12 More Years?! How a Simple Constitution Loophole Could 'Doom' U.S. To a Donald Trump Presidency Until 2037
Donald Trump could remain president until 2037.
March 29 2025, Published 4:30 p.m. ET
Donald Trump may have found a loophole in the Constitution which could allow him to serve another 12 years in the White House if he wanted, RadaraOnline.com can reveal.
The validity of exploiting the loophole has long been theorized in academic circles and has been brought up a number of times by members of Congress and die-hard MAGA supporters in recent months.
Donald Trump is only a few months in two his second term.
The path for Trump to serve a third and potential fourth term as president until January 2037, at 90 years old, is a very real possibility.
It hinges solely on the interpretation of "election" in the 22nd Amendment and the loyalty of Vice President J.D. Vance.
The VP could choose to have Trump as his vice president in the 2028 election and, after winning the election, announce he resigns as soon as he's sworn in.
This loophole also requires Trump to remain popular enough to win another two election cycles.
Donald Trump could serve two additional terms through a loophole in the Constitution.
The text of the full 22nd Amendment reads: "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."
It was ratified into the Constitution in 1951 and was a direct response to Franklin D. Roosevelt winning four consecutive elections during World War 2.
Several Republican senators have pushed to let Donald Trump serve a third term.
Shortly after the 22nd Amendment was ratified, President Dwight Eisenhower believed term limits weren't "wholly wise".
He claimed the electorate "ought to be able to choose for its President anybody that it wants, regardless of the number of terms he has served".
The former president raised the possibility at the time of running as Vice President in 1960, and then reassuming office for a third time himself.
He said: "The only thing I know about the presidency the next time is this: I can't run. But someone has raised the question that, were I invited, could I constitutionally run for Vice President."
Eisenhower later claimed the Justice Department had looked into it and concluded it would be "absolutely legal for me to do so".
Several presidents have been critical of the 22nd Amendment.
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President Harry S. Truman was also critical of the 22nd Amendment and claimed it made every second-term president a "lame duck".
Ronald Reagan called the Amendment "ridiculous" and suggested it "interfered with the democratic rights of the people".
The final language of the ratified 22nd Amendment differed from earlier versions, which shut down the possibility of a third term under any circumstances. The original writing specified how anyone who was president "on 365 calendar days or more in each of two terms shall not be eligible to hold the office of President, or to act as President, for any part of another term."
