Republican introduces amendment to let Trump run for a third term—but can it actually happen?
"[President Trump] has proven himself to be the only figure in modern history capable of reversing our nation’s decay and restoring America to greatness, and he must be given the time necessary to accomplish that goal," said Congressman Andy Ogles.
U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., has introduced an amendment to the constitution that would allow President Donald Trump, and every president thereafter, to serve a third four-year term. Presidents of the United States are currently limited to two four-year terms under the 22nd Amendment, which was ratified by the states in 1951.
Ogles, a staunch two-term conservative congressman who falsely claimed the 2020 presidential election was stolen, said in a statement that his proposed amendment ensures the country “can sustain the bold leadership our nation so desperately needs.”
The amendment would change the language of the 22nd Amendment to instead say, “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than three times, nor be elected to any additional term after being elected to two consecutive terms, 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 twice.”
“President Trump’s decisive leadership stands in stark contrast to the chaos, suffering, and economic decline Americans have endured over the past four years,” Congressman Ogles said in a statement. “He has proven himself to be the only figure in modern history capable of reversing our nation’s decay and restoring America to greatness, and he must be given the time necessary to accomplish that goal.”
Trump has long flirted with the idea of serving beyond the constitutional two terms as president and has expressed admiration for world dictators like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who have served in office for more than a decade. According to a former national security advisor, Trump has expressed that he wanted to remain “president forever” like his peers in the East.
A week after winning the 2024 election, Trump told Republican members of Congress during a meeting, “I suspect I won’t be running again unless you do something.” He added, “Unless you say, ‘He’s so good, we have to just figure it out.’”
While Ogles’ proposal is sure to appease Trump and his loyal supporters, such an amendment to the constitution is highly unlikely. In order to pass, Republicans would need bipartisan support from Democrats to achieve two-thirds of the vote in Congress, as required by law. The other unlikely option is to ratify the constitution through a special meeting known as a convention, where three-fourths of all 50 U.S. states must agree to it.
Democratic strategist Joel Payne threw cold water on Ogles’ amendment, telling theGrio, “Donald Trump is not running for a third term. He cannot run for a third term.”
He continued, “I think any discussion of it really only serves to further his interest in a variety of ways. Trump is a lame duck. He knows he’s a lame duck, and the only way that he can prevent folks from treating him like a traditional lame duck is by keeping this notion alive that somehow the rules of the Constitution don’t apply to him.”
Payne expressed concerns about entertaining a messaging bill like the one Ogles proposed, cautioning that it “gets people into this mindset that they will never be able to consider a world after Donald Trump on the political scene.”
The only other U.S. president in history to serve more than two terms was President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who served four terms. Payne notes that term limits for presidents are an important feature of American democracy.
“George Washington set the tone without something being in place as our first president … our democracy is not person-centered. Our democracy is about our people,” said the Democrat.
He continued, “I wouldn’t support this conversation if it was about Barack Obama, who I think was the best president of my lifetime. But I wouldn’t support this conversation because … American leadership requires us to constantly be looking for fresh and new voices.”
“It’s a bad idea,” Payne added. “It’s unfortunate we’re in an era where things that aren’t realistic are given the air of realism, but that’s where we are.”
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