Donald Trump is considering staying in office past 2028.
The president floated an unconstitutional third term to NBC’s Kristen Welker, saying that “a lot of people” want him to serve past the end of his current stint in the Oval Office.
Considering the president’s questionable relationship with the peaceful handing over of power, Welker asked Trump if he was seriously suggesting an extension to his time atop the executive.
“I’m not joking,” Trump said. “But I’m not — it is far too early to think about it.”
When asked why he would want to stay on, Trump gave a simple answer and brushed aside concerns about the constitutionality of his plans.
“I like working,” he said. “There are methods by which you could do it.”
Trump agreed that he could take office a third time if Vice President JD Vance won the presidency and then ceded it to him. However, he clammed up when Welker asked him to share other methods in which he might stay on.
The current two-term limit was put into place after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died in office while serving his fourth term. The 22nd Amendment barring three-term presidents was passed by Congress in 1947 and ratified by the states in 1951. For Trump to take office a third time, he would need the support of two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the state legislatures.
Tennessee GOP Rep. Andy Ogles introduced a proposal shortly after Trump’s inauguration that could allow him to stand for a third term. The narrowly written proposed amendment would only allow for presidents who served non-consecutive terms to qualify, thereby ruling out the return of long-time Trump foe, President Barack Obama.
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