House Speaker Mike Johnson said he spoke with President Donald Trump about his apparent interest in running for a third term, saying he does not “see a path” for Trump in 2028.
“It’s been a great run, but I think the president knows — and he and I’ve talked about the constrictions of the Constitution, as much as so many of the American people lament that,” Johnson said in a press conference Tuesday. “I don’t see a way to amend the Constitution, because it takes about 10 years to do that, as you know, to allow all the states to ratify.”
Trump has repeatedly floated his interest in running for a third term, a Constitution-violating idea for which the president actively sells merchandise.
Former Trump aide-turned-commentator Steve Bannon implied there “is a plan” for Trump to run for a third term in an interview last week.
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“Trump is going to be president in ’28, and people just ought to get accommodated with that,” Bannon told The Economist. “At the appropriate time, we’ll lay out what the plan is, but there is a plan.”
Trump on Air Force One early Monday seemingly tried to dispel rumors that he would attempt to run as vice president with someone else atop the ticket — part of a bid to serve out a third term by having the winner step aside — but immediately contradicted himself by saying that he “would love to do” a third term.
“Am I not ruling it out? You’ll have to tell me,” Trump told reporters. “All I can tell you is that we have a great, a great group of people, which they don’t,” he added, referring to the Democratic Party.
Trump previously told NBC he was “not joking” about a third term, and that there are official efforts underway to support that bid.
Shortly after Trump was sworn in, Republican Rep. Andy Ogles proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow Trump to seek a third term, though it was carefully worded to only allow a president who has served two nonconsecutive terms to seek a third one.
Johnson said he had spoken to Trump about an hour before his comments on Monday, and the two laughed about antagonizing Democrats by continuing to circulate plans about a third term.
Trump “has a good time with that, trolling the Democrats, whose hair is on fire about the very prospect,” Johnson said on Tuesday.
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