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President Donald Trump yet again mused about serving a third term during a prayer breakfast on Thursday, the third time he has hinted at the possibility since his inauguration.
“I want to be here with you, and I have to be here with you,” said Trump at the Washington Hilton. “And I do that despite the fact that they say I can’t run again.”
“No, I want to be with you regardless. It’s an honor,” Trump added, The Washington Times reported.
Trump took part in two prayer breakfasts on Thursday morning at the Hilton and earlier in the day in Statutory Hall at the Capitol, where he took the opportunity to argue that religion needs to return to American society and to urge unity between Republicans and Democrats.
The president has spoken previously about serving a constitutionally prohibited third term, and has insistently brought it up since he re-entered the White House. He hinted at the possibility in a speech last week to Republicans at Mar-a-Lago. And he quipped at a Las Vegas rally just two days earlier: “It will be the greatest honor of my life to serve not once but twice – or three or four times.”
The 22nd Amendment, however, states that “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
Yet Trump, who tried to stay in office despite losing the 2020 election, may very well try to run again.
🚨Trump suggests a possible 3rd term: “They say I can’t run for president again. That’s the expression. ‘Sir…’ somebody said, ‘I don’t think you can.’ Oooh…”
This is the third time he’s ‘joked’ about a 3rd term in recent days. No reason to worry at all… pic.twitter.com/JNW2jtZHoT
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) February 6, 2025
Republican Rep. Andy Ogles has already put forward an amendment to allow Trump to serve a third term.
Obama associate White House counsel and the executive director of the nonprofit Protect Democracy organization, Ian Bassin, told Politico: “Anyone who says that obviously the 22nd Amendment will deter Trump from trying for a third term has been living on a different planet than the one I’ve been living on.”
Other than amending or repealing the 22nd Amendment, Trump could also try to exploit a loophole in the amendment that would possibly allow him to run for vice president, only to become president after the election, Politico noted.
He could also simply run for president again, banking on the notion that a supportive Supreme Court wouldn’t step in to stop him. He may also simply refuse to leave the White House and try to end American democracy as we know it.
While he would face political, legal, and practical challenges, it’s not a prospect that can be dismissed out of hand, especially with Trump, Bassin warns.
Trump has suggested for years that he may run for a third term.
“We are going to win four more years. And then after that, we’ll go for another four years,” he said in August 2020.
In May 2024, speaking at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting, he said: “You know, FDR 16 years – almost 16 years – he was four terms. I don’t know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?”
“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say, ‘He’s so good we’ve got to figure something else out,’” he told House Republicans last November.
“It will be the greatest honor of my life to serve not once but twice — or three or four times,” he said during an event in Las Vegas late last month.
“Nah, it will be to serve twice,” he added at the time.
Similarly, Trump floated the idea during the annual House Republican retreat in Florida. As his second week back in the White House began, Trump said: “I’ve raised a lot of money for the next race that I assume I can’t use for myself, but I’m not 100 percent sure because I don’t know.”
“I think I’m not allowed to run again. I’m not sure. Am I allowed to run again?” he asked, according to The New York Times.
In July last year, he told supporters at a gathering of religious conservatives, “Christians, get out and vote. Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore, you know what? Four more years, it’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.”
In September 2020, during a rally in Nevada, Trump said, “We’re going to win four more years in the White House. And then after that, we’ll negotiate, right? Because we’re probably — based on the way we were treated — we are probably entitled to another four after that.”
However, amending the constitution would be difficult. In order to just propose a change, two-thirds majorities are needed in both houses of Congress, far from what the Republicans have.
