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No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, there’s no denying that these are chaotic times in D.C.
Proposals that sounded like jokes a few months ago — like making Canada the 51st state — are now being seriously considered at the top levels of government.
And one of idea that’s been batted around in recent weeks is that of Donald Trump serving a third term as president.
Could it actually happen? Well, it’s complicated
An unconstitutional idea
Now, a third term would not be unprecedented. In fact, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected four times (although he died just a few months after his fourth inauguration).
But shortly after Harry S. Truman replaced FDR in the Oval Office, Congress took action to ensure that no president would ever again serve more than two terms.
The 22nd Amendment was ratified in 1951, and it specifically prohibits anyone who has been elected president twice from being elected again.
Many Trump supporters seem to believe that it only applies to presidents who served two consecutive terms, but that is very much not the case.
Constitutional amendments tend to go through a grueling approval process that doesn’t leave much room for loopholes, and that’s certainly the case with the 22nd.
But even though he would be 82 at his next inauguration, Trump recently assured NBC that he’s “not joking” about the idea of serving a third term.
“A lot of people want me to do it,” Trump said in a phone interview with NBC News over the weekend. “But, I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.”
When asked whether he wanted a third term, Trump replied, “I like working.”
When he interviewer pointed out to Trump that a third term is explicitly prohibited in the Constitution, he replied, “There are methods which you could do it.”
What are the ‘methods’ that might enable Trump to serve a third term?
The likeliest path to the White House, would be for a Trump ally like J.D. Vance to run for president and select Trump as his running mate.
That way, Vance could immediately step down, and Trump would become president without having to be elected a third time.
However! That would be a violation of the 12th Amendment, which holds that “no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.”
So, it wouldn’t be easy, but Trump supporters like Steve Bannon believe the president will seek a third term.
It certainly wouldn’t be the first time Trump tested the limits of the law.
