Donald Trump it can really get around the ban on being elected for the third mandate and apply to Elections of 2028? During an interview on March 30 to the NBC television station, the current President of the United States has not excluded this possibility. Already last January Trump had opened to the hypothesis, and in recent days he reiterated that “many people want him to do it“while clarifying that “there is still a long way to go, you know, it is still early in the administration“. To stop his ambitions there would be the 22nd amendment of the Constitution of the United States that reads “No person can be elected more than twice”. Despite that, It is not entirely impossible that this happens through legal possibilities to circumvent this prohibition.
The US Constitution on the third term: the 22nd amendment
On the subject, the 22nd amendment from the Constitution of the United States Speak very clearly, second:
No person can be elected to the office of president more than twice, and no person who has held the office of president (or has acted as president) for more than two years of a mandate in which another person has been elected president, he can be elected to the office of president more than once.
This measure was addition to the US Constitution in 1947 And he entered into force in 1951 precisely to avoid what had happened with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, elected four times in a row and died a few months after the start of his fourth Mandate (April 12, 1945).
Trump and the legal possibilities to circumvent the ban on the third term
Trump’s third mandate supporters are therefore moving for tear The 22nd amendment. According to the US law, modifying the Constitution would require theapproval of two thirds of the members of the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives, in addition to the consent of three quarters of the country’s state governments.
THE numbershowever,, they are against the Trumpians: Following the November 2024 elections, the Republican Party controls both branches of the congress, but with very fragile majorities (53 out of 100 and 220 senators Congressmen out of 435). Figures that could change against them after the mid -mandate elections of 2026, with the re -election of all members of the congress and 33 senators.
Also, at the moment the Democratic Party rules 18 of the 50 state parliamentstherefore it could be more difficult for the Republican Party to be able to obtain the necessary support to change the Constitution (38 states out of 50 should support the modification, to make it).
The most “creative” hypotheses
A very particular idea that circulates among the loyalists of Trump is based on the fact that the 22nd amendment explicitly prohibits the re -election of a candidate, but not the succession. According to this theory Trump could apply as vice -president of another candidate – for example his current vice -president, JD Vance – in the next elections. In case of victory, the candidate could swear as president and then resign, allowing Trump to take over through succession. However, some experts note that according to the 12th amendment of the Constitution “No person constitutionally not suitable for the office of President can be suitable for that of Vice President of the United States”. In practice, Trump In 2028 he could not apply for the presidency that by vice -president.
If in doubt, in January 2025 the Republican deputy of Tennessee Andy Ogles He presented a resolution for a constitutional amendment that would allow a president to serve up to three mandates – provided they are not consecutive. Roomally, the situation in which Donald Trump would find himself at the end of his second term in 2028.
