MAGA allies plot path for Trump to buck the Constitution and stay in power for a third term
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Steve Bannon has put forward an explosive theory he suggested could allow Donald Trump to seek a third term in the White House.
It would mean Trump upending the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution and remaining in office beyond 2028.
Bannon, who was spotted at Mar-a-Lago with Trump early this month, promoted the idea in a speech at the New York Young Republicans Club.
'Donald John Trump is going to raise his hand on the King James Bible and take the oath of office – his third victory and his second term,' Bannon told the crowd at a weekend gala.
The 22nd Amendment was ratified in 1951 after Franklin Roosevelt was elected to his fourth term. It limits a president to two terms.
However, Bannon floated a legal theory arguing that the 22nd Amendment would not prohibit such a move as long as the terms weren't 'consecutive.'
Bannon said: 'And the viceroy Mike Davis tells me, since it doesn't actually say "consecutive," that, I don't know, maybe we do it again in '28? Are you guys down for that? Trump '28? Come on man!'
The idea drew a roar of approval from the crowd who gathered for the event.
His comment that it was Trump's 'third victory' also suggests that he won in 2020, although he lost to Joe Biden by about 7 million votes.
Davis, a former senior Senate aide, shot down the idea on X. 'Steve Bannon is obviously trolling. Only Obama gets a third term, with his puppet Biden,' he wrote. He did not respond to an inquiry Monday on his interpretation of the 22nd Amendment.
Bannon told DailyMail.com Tuesday he was 'NOT' trolling.
Bannon's comment to the crowd was among the most elaborate descriptions of a third-term scenario by a Trump insider – although it is far from the only time it has come up.
Longtime Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon told a Republican crowd 'maybe we do it again in '28?' – suggesting Trump could try to stand for a third term despite the 22nd Amendment's limitation
Bannon served as chief White House strategist in Trump's first term. He made jokes at the event about his recent release from federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena.
Trump, 78, the oldest person to be elected president, himself has repeatedly toyed with the idea in public comments.
Days after the election, Trump joked about running for a third term – rejecting the idea even as he floated it.
'I suspect I won’t be running again, unless you do something,' Trump he told House Republicans, according to pool reports and audio.
'Unless you say, "He’s so good, we have to just figure it out."'
There is a mechanism for removing the constitutional two-term limit, but it must meet a high bar – approval by a supermajority in Congress and ratification by three-quarters of the states.
Trump spoke against the idea to Time magazine in April, saying he was against a 'challenge' to it.
'I wouldn't be in favor of a challenge. Not for me. I wouldn't be in favor of it at all. I intend to serve four years and do a great job. And I want to bring our country back. I want to put it back on the right track.'
Bannon's comments came after Democrats and Trump critics spent much of the campaign saying he had authoritarian impulses.
Trump told House Republicans 'I suspect I won’t be running again, unless you do something'
Bannon cited conservative Republican lawyer Mike Davis, a former Senate aide, as touting a loophole in the 22nd Amendment that could allow Trump to serve a third term since his first and second terms are not 'consecutive'
His remarks were immediately shared on social media by Republicans Against Trump, as well as Trump allies.
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.'
The second clause applies to someone who might assume the presidency partway through a term, who could therefore serve for more than eight years.
'I don’t think there’s any realistic possibility that the 22nd Amendment could be repealed,' U-Penn law professor Kermit Roosevelt told FactCheck.org in November.
'That would take another amendment (like the 21st, repealing the 18th) and I don’t think it would get 2/3 of both houses of congress, much less 3/4 of the states, the great-great-grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt said.
Although the language on no person being 'elected' more than twice appears quite clear, a CRS report explored the possibility that someone could rise to the presidency through succession.
But that would not appear to include running for and winning election to a third term.
