he floated one hypothetical. When NBC's Kristen Welker asked whether one approach could be Vice President JD Vance running and then "pass the baton" back to Trump, he replied: "Well, that's one. But there are others too. There are others." Pressed to elaborate, Trump said, "No."
"A lot of people would like me to do that," Trump told NBC News. "But, I mean, I basically tell them, we have a long way to go, you know, it's very early in the administration."
The Constitution's 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951 after Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected four times, states: "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice." In addition, the 12th Amendment bars anyone ineligible to be president from serving as vice president.
"There are no credible legal arguments for him to run for a third term," said Jeremy Paul, a constitutional law professor at Northeastern University.
Derek Muller, a professor of election law at Notre Dame, said, "I don't think there's any 'one weird trick' to getting around presidential term limits." He added that such a move would require extraordinary acquiescence from courts, Congress, state officials, and the public. "A lame-duck president like Donald Trump has every incentive in the world to make it seem like he's not a lame duck," Muller said.
Representative Daniel Goldman (D., N.Y.), who served as lead counsel in Trump's first impeachment, said in a statement: "This is yet another escalation in his clear effort to take over the government and dismantle our democracy. If Congressional Republicans believe in the Constitution, they will go on the record opposing Trump's ambitions for a third term."
Supporters, however, are embracing the idea. "America needs him," said Kayla Thompson, a former paralegal from Wisconsin who attended a campaign event Sunday. "If he doesn't do it, we're probably headed backwards."
Trump's remarks followed encouragement from longtime allies. At the Conservative Political Action Conference last month, former strategist Steve Bannon said, "We want Trump in '28."
The president, who would be 82 at the end of a second term, brushed off concerns about his age. "Well, I like working," he said.
Trump also invoked his popularity to justify a potential third term, falsely claiming to have "the highest poll numbers of any Republican for the last 100 years." Gallup polling shows his peak approval rating reached 47%, well below the 90% reached by President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks.
The idea of extending his presidency is not new for Trump, who has previously floated the concept at rallies, often in jest. In January, during a House Republican retreat, he asked, "Am I allowed to run again?"
