President Trump said Sunday that “I’m not joking” about trying to serve a third term, the clearest indication he is considering ways to breach a constitutional barrier against continuing to lead the country after his second term ends at the beginning of 2029.
“There are methods which you could do it,” Mr. Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News from Mar-a-Lago, his private club.
He also said, “It is far too early to think about it.”
The 22nd Amendment, added to the Constitution in 1951 after President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected four times in a row, says “no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
Any attempt to remain in office would be legally suspect and it is unclear how seriously Mr. Trump might pursue the idea. The comments nonetheless were an extraordinary reflection of the desire to maintain power by a president who had violated democratic traditions four years ago when he tried to overturn the election he lost to former President Joe Biden.
“This is yet another escalation in his clear effort to take over the government and dismantle our democracy,” said a statement from Rep. Daniel Goldman, a New York Democrat who served as lead counsel for Trump’s first impeachment. “If Congressional Republicans believe in the Constitution, they will go on the record opposing Trump’s ambitions for a third term.”
Steve Bannon, a former Trump strategist who runs the right-wing “War Room” podcast, called for the president to run again during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month.
“We want Trump in ’28,” he said.
Jeremy Paul, a constitutional law professor at Boston’s Northeastern University, said, “There are no credible legal arguments for him to run for a third term.”
NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Mr. Trump if one potential avenue to a third term was having Vice President JD Vance run for the top job and “then pass the baton to you.”
“Well, that’s one,” Mr. Trump responded. “But there are others too. There are others.”
“Can you tell me another?” Welker asked.
“No,” Mr. Trump replied.
Vance’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Derek Muller, a professor of election law at Notre Dame, noted that the 12th Amendment, which was ratified in 1804, says “no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.”
Muller said that indicates that if Mr. Trump is not eligible to run for president again because of the 22nd Amendment, he is not eligible to run for vice president, either.
“I don’t think there’s any ‘one weird trick’ to getting around presidential term limits,” Muller said.
In addition, pursuing a third term would require extraordinary acquiescence by federal and state officials, not to mention the courts and voters themselves.
He suggested that Mr. Trump is talking about a third term for political reasons to “show as much strength as possible.”
“A lame-duck president like Donald Trump has every incentive in the world to make it seem like he’s not a lame duck,” he said.
Mr. Trump, who would be 82 at the end of his second term, was asked whether he would want to keep serving in “the toughest job in the country” at that point.
“Well, I like working,” the president said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said of Mr. Trump’s prospects of serving a third term, “not without a change in the Constitution.” He told reporters, “I think that you guys keep asking the question and … I think he is having some fun with it, probably messing with you.”
Mr. Trump suggested that Americans would go along with a third term because of his popularity. He falsely claimed to have “the highest poll numbers of any Republican for the last 100 years.”
Gallup data shows President George W. Bush reaching a 90% approval rating after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. His father, President George H.W. Bush, hit 89% following the Gulf War in 1991.
Trump has maxed out at 47% in Gallup data during his second term, despite claiming to be “in the high 70s in many polls, in the real polls.”
Recent CBS News polling also saw waning support for Mr. Trump’s economic policies. According to the poll, most Americans feel the Trump administration is focused too much on tariffs and not focused enough on lowering prices.
In January, just before Mr. Trump took office, four in 10 felt his policies as president would make them financially better off.
But as of the end of March, only a quarter of Americans still feel that way, with nearly twice as many saying Mr. Trump’s policies are negatively impacting their finances.
That dip in outlook includes Mr. Trump’s own party. Just before Mr. Trump took office, three-fourths of Republicans said his policies as president would make them better off, but now, less than half of them say that’s what is happening so far.
Trump has mused before about serving longer than two terms before, generally with jokes to friendly audiences.
“Am I allowed to run again?” he said during a House Republican retreat in January.
Representatives for the congressional leadership — House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York — did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the AP.
