Plans are in motion for a third Trump term... no matter what the law says

The US constitution should bar Donald Trump from running for president in 2028. But his supporters want him to do so, and no one seems ready to stop him, writes Alex Hannaford

- Alex Hannaford

When Donald Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon said "I'm a firm believer that President Trump will run and win again in 2028” last week, it should have been a surprise, but wasn’t. “We’re working on it. We’ll see what the definition of term limit is,” the dishevelled Bannon told NewsNation.

It wasn’t the first time he had mentioned it. The president’s adviser, who went to prison for refusing to testify before a congressional committee about the 6 January insurrection, suggested it in December. Then, he argued that Trump could circumvent the 22nd amendment, which codifies the two-term limit, because the word “consecutive” is not in the text of the document.

Trump has been making his feelings clear too. Shortly after his election victory last November, the president told congressional Republicans: “I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say, ‘He’s so good we’ve got to figure something else out.’”

Then, in January, during the annual House Republican retreat in Florida, he joked with speaker Mike Johnson: “Am I allowed to run again, Mike?” In February, he asked supporters at the White House: “Should I run again? You tell me.” Offhand musings about a third term in office sound less like bluster and more like a blueprint.