President Donald Trump keeps getting asked about the possibility of seeking a third term in 2028.
Well, there are plans, he recently told NBCs Kristen Welker, who became the latest interviewer to raise the topic. She will almost certainly not be the last.
This appears to be by designTrumps design. His answers always contain enough tantalizing ambiguity to keep people interested: What plans exactly?
There arenot plans, Trump said to Welker, correcting himself, if not clarifying anything. There are methods.
What methods?
This went on for a bit. It was not immediately clear how serious Trump was, or whether he was just savoring the flattery of being asked these questions again and again. After all, they allow him to note, correctly, that a good portion of the Republican Party would love to see him run; they also ensure that he will continue to be the central figure of the Republican Party straight through the 2028 presidential primaries (assuming the GOP bothers with that formality).
Read: Why Trump says hes not joking about a third term
Im just telling you I have had more people say, Please run again, Trump reminded reporters aboard Air Force One a few hours after the Welker interview aired. We have a long way to go before we even think about that, he added.
In other words, its probably time to start thinking about it.
Or, at the very least, to recognize that a familiar pattern seems to be reasserting itself, one that can become quite messy. It begins with Trump musing over some seemingly outlandish ideasay, his desire for the United States to annex Greenland. At first, the prospect is treated as an absurd amusement. Republicans on Capitol Hill are asked what they think. They either laugh it off or avoid the question.
Soon enough, the prospect does not seem so ridiculous. Donald Trump Jr., Vice President J. D. Vance, and Second Lady Usha Vance show up in Greenland. Hyper-MAGA Representative Andy Ogles introduces the Make Greenland Great Again Act in support of efforts to acquire the now-coveted land mass. The Greenland gambit graduates to a legitimate intra-NATO disturbanceand then no one is questioning whether Trump is serious.
This trajectory has become an utterly familiar dynamic of the Trump-era GOP. Probably the most shameful example occurred when Trump refused to concede the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, then did nothing as his supporters ransacked the U.S. Capitol. Many Republicans assumed that he would eventually relent. What is the downside for humoring him for this little bit of time? one senior GOP official told The Washington Post that November, in what became one of the most infamous and foreboding blind quotes ever rendered.
By now it should be clear to Republicans that, however ridiculousand funnyTrump can seem, he should always be taken seriously. Especially when he says something explicitly, and when it involves a potential violation of the Constitution.
Im not joking, Trump told Welker. Im not joking. And yet.
It kinda sounded like he was joking, Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas told reporters about the third term that Trump expressly had said he was not joking about.
The president and I have talked about this, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said, also in response to the Welker interview. Joked about it. Hes joked about it with me onstage before.
Trump is just having some fun with it, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on the same subject.
When I asked a smattering of other elected Republicans about this issue on Capitol Hill last week, they responded with various shrugs, brush-offs, and other nonresponses.
Several Republicans have pointed out that the Constitution doesnt allow Trump to run for a third term. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, the Twenty-Second Amendment reads. Unless, of course, the Constitution is ignored, or changed.
Ogles, who has made a subspecialty of gratifying Trump through boutique legislation tailored to his passion projects, has already introduced a resolution that would amend the Constitution to allow a president to run for a third term. This would seem to open the door to a dream showdown pitting Trump against his twice-elected predecessor, Barack Obama. Except that Ogless resolution conveniently excludes presidents who served their two terms consecutively. So, sorry, Obama. Trump would be the only living president, or ex-president, eligible to run againother than, well, Biden, if hes still interested.
Ogless resolution appears unlikely to succeed. Amending the Constitution requires the support of at least two-thirds of the House and Senate, along with three-quarters of the individual states. But thats not stopping Trump loyalists from making clear that they consider this a noble and achievable goal.
Im a firm believer that President Trump will run and win again in 2028, Steve Bannon, who served as Trumps chief White House strategist during his first term, said in an interview with NewsNations Chris Cuomo last month. Were working on it. I think well have a couple of alternatives, Bannon said.
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One alternative involves Trump running as a vice-presidential candidate on a 2028 ticket with Vance. Assuming they win, Vance would step aside and Trump would retain his accustomed office, reaching the age of 86 if he served a full term. (The Constitution says that you cant be elected more than twice to the presidency, Trump supporters like to point out, not that you cant serve more than twicea potential loophole that few constitutional scholars credit and that hasnt been tested in the courts.)
Its easy to imagine that these Trump-perpetuation efforts will become a pretext for pressure campaigns from the presidents enforcers against elected Republicans. Even if they note that Trump is constitutionally ineligible to run again, that would not stop anyone from asking whether they support an amendment to change the Constitution. Soon, Trumps brazen position on third terms might become a litmus test for Republicans who wish to stay viable in the party. The White House could make clear that refusing to support Trumps remaining in office will be considered an act of disloyalty.
Again, the 2020 election offers a germane precedent. Republicans who dared acknowledge Bidens victory faced intense and sustained ire from the White House. GOP lawmakers who voted to certify the electiononce a pro forma act of governancewere seen as traitorous by much of Trump world. Saying that the 2020 election was rigged became almost a default position inside the GOP.
One can envision that, for any Republican, supporting Trump in 2028 will soon become a prerequisite for good standing. The idea might seem dubious, for a lot of reasons. Such as the Constitution. But there are methods.