Can Trump run in 2028?

Now that Donald Trump has won a second term in office, talk has turned to a possible third term. But wait. The Constitution limits presidents to two terms. That's the end of the story, right? Maybe not.

"I suspect I won't be running again, unless you do something," Trump told House Republicans, in audio shared with The Hill. Some of the lawmakers on hand dismissed his comments "as a joke." But Trump has previously floated the idea of "somehow disregarding term limits," so some observers are taking the president-elect seriously. It would be difficult, said The Hill: Repealing the Constitution's two-term limit — embedded in the 22nd Amendment — "would require a new amendment itself."

"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 this 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 when Trump is inaugurated in January, he "immediately becomes a lame duck president." This means Republicans, in particular, can 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?

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) introduced a House resolution declaring that Trump is "ineligible to run again in 2028," said Spectrum News' NY1. "We are a nation of laws, not kings," Goldman said in a social media post. But it's "unlikely" that House Speaker Mike Johnson will allow the resolution to come to a vote. Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) tried to dismiss concerns: Trump will be president "for four more years," Nehls said. "That's what we have. Stop all this stuff."