Republican President Donald Trump was ridiculed for insisting he was "not joking" about running for a third presidential term, which would violate the Constitution under the 22nd Amendment, stating a President cannot be elected beyond a second term.
In an NBC interview Sunday morning, Trump maintained his allies were pushing for a third term for the Trump administration.
“A lot of people want me to do it," he said, adding:
“But, I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.”
Trump also said, "There are methods which you could do it,” which would include Vice President JD Vance running for President and ceding power back to Trump.
“That’s one,” Trump said, adding there were other options, without going into detail.
However, the Constitution states that a person who is ineligible to become President also cannot run for Vice President, and therefore, Trump would not be qualified to run as Vance's running mate.
Here's a news report.
When asked if Trump wanted another term, he said, "I like working," and clarified:
“I’m not joking. But I’m not—it is far too early to think about it.”
Trump responded to a reporter outside the White House who asked if he was planning on not leaving at the end of his current term if he wasn't joking about his ambition.
In his response, he repeated his unfounded gripe about losing to former Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020, saying:
"I have had more people ask me to have a third term, which in a way is a fourth term because the 2020 election was totally rigged."
"I don't want to talk about it because we have a long time to go, almost 4 years, but many people are saying ‘You’ve got to run again.' "
You can hear his comments here.
Social media users scoffed at Trump believing he can side-step the Constitution.
To change presidential term limits, an amendment to the Constitution may be proposed by Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in the House and Senate, or by a constitutional convention, which is highly unlikely.
But based on how things have gone off the rails under this administration, it's hard to rule out the impossible.
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