Last week, during an impromptu press conference on Air Force One, a reporter asked President Trump if he agreed with House Speaker Mike Johnson that the Constitution forbids him from serving a third term. Trump’s response was unambiguous: “I would say that if you read it, it’s pretty clear I’m not allowed to run.”
That answer was about as direct as it gets. But it hasn’t stopped Democrats and their corporate media collaborators from continuing to promote their latest absurd conspiracy theory that Trump is somehow plotting to violate the Constitution to seek a third term. As usual, however, liberals’ obsession with making Trump out to be an authoritarian reveals more about them than the President.
The completely made-up “third-term” narrative has been a legacy press favorite ever since Trump took the oath of office for the second time earlier this year. The crack journalists at NPR, for example, ran a “news story” two days after Trump’s Air Force One remarks under this headline: “Trump keeps flirting with the idea of a third term. That would be unconstitutional.” The New York Times, The Economist, The Telegraph, The Guardian, and The Nation are just a few other mainstream outlets that have published hand-wringing articles about a “third Trump term” in recent days.
But why is the media claiming that Trump is “flirting” with the idea of a third term after he clearly stated that the Constitution prohibits him from doing so? The answer is that this nonsense is integral to the “Trump is a fascist dictator” narrative upon which the left relies to remain relevant.
The fact is that Democrats’ entire identity has now become the “anti-Trump” party. Their political ideology is now mostly a cult of hatred against the dreaded “bad orange man.” Without this central reviled figure who supposedly represents an “existential threat” to “our democracy,” what message do Democrats have to bring to voters?
Democrats are now so bereft of rational policies that they have built their entire brand on being the “resistance” to Trump. Anyone masochistic enough to have watched the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial debates knows that the Democrat candidates, Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, evaded nearly every question they were asked by pivoting to attacks on the President and his policies. They know perfectly well that Trump isn’t going to run for president again in 2028, but they need a bogeyman to frighten voters.
It should be mentioned here that, particularly after 2024, this strategy is inherently self-defeating. Trump won a majority of the vote and swept every swing state – a testament to his broad and growing appeal. He has only gotten more popular since he burst onto the political scene in 2015. But Democrats have clung to the Trump-hate cult nonetheless.
To be fair, Trump has amusingly leaned into the ridiculous third-term narrative to, as he would put it, “do a little trolling.” During a meeting with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) last month in the Oval Office, for instance, the President placed “Trump 2028” hats on the Resolute Desk as a joke. He also posted a video to Truth Social showing campaign signs increasing through the years, from “Trump 2028” up through “Trump 2042” and beyond.
These were all humorous barbs at Democrats and the media by the famously funny Trump (although that didn’t stop the media from melting down). But the only presidents who ever took real action toward seeking more than two terms were Democrats—Franklin D. Roosevelt, William J. Clinton, and Barack H. Obama.
In fact, the 22nd Amendment was only passed by a Republican Majority in 1947 and ratified in 1951 after Roosevelt effectively became president for life following his first election in 1932. He successfully ran again in 1936, 1940, and 1944 – all while hiding his debilitating medical condition. In the end, he only relinquished power when he died in April 1945.
Both Clinton and Obama mused about third terms. Not coincidentally, their Democrat allies in Congress introduced six joint resolutions to repeal the 22nd Amendment during their presidencies. During Clinton’s tenure in office, Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY) introduced joint resolutions to repeal the 22nd Amendment on March 29, 1995, January 7, 1997, and January 6, 1999. During Obama’s tenure, Serrano introduced the same measure on January 6, 2009, January 7, 2011, and January 7, 2013. The purpose and language of all six resolutions were virtually identical. Fortunately, all of them were killed in the House Judiciary Committee.
Oddly enough, the perils of a third term didn’t seem to bother the Democrats or the legacy media when Clinton and Obama occupied the Oval Office. On the other hand, most Republicans object to any suggestion that President Trump can or even wants to serve a third term.
The primary promoter of this idea, other than the Democrats, appears to be former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, who has advocated for a third term for the President. But the proposal has gained very little traction on the right.
Here’s the specific language that puts the question of a third term to rest without another amendment abolishing the 22nd: “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.”
Just to dispel another deranged liberal conspiracy theory, there is also not any way to do an end run around the 22nd Amendment by putting Trump on the 2028 Republican ticket as the vice presidential candidate under a loyal proxy who then steps down and elevates him to the presidency for another term. That is specifically ruled out by the 12th Amendment: “No person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President.”
Again, this is not complicated. If Trump is constitutionally ineligible for election to the presidency, the 12th Amendment also renders him ineligible to be elected Vice President. Nonetheless, the media cranks out these fantastical scenarios meant to scare Americans into falsely believing that Trump has dictatorial ambitions.
As recently as Friday, The Guardian ran a column whose author theorized that the Supreme Court would somehow collude with Trump to circumvent the Constitution: “What is and is not constitutional is determined, in effect, by loyalists on the Supreme Court and their bad-faith enablers.”
This is real tinfoil hat stuff. Trump can’t be elected to a third-term—end of story. He has said it, the Speaker of the House has said it, and the plain language of the Constitution says it.
The Democrats and the legacy media are focusing on this nonsense because they have nothing of substance to offer, and the voters are all too aware of that glaring reality.
David Catron is a Senior Editor at the American Spectator. His writing has also appeared in PJ Media, the American Thinker, the Providence Journal, the Catholic Exchange and a variety of other publications.
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