How Trump Could Stay On Beyond His Second Term
Date
1/23/2025 1:14:13 AM
(MENAFN- Asia Times)
Think Donald trump can't be president after his second term is up in January 2029? Think again.
When President-elect Donald Trump met with congressional Republicans shortly after his November 2024 election victory, he floated the idea of another term:“I suspect I won't be running again unless you say, 'He's so good we've got to figure something else out.'”
At first glance, this seems like an obvious joke. The 22nd Amendment to the constitution is clear that Trump can't be elected again. The text of the amendment states:
That amendment was passed in response to Franklin Roosevelt's four elections to the presidency. Since George Washington had stepped down at the end of his second term, no president had sought a third term, much less a fourth. The amendment was clearly meant to prevent presidents from serving more than two terms in office.
Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his fourth inaugural address on Jan. 20, 1945. Photo: Abbie Rowe, National Archives and Records Administration. Office of Presidential Libraries. Harry S. Truman Library, via Wikimedia Commons Because Trump has been elected president twice already, the plain language of the amendment bars him from being elected a third time. Some have argued that since Trump's terms were nonconsecutive, the amendment doesn't apply to him. But the amendment makes no distinction between consecutive and nonconsecutive terms in office.
Though the 22nd Amendment prohibits Trump from being elected president again, it does not prohibit him from serving as president beyond Jan. 20, 2029. The reason for this is that the 22nd Amendment only prohibits someone from being“elected” more than twice. It says nothing about someone becoming president in some other way than being elected to the office.
Skirting the rules
There are a few potential alternate scenarios. Under normal circumstances, they would be next to impossible. But Donald Trump has never been a normal president.
On issue after issue, Trump has pushed the outer limits of presidential power . Most importantly, he has already shown his willingness to bend or even break the law to stay in office . And while Trump claims he's only joking when he floats the idea of a third term, he has a long history of using“jokes” as a way of floating trial balloons .
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