While on Air Force One, President Trump suggested that a third term isn't possible, despite previous comments and the ongoing discussions by some allies. Legal experts confirm the 22nd Amendment prevents a third term, even though Trump often leaves options open. Trump made these statements while on Air Force One.
President Trump talks to reporters on Air Force One with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday.With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever.
Help keep the LAist newsroom strong,If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.Flying on Air Force One somewhere between Japan and South Korea, President Donald Trump, after repeatedly teasing it, appeared to finally acknowledge a third term isn't in the cards. "I have my highest poll numbers that I've ever had," Trump said wistfully."And you know, based on what I read, I guess I'm not allowed to run. So we'll see what happens."Saying"we'll see what happens," is a standard Trump line that leaves his options open. Though, in this case, legal experts say there is no way around the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution."There are many parts of the constitution that are unclear," said Rick Hassen, who specializes in election law at the University of California, Los Angeles."But the 22nd Amendment is quite clear: no more than two terms. And it was passed because there was a president who served more than two terms and the country thought that that was not good." While Trump has previously floated the prospect of a third term, the issue came up again most recently when Steve Bannon, an on-again off-again Trump ally and MAGA mastermind, been talking about a third Trump term as a certainty."We're working on some things that are well inside the Constitution … and I think people will agree there will be very smart work arounds," Bannon said, before adding that talk of a third Trump term is"exploding liberals heads, exploding progressive's heads that Trump's going to be with them forever." It would be easy to chalk this up as wishful thinking or even just trolling from a professional provocateur trying to ingratiate himself to Trump. But the president himself has kept it going, too. Monday on Air Force One, when asked about Bannon's assertions about a third term, Trump said he would"love to do it" and again said it is"very terrible" to have such good numbers.Though he also suggested that Republicans have a strong bench of potential 2028 candidates and said a ticket featuring Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be unbeatable. He did bat down one of the possible loopholes floating around — that he could run for vice president and then return to office after the elected president steps aside.Just outside the Oval Office, red campaign-style"Trump 2028" hats sit on a bookcase of merchandise the president shows off to visitors."It was the strangest thing ever," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN afterward."I just looked at the hat, looked at JD Vance, who was seated to my left and said, 'Don't you got a problem with this?' And he said 'no comment' and that was the end of it."As Trump talked repeatedly about a third term this week, members of Congress were asked to weigh in, too. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday he didn't see a path to a third Trump term because amending the Constitution takes a long time."I think the president knows, and he and I have talked about the constrictions of the Constitution," said Johnson."As much as so many of the American people lament that. The Trump 2028 cap is one of the most popular that's ever been produced, and he has a good time with that, trolling the Democrats whose hair is on fire at that very prospect."Brendan Nyhan, a government professor at Dartmouth College, says it doesn't really matter if at this moment the president is serious or not. "We are probably going to hear about it for the next three years, because he enjoys it," said Nyhan."It gets the kind of reaction he wants and it serves his political purpose." Trump is both making liberal's heads explode — as Bannon put it — and trying to delay becoming a lame duck president, whose power wanes as the campaign to replace him heats up. Nyhan said the fact that anyone is talking about it is a symptom of what he calls an"authoritarian malaise" in the country. "It's profoundly destabilizing to call into question something as blatant as the 22nd Amendment, which explicitly rules out what Trump is 'joking' about," said Nyhan, who leads Bright Line Watch, which monitors the status of American democracy."We've seen again and again him joking about things that he means to encourage or at least seems to give tacit approval to." In his second term, Trump has massively expanded his executive power, as Republicans in Congress largely either cheer or shrug. "Is it possible that he could try to suspend elections, suspend the Constitution, run for a third term," said Rick Hassen, who leads UCLA's Safeguarding Democracy Project. "All of these things are possible, but that means we are no longer the American democracy that we've had, and then the country's in real trouble. But if you're asking about a legal path to a third term, it's just not there."At LAist, we believe in journalism without censorship and the right of a free press to speak truth to those in power. Our hard-hitting watchdog reporting on local government, climate, and the ongoing housing and homelessness crisis is trustworthy, independent and freely accessible to everyone thanks to the support of readers like you.Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country. Here at LAist that means a loss of $1.7 million in our budget every year. We want to assure you that despite growing threats to free press and free speech, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust. 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