From left, Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., Reps. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., and Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., talk in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol before Johnson won the speakership for the 119th Congress on Friday, Jan. 3, 2025.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
A Republican House member introduced a resolution Thursday to amend the U.S. Constitution in order to allow President Donald Trump — and any other future president — to be elected to a third term in the White House.
Trump “has proven himself to be the only figure in modern history capable of reversing our nation’s decay and restoring America to greatness, and he must be given the time necessary to accomplish that goal,” said Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee, who proposed extending the current maximum of two elected terms.
“It is imperative that we provide President Trump with every resource necessary to correct the disastrous course set by the Biden administration,” Ogles said in a statement.
“He is dedicated to restoring the republic and saving our country, and we, as legislators and as states, must do everything in our power to support him,” said Ogles, a hardline conservative who is serving his second term in the House.
“I am proposing an amendment to the Constitution to revise the limitations imposed by the 22nd Amendment on presidential terms,” he added.
Ogles’ move came three days after Trump was sworn in for a second, non-consecutive term — becoming only the second U.S. president to accomplish that feat.
And the resolution comes two months after Rep. Dan Goldman, a New York Democrat, introduced a House resolution that “reaffirms that the Twenty-second Amendment applies to two terms in the aggregate as President of the United States,” and that the amendment applies to the 78-year-old Trump.
A White House spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Ogles’ resolution.
The 22nd Amendment of the Constitution states in part, “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
Ogles’ resolution seeks to revise this to read, “‘No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than three times … “
The original amendment also states, “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.”
In his statement Thursday, Ogles said the resolution he was introducing “would allow President Trump to serve three terms, ensuring that we can sustain the bold leadership our nation so desperately needs.”
Proposed in 1947 and ratified in 1951, the 22nd Amendment was authored to prevent a repeat of President Franklin Roosevelt’s unprecedented election to four terms in office.
To this day, Roosevelt is the only president ever to have been elected to more than two terms. He died in 1945, less than 90 days after his fourth inauguration.
Republicans currently hold an extremely narrow, three-seat majority in the House. Few, if any Democrats, are likely to vote for Ogles’ resolution with Trump in office.
Trump is open to it
Over the course of his political career, Trump has repeatedly hinted at his willingness to serve more than two terms in office.
“I suspect I won’t be running again, unless you say, ‘He’s so good we’ve got to figure something else out,'” Trump reportedly mused to House Republicans during a private meeting in November, shortly after his electoral victory over Democratic former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Speaking to members of the National Rifle Association in May, Trump said, ”I don’t know, are we going to be considered three-term or two-term? Are we three-term or two-term if we win?”
Trump’s openness to a third term does not come as a surprise to some people who know him.
The former Fox News journalist Geraldo Rivera, who was friendly with Trump for decades in New York, predicted in December that Trump and his allies would soon turn their attention to the 22nd Amendment.
“For future reference: President Trump & Co. will soon start chattering about revoking/amending the 22d Amendment, which limits presidents to two four year terms,” Rivera wrote on X.
Other ways to stay in power
Amending the Constitution is not the only way that Trump could stay in power after his current term ends.
“Though the 22nd Amendment prohibits Trump from being elected president again, it does not prohibit him from serving as president beyond Jan. 20, 2029,” wrote Philip Klinkner, a professor of government at Hamilton College, in a recent article in The Conversation.
“The reason for this is that the 22nd Amendment only prohibits someone from being ‘elected’ more than twice,” Klinker wrote. “It says nothing about someone becoming president in some other way than being elected to the office.”
Klinker wrote that one hypothetical scenario would be for Trump to run for vice president in 2028, and have Vice President JD Vance run at the top of the ticket, for president.
“If elected, Vance could then resign, making Trump president again,” Klinker wrote. “But Vance would not even have to resign in order for a Vice President Trump to exercise the power of the presidency.
The 25th Amendment to the Constitution states that if a president declares that ‘he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office … such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.’ “
Another scenario Klinker imagined is for Trump to encourage a family member to run for, and win, the White House. Once elected, they would serve as little more than a figurehead president, while Trump made the key decisions.
