Can Trump run for a third term in 2028?

The Constitution says a president can serve only two terms. Donald Trump disagrees. "I'm not joking," he said on NBC’s "Meet the Press." There are "a lot of people" who want him to run for a third term, he said, and "methods [by] which you could do it."

Trump has long talked about running for a third term, "though Republicans have seen these comments as jokes," said NBC News. Some GOP officials are now taking him seriously: Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) has introduced a resolution that would extend presidential term limits to give Trump a chance at staying in the White House. One possibility: a scenario in which Vice President J.D. Vance "would run for office and then pass the role to Trump." Another, less-likely option would be to amend the Constitution.

"Mr. Trump has effectively demonstrated an ability to bend the Constitution," said The New York Times. Yet amending the Constitution would be an extraordinary effort: Two-thirds of both houses of Congress must approve the proposal — more than the "slender majorities" Republicans now hold — and three-fourths of state legislators then must ratify it. There is "no ambiguity" about the two-term limit right now, said the Times: "The Constitution does not allow it."

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What did the commentators say?

"There's nothing funny about Trump's third-term 'joke,'" Eric Lutz said at Vanity Fair. The president-elect's jokes often turn out to be "trial balloons he floats out there to see what he can get away with." That's why it's worth worrying about. Trump is already attempting to upend the "traditional checks and balances that underpin the American system of government," Lutz said. The big question now about Trump: "Will he face any political restraints?"

"Staying in power will be the only sure way Trump stays out of prison," Berin Szóka said at The Bulwark. That gives him an incentive to buck the Constitution. Some observers worry that the Supreme Court would let him bypass the 22nd Amendment — justices last year rejected a 14th Amendment challenge to Trump's candidacy stemming from the Jan. 6 insurrection. History shows that "no law or constitutional restriction on its own will stop" the former president, Szóka said. That means the Trump 2028 campaign "has already begun."

The 22nd Amendment is "clear and unambiguous," E.J. Dionne Jr. said at The Washington Post. No president can serve two terms, thus Trump "immediately" became a "lame duck president" upon his January inauguration. This means Republicans, in particular, should start to think about what post-Trump politics might look like. And that's why it's worth insisting — now — on the Constitution's plain language, Dionne said: "Recognizing the limitations on a Trump presidency is a first step toward holding Trump in check."

What next?

Legal experts say there is no constitutional "loophole" that would allow Trump to run for a third term, said FactCheck.org. The scheme to allow Vance to run as a proxy for Trump is "pretty implausible," said Paul Gowder, a professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. If the loophole did exist, he said, "it means that Trump could be president for life, just so long as he could keep finding people to occupy the top of the ticket."