Can Donald Trump actually run for a third term as US president?

US president Donald Trump isn’t even a whole year into his second presidential term yet, and yet there continues to be discussions within the political arena around whether the Republican will run for president again in 2028 – for a third term which isn’t allowed under the US constitution – and, perhaps more importantly, whether this is even possible.

Recent developments have seen California governor Gavin Newsom tell people to “mark my words” that Trump will run for a third term, and Trump show off a collection of ‘2028’-themed merchandise to Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, joking that “everybody wants me to run again”.

What does Trump say?

Trump was hinting at an unconstitutional third term all the way back in 2020, when he said he was “going to win four more years” (he didn’t) and that he would then “go for another four years” after that “because they spied on my campaign”.

In an interview with NBC News in March this year, Trump insisted he was “not joking” about running for a third term, though it is “far too early to think about it”.

He said that current vice president JD Vance running for president in 2028 and then passing on the top job to Trump is a possibility, and that “there are others too”.

Two months later, he was selling ‘Trump 2028’ hats online and telling US service members in Qatar that he will “have to think” about running in his fourth election in three years’ time.

Though in that same month, Trump told NBC’s Meet the Press that he would only be “an eight-year president” and a “two-term president”.

The BBC reported at the time that his comments about how he was “not joking” that he wanted to run for third or fourth terms were meant to troll the “fake news media”.

So it’s all a little bit ambiguous…

What does the constitution say?

The 22nd amendment – specifically section one – states: “No person shall be elected to the office of the he 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.”

Will the constitution be amended?

In January, Republican congressman Andy Ogles introduced an amendment to the US constitution to allow presidents to serve for no more than three terms, meaning Trump would be eligible to run again in 2028.

At the time of writing, the bill is currently with the House Committee on the Judiciary, but it’s unlikely that the Tennessee representative’s proposal will actually change something as monumental as the US constitution.

Dr Stephen J. Farnsworth, professor of political science and international affairs at Mary Washington College, told The Independent back in April: “There is zero chance that the constitution will be amended in time for Donald Trump to see a revised version of that amendment.

“It’s very hard to change the constitution. It requires two thirds of all houses of Congress, it requires two-quarters of the states to go along.”

Rest assured, it’s unlikely Trump will be able to land his third term without causing a substantial constitutional headache…

Why not read…

• 8 memes by Trump's government that prove administration is 'unserious'
• ‘Powerful’ AI video imagines 2028 reaction to Trump ballroom

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