Donald Trump will return to the Oval Office in just two months, and after being re-elected for a second non-consecutive term, some Americans on social media have wondered if he could run again in 2028.
The simplest answer is: no.
Under the Twenty-Second Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in 1951, no president can serve more than two terms and those terms need not be consecutive.
“No person may be elected to the office of President more than twice, and no person may hold the office of President, or serve as President, for more than two years from the period in which another person was elected President.” The official text of the amendment stated: “Elected to the office of President more than once.” “.
Not only does this mean Trump cannot run again in four years, but if circumstances arise in which Vice President-elect J.D. Vance must take over for Trump before January 2027, he will only be able to run again in 2028.
However, if Vance takes office two years into Trump’s presidency, he could run in 2028 and 2032.
“It prohibits anyone from being elected president more than twice. Michael McConnell, a former US Circuit Judge on the Court of Appeals and director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford University, said: “Donald Trump was elected in 2016, and he was elected again the day before yesterday, and he cannot be elected a third time.”
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“I think there are a lot of people running around panicking. Well, that’s something you don’t need to panic about.”
Presidents have served more than two terms in the past, with Franklin Roosevelt serving four consecutive terms, from 1932 until his death in 1945.
But it was, in part, Roosevelt’s multiple terms that led to the decision to limit presidents’ terms to no more than eight years in total.
According to Ronald Reagan LibraryHowever, there was concern in Congress after World War II ended in 1945—a year after Roosevelt was re-elected to a fourth term—about executive branch excesses.
Term limits went into effect six years after Roosevelt’s death in 1945.
Can the constitution be amended?
Trump did not say he wanted to remain in office indefinitely.
In fact, he was asked on Tuesday whether the 2024 election would be his last, and he told reporters he “would think so.”
But some on social media expressed concerns that Trump might take steps to remove third-term restrictions, while… Some Trump supporters like Colorado Republican Lauren Boebert They said, “We must stand behind President Trump to secure his third term.”
But changing the rule would face a steep hurdle.
Repeal or modification of the amendment requires the approval of two-thirds of both houses of Congress and the ratification of three-quarters of the state legislatures.
For Trump, that would be unlikely because although Democrats lost the Senate on Tuesday, they still hold at least 46 seats, preventing them from getting a two-thirds majority, and they have won at least 190 seats in the House.
“I don’t think it’s really a serious proposal,” McConnell said.
“I also think it might be a way to trick the other side. I mean, if a Trump supporter says, ‘Let’s amend the Constitution so he can be elected a third time,’ and then someone on the other side says, ‘No,’ you know, they go crazy about it.” But in reality, all this is completely ridiculous.
There were suggestions by former presidents of both parties to effect change, with Truman, a Democrat, calling them “stupid.”
Former Republican President Ronald Reagan said in 1989 before leaving office that he would push for repeal.
Congress has also seen efforts to repeal the amendment since 1956, with 54 joint resolutions introduced.
So, while social media may be active with suggestions about that, McConnell said the chances of that happening are slim to none.
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