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Donald Trump said “it’s too bad” he is not allowed to run for a third term, conceding the constitutional reality even as he expressed interest in continuing to serve.
“If you read it, it’s pretty clear,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One from Japan to South Korea on Wednesday. “I’m not allowed to run. It’s too bad.”
The president’s comments, which continue his on-again, off-again musings about a third term, came a day after the House speaker, Mike Johnson, said it would be impossible for Trump to stay in the White House. “I don’t see a path for that,” the Republican told reporters at the US Capitol on Tuesday.
Johnson, who has built his career by drawing closer to Trump, said he discussed the issue with the president and thought he understood. “He and I have talked about the constrictions of the constitution,” he said.
The speaker described how the constitution’s 22nd amendment does not allow for a third presidential term, and changing that with a new amendment would be a cumbersome, years-long process of winning over both states and members of Congress.
Johnson dismissed worries about a potential third term as “hair on fire” by the president’s critics. “He has a good time with that, trolling the Democrats,” Johnson said.
Trump stopped short of characterizing his conversation with Johnson, and his description of the prohibition on third terms was somewhat less definitive.
“Based on what I read, I guess I’m not allowed to run,” he said on Wednesday. “So we’ll see what happens.”
Trump has repeatedly raised the idea of trying to stay in power. Hats saying “Trump 2028” are passed out as keepsakes to lawmakers and others visiting the White House, and Trump’s 2016 campaign manager, the podcaster Steve Bannon, has revived the idea of a third Trump term.
Trump told reporters on Monday on Air Force One that “I would love to do it”.
He went on to say the Republican party had “a great group of people” for the next presidential election in Marco Rubio, the secretary of state who was travelling with him, and JD Vance, the vice-president who visited with senators at the Capitol on Tuesday.
Asked about a strategy where he could run as vice-president, which would be allowed, and then work himself into the presidency, he dismissed the idea as “too cute”.
“You’d be allowed to do that, but I wouldn’t do that,” he said.
