President Trump is once again speaking as if he has the option of running for a third term:
Trump, however, already has one eye on 2028, telling reporters on Air Force One this morning that he’d “love to” stand again for a third term. But he insisted that “I haven’t really thought about it” and — with his next breath — was casting the 2028 Republican primary as a fascinating two-horse race between two of his closest allies.
“We have JD [Vance] obviously — the vice president is great,” Trump said. “Marco [Rubio]’s great. I’m not sure if anybody would run against those two. I think if they formed a group it would be unstoppable.” Then Trump added: “I would love to do it — I have the best numbers ever! … Am I not ruling it out? You’ll have to tell me. All I can tell you is that we have a great group of people, which they [the Democrats] don’t.”
Trump did rule out a convoluted plan floated by some allies whereby he would run as vice president in 2028 and then take over the presidency when the victor stepped aside. “I’d be allowed to do that,” Trump said. “But I wouldn’t do it. It’s too cute. I think the people wouldn’t like that. It wouldn’t be right.”
In January, Trump said during an address to GOP members of Congress, “I’ve raised a lot of money for the next race that I assume I can’t use for myself, but I’m not a hundred 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, Mike?”
And at the National Prayer Breakfast in February, “I want to be here with you, and I have been here with you. Thank you. And I do that, despite the fact that they say I can’t run again.”
Trump said in March, “A lot of people want me to do it, but, I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.”
No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.
No ifs, ands, or buts. The Constitution did not stutter.
It’s a free country, and President Trump is free to say he’d like to run for a third term, or joke about running for a third term, over and over again, even though a third term would violate the Constitution.
But if Trump chooses to do that, he and his allies can’t be surprised that his political opponents contend he wants to rule like a king and accuse him of being a dictator or an authoritarian. If you don’t act like every other president, you cannot expect to be treated like every other president. And if you keep making “jokes” about how you want to stay in power in violation of the Constitution, you really can’t be surprised that people contend that you want to stay in power in violation of the Constitution.