Is a Third Term Possible for Donald Trump?

Get you up to speed: Is a Third Term Possible for Donald Trump?

What we know so far

Donald Trump is one of two presidents to serve two non-consecutive terms, second only to Grover Cleveland, who did it in the 1800s.

But Mr Trump has continually made comments hinting at a third term in office.

An amendment to the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the United States, prohibits anyone from serving for more than two terms.

But what has the president said, how likely is he to pursue a third term in 2028 – and is it even possible?

What has Trump said?

He has repeatedly flirted with the idea of serving beyond his two terms, joking about it at rallies and even selling merchandise with “Trump 2028” branding.

In his lengthy state of the union address on Tuesday, Mr Trump suggested his current term “should be my third”.

It appeared to be a reference to his continued unproven claim that the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden was stolen.

On 27 October last year he told reporters he “would love to do it,” adding: “I have my best numbers ever.”

When pressed by a reporter on whether or not he would really pursue a third term, he remained cryptic.

“Am I not ruling it out? I mean you’ll have to tell me,” he said.

The president had made similar comments about seeking a third term in an interview with Sky News’ US partner NBC News on 30 March 2025.

When asked about the possibility, he said: “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.

“I’m focused on the current,” he added.

When asked whether he wanted another term, the president responded, “I like working”.

“I’m not joking,” Mr Trump said, when asked to clarify. “But I’m not – it is far too early to think about it.”

When asked whether he has been presented with plans to allow him to seek a third term, Mr Trump said there were “methods which you could do it”.

How could Trump pursue a third term?

There are several methods by which Mr Trump could seek a third term if he wants to, experts say.

One would be to try and amend the Constitution.

Andy Ogles, a Republican US Representative from Tennessee and a strong Trump supporter, has proposed changing the 22nd Amendment to allow people to serve three non-consecutive terms as president, making Mr Trump instantly eligible again because his two terms so far have not been back-to-back.

This would prove “virtually impossible”, retired Commonwealth Court judge Joseph Cosgrove tells Sky News.

“The usual method requires two-thirds of both the House and Senate to propose an amendment, which would then require three-fourths of the states to approve,” he explains.

Republicans only hold a slight majority in the House and the Senate, and control 28 state legislatures. Mr Trump would need at least 38 to support his move.

“Given the extremely close political divisions in the United States, neither of these events is foreseeable. Even if the Republicans control both the House and Senate, their majority will be so slim that no revision of the 22nd amendment could ever occur in this climate,” Mr Cosgrove adds.

Speaking on Sky’s Trump100 podcast, US correspondent James Matthews suggested Mr Trump would struggle to get support from his own MAGA movement, let alone the majority of the House and Senate.

“I don’t think the Republicans, the people who put Donald Trump where he is – the MAGA base, the money men – I don’t think they will see Trump as a man who in three years’ time will deliver for them,” he said.

Mr Trump would be 82 years old by the time he became president again, making him the oldest in US history.

Fellow US correspondent Mark Stone added: “There are also those around him who, while they will never admit it at the moment, they are circling. Whether it’s Marco Rubio, whether it’s JD Vance – they want the job as well.”

Mr Trump himself has endorsed them both, saying they would be “unstoppable” if they formed a group of sorts.

Another method floated by supporters would be for Mr Trump to run as a vice president in the next election, and then have the president-elect drop out after winning.

When a president drops out, there is a line of succession, with the vice president at the top of it.

John Fortier, senior research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, says some legal scholars have suggested this would allow Mr Trump to take over as president again, as the 22nd amendment “prohibits someone from running for a third term, but not from serving a third term”.

Mr Trump has addressed this method directly, previously telling NBC News that having JD Vance run for the presidency in 2028 before he handed over the reins was “one” way he could do it.

“I’d be allowed to do that,” he said later.

Mr Fortier says that this method, however, ignores a number of other amendments and other constitutional laws which indicate that a vice president or someone else in the line of succession “must meet the qualifications to become president”.

And Mr Trump, or someone else who has already served two terms as president, would not meet that criteria thanks to the 22nd amendment.

Mr Trump appeared to rule this method out on 27 October, telling reporters: “I think the people wouldn’t like that. It’s too cute. It’s not – it wouldn’t be right.”

Derek Muller, a professor of election law at Notre Dame, suggests Mr Trump wouldn’t even be able to run for vice presidency, let alone become president again.

He notes that the 12th amendment, which was ratified in 1804, says “no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligible to that of vice-president of the United States.”

This means that because Mr Trump is not able to be president in 2028, he also cannot be vice president, Prof Muller explains.

“I don’t think there’s any ‘one weird trick’ to getting around presidential term limits,” he continues, adding that pursuing a third term would require extraordinary acceptance by federal and state officials, not to mention the courts and voters themselves.

“A lame-duck president like Donald Trump has every incentive in the world to make it seem like he’s not a lame duck,” he said.

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Mr Fortier suggests Mr Trump is talking about a third term for political reasons to “show as much strength as possible” rather than with the intention of running again.

Democratic congressman Daniel Goldman, who served as lead counsel for Mr Trump’s first impeachment, said in a statement: “This is yet another escalation in his clear effort to take over the government and dismantle our democracy.

“If Congressional Republicans believe in the Constitution, they will go on the record opposing Trump’s ambitions for a third term.”

Has a third term been done before?

Franklin Roosevelt served as US president four times from 1933 to 1945, because there was nothing in the original US Constitution that limited how many terms a president could serve.

But later the 22nd amendment limited presidents to two four-year terms, irrespective of whether they were served consecutively or not.

Congress passed the 22nd amendment two years after Roosevelt’s death and it took effect from the 1952 election.

No one has been able to serve more than two terms since.

The amendment states “no person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice”.