In comments to reporters on Air Force One on Monday, President Donald Trump once again indicated that he may run for a third term in the White House.
Trump cannot legally run again — the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution forbids it. “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice,” that amendment reads.
“I would love to do it. I have my best numbers ever,” Trump told reporters, referring to recent polls that he claims show his popularity. (In reality, the average poll shows Trump with a -6.8 approval rating.)
Trump further suggested that he would fare well because Democrats do not yet have an agreed-upon leader or nominee for president.
“Am I not ruling it out? I mean, you’ll have to tell me. All I can tell you is that we have a great group of people, which [the Democrats] don’t,” he said.
One way Trump could potentially attempt to run for president again is by running as the vice president on a GOP ticket, with the presidential nominee promising to resign upon being sworn into office, allowing Trump to ascend to the presidency.
Trump was asked whether that was something he was considering. While he said he would “be allowed to do that,” he also explained it was not his preference.
“I think the people wouldn’t like that,” Trump said. “It’s too cute. It’s not — it wouldn’t be right.”
This avenue, too, is unconstitutional — the 12th Amendment of the Constitution states that anyone who is “constitutionally ineligible to the office of President” is also ineligible for the vice presidency. In short, since Trump is ineligible to be president due to term limits, he also would not be allowed to run for vice president.
Trump’s comments come days after his former political operative and ally Steve Bannon said in an interview that the current president’s third term is inevitable.
“He’s going to get a third term. So, Trump 2028, Trump is going to be president in 2028, and people just ought to get accommodated with that,” Bannon said, adding that there are “many different alternatives” that would allow the 22nd Amendment to be ignored.
“At the appropriate time, we’ll lay out what the plan is,” Bannon said.
Polling demonstrates most Americans do not want Trump to run for president again. An Economist/YouGov poll conducted earlier this year found that 70 percent of voters said he shouldn’t run for a third term, while only 17 percent said they wanted him to do so.
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