Donald Trump has claimed there are “methods” – if not “plans” – to bypass the constitutional restriction that prevents U.S. presidents from serving three terms.
During a Sunday interview on NBC, Trump was asked about the possibility of remaining in office beyond a second term—a topic he has frequently brought up, sometimes insisting he was joking.
Speaking with host Kristen Welker, Trump stated: “There are methods which you could do it,” this time emphasizing that he was not joking.
“Well, there are plans,” he initially remarked before correcting himself: “There are – not plans. There are methods – there are methods which you could do it, as you know.”
Welker referenced a speculated loophole among Trump supporters, in which he could serve as the running mate to his vice president, JD Vance, or another candidate in the 2028 election. Under this scenario, the elected president could resign upon taking office, allowing Trump to assume the presidency through the line of succession.
Supporters of the idea argue that the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution explicitly prohibits being “elected” to more than two presidential terms but does not address assuming the presidency through succession.
However, JD Vance has not expressed any interest in such a scenario. Election law professor Derek Muller of Notre Dame told the Associated Press that the 12th Amendment states, “no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligible to that of vice-president of the United States.”
According to Muller, this suggests that if Trump is barred from running for president again under the 22nd Amendment, he would also be ineligible to run for vice president.
“I don’t think there’s any ‘one weird trick’ to getting around presidential term limits,” Muller said.
Despite this, Welker speculated that Vance could still “pass the baton” to Trump.
Trump responded: “Well, that’s one.
“But there are others too. There are others.”
When pressed to elaborate, Trump declined, saying: “No.”
He later added that it was “far too early to think about” challenging the constitutional two-term limit and that his focus remained on the present. However, when asked if a third term would be too much work, he replied, “I like working.”
Pressed on whether he was joking, as he and his supporters often claim when discussing controversial ideas, he said: “No, no, I’m not joking. I’m not joking.”
Later, during a press conference after Air Force One landed at Joint Base Andrews, Trump was questioned again about a third term. He responded: “I’m not looking at that, but I’ll tell you, I have had more people ask me to have a third term.”
He added: “I don’t even want to talk about a third term now because no matter how you look at it, you’ve got a long time to go. We have almost four years to go, and that’s a long time.”
Trump’s comments follow his previous comparison of himself to a “king”—a title without term limits—on social media.
In February, he sparked widespread controversy when he posted on Truth Social after issuing an executive order for New York City to rescind its congestion pricing program, writing: “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”
The White House later amplified Trump’s statement by sharing it on social media alongside a digitally created image of the president grinning on a fake Time magazine cover, wearing a golden crown with the New York City skyline in the background.
Meanwhile, in January, Republican U.S. Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee introduced a resolution advocating for a constitutional amendment that would allow a president to serve up to three terms—provided they were not consecutive.
Under such an amendment, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush—each of whom served two consecutive terms—would remain ineligible for a third term. However, Trump, having won the presidency in 2016 and again in 2024 after losing in 2020 to Joe Biden, would be eligible.
Despite this, not all Republicans support the idea of amending the Constitution to allow a third term. Following Trump’s “king” comments in February, Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma stated he would not support an unconstitutional third term.
“I’m not changing the Constitution, first of all, unless the American people chose to do that,” Mullin told NBC.
Altering presidential term limits would require approval from two-thirds of both the Senate and the House, as well as ratification by three-quarters of state legislatures. Trump’s supporters lack the necessary numbers to pass such an amendment through democratic means.
The 22nd Amendment was ratified after Franklin D. Roosevelt won the presidency in 1932 and was re-elected in 1940 and 1944 during World War II. He remained in office until his death in 1945, and the amendment was officially ratified in 1951.
There are times when I think he loves saying these outrageous things just to set the libs hair on fire. He’s a master at that.