Why Trump CANNOT Run For Re-Election in 2028 After Repeatedly Touting Idea He Wants to Stay in White House Beyond Next Term
Donald Trump has joked about extending his stay in the White House beyond his second term, but it's not a possibility.
Nov. 19 2024, Published 5:20 p.m. ET
While Donald Trump has floated the idea of staying in the White House beyond his next term, he cannot run for re-election.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the reasons why an extended stay in the Oval Office is off the table for the president-elect.
For starters, the Constitution prohibits it.
Trump has repeatedly made comments about voters casting ballots for the final time and serving more than two terms.
The nation's first president, George Washington, set the precedent for a two limit when he declined to run for a third time in 1797. While presidents who served after Washington were allowed to run for a third term, only one president has won more than two consecutive elections.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) is the only president in history to serve more than two terms, though the circumstances of his presidency – and four presidential terms – were unusual.
Upon taking office in 1933, FDR's first two terms were focused on bringing the nation out of the throes of The Great Depression and saw the outbreak of World War II. FDR was able to win re-election for a third time by campaigning on the crucial need to maintain stability in war time.
He was elected for a fourth term and took office in January 1945 but died three months later in April 1945.
The 22nd Amendment prohibits a president from serving more than two terms.
Two years after Roosevelt's death, Congress argued term limits were necessary to prevent abuse of power and passed the 22nd Amendment in 1947 – later ratified in 1951 – which officially limited presidents to two terms.
Section 1 of the 22nd Amendment states: "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."
Seven decades later, Trump, 78, seemingly disregarded the law as he repeatedly hinted at the possibility of extending his presidency beyond his second term.
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While campaigning, Trump told NRA members 'are we three-term or two-term if we win?'
While speaking to House Republicans after clinching the 2024 election, Trump remarked: "I suspect I won't be running again unless you say, 'He's so good we've got to figure something else out.'"
Months earlier in July, he told a crowd at religious conservatives event: "Christians, get out and vote. Just this time.
"You won’t have to do it anymore, you know what? Four more years, it'll be fixed, it'll be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians."
Prior to that, Trump said at an NRA event: "I don't know, are we going to be considered three-term or two-term? Are we three-term or two-term if we win?"
Even with three Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justices, the process of proposing an amendment requires a two-thirds majority of the House and Senate.
Although Trump's comments were brushed off by conservatives and MAGA-aligned lawmakers as merely jokes at the time, critics and political pundits feared then-candidate Trump could try to overturn precedent if re-elected.
Some pointed to Trump's ability to skirt the Constitution after appointing three conservative justices to the Supreme Court, who went on to rule in his favor in July, stating he had substantial immunity from being prosecuted on charges of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Even with a conservative-majority Supreme Court, the process of proposing an amendment requires a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate, which is far more than even the current Republican majority.
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