MAGA podcast host Steve Bannon on Sunday suggested that President-elect Donald Trump might be eligible to seek a third term in 2028, a step that would violate the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment.
“Donald John Trump is going to raise his hand on the King James Bible and take the oath of office, his third victory and his second term,” Bannon said in a speech at the New York Young Republican Club’s 112th annual gala.“Since it doesn’t actually say consecutive” in the Constitution, Bannon continued, “I don’t know, maybe we do it again in ‘28? Are you guys down for that? Trump ‘28?”
The 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951, states that “no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” The amendment is widely understood to prohibit anyone from holding the presidency for more than two terms, regardless of whether those terms are consecutive.
In May, Bannon, who was White House chief strategist during the first seven months of Trump’s first administration, said allowing Trump to serve more than two terms would take “two-thirds of the House and the Senate.”
“It’s a whole process. It’s not going to happen,” Bannon said on his “War Room” podcast.
The same month, Trump said at a National Rifle Association event that “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?” And the president-elect reportedly jokingly suggested to House Republicans in November that he will not run again in 2028 “unless you do something,” according to The Hill.