Trump Suggests Staying in Power Beyond Two Terms, Reviving Talk of a Third Presidency
Donald Trump again raised the prospect of staying in power beyond the constitutionally limited two terms on Monday, telling small business owners he might still be in office “eight or nine years from now.”
On May 4, Trump veered off prepared remarks to talk about his political future. While discussing how tax deductions could benefit business owners, he suggested he might personally take advantage of them long after his current term ends.
If he remained in office another nine years, Trump would be 88 years old when he finally stepped down.
Trump’s latest comments fit a years‑long pattern of testing, joking about, or openly entertaining the idea of serving more than two terms. As far back as 2018, he praised Chinese leader Xi Jinping for eliminating term limits and mused about being “president for life,” before later insisting he would not actually pursue a third term.
Trump has repeatedly floated staying in office longer, at times calling for “an extra term” because of how he felt he had been treated. He has said he was “probably entitled to another four” years after a second term.
Here are a few instances where Trump has talked about being the president for more than two terms:
September 2020 – Minden, Nevada rally
- At a rally in Minden during his 2020 reelection campaign, Trump said: “We’re going to win four more years in the White House. And then after that, we’ll negotiate, right?” Trump said. “Because we’re probably, based on the way we were treated, we’re probably entitled to another four after that.”
January 2025 – Las Vegas rally
- Trump told a Las Vegas: “It will be the greatest honor of my life to serve, not once but twice — or three times or four times,” Trump said. “No, it will be to serve twice.”
January 2025 – House GOP conference in Florida
- Speaking to House Republicans, “But I’m not 100% sure because, I don’t know,” the president said. “I think I’m not allowed to run again. I’m not sure. Am I allowed to run again?”
February 2025 – Prayer breakfast and Black History Month event
- At the National Prayer Breakfast: “They say I can’t run again — that’s the expression,” Trump said. “Then somebody said, ‘I don’t think you can.’
- At a White House Black History Month event, “”Should I run again? You tell me.”
March 2025 – NBC interview (“There are methods”)
- In a phone interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker, Trump said, “I’m not joking” about serving a third term. “There are methods which you could do it….It is far too early to think about it.”
March 2025 – White House
- Trump was responding to questions about potential “methods” to seek a third term, which is prohibited by the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.: “People are asking me to run,” he said. “There’s a whole story about running for a third term. I don’t know. I never looked into it. They do say there’s a way you can do it. But I don’t know about that. But I have not looked into it.”
April 2025 – Interview with Time
- When asked about a third term in an interview about his first 100 days in office, Trump said, “I’d rather not discuss that now, but as you know, there are some loopholes that have been discussed that are well known. But I don’t believe in loopholes. I don’t believe in using loopholes.”
Late October 2025 – On Air Force One
- “And, you know, based on what I read, I guess I’m not allowed to run so we’ll see what happens.” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reports he had spoken with Trump about the possibility of president seeking a third-term but he sees no path for it.
Under the Twenty‑second Amendment, adopted after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four elections, a president cannot be elected more than twice, and there is no evident loophole that would allow Trump or any other leader to legally serve three full elected terms. Changing that would require either a two‑thirds vote in both houses of Congress plus ratification by three‑quarters of the states, or a constitutional convention called by two‑thirds of state legislatures.
