US President Donald Trump on Monday said if he is allowed to run for the third term, he would like to run against former Democratic President Barack Obama, ‘I’d love that’.
Fox News’ asked Trump on Monday, “I know it’s hypothetical right now, but if you were allowed for some reason to run for a third term, is there a thought that the Democrats could try to run Barack Obama against you?”
“I’d love that,” Trump responded. “I’d love that …. That would be a good one. I’d like that. And no, people are asking me to run, and 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.”
Trump said ‘not joking about third term’ but too early
Trump said on Sunday he was not joking about seeking a third presidential term, which is barred by the U.S. Constitution, but that it was too early to think about doing so.
Trump, who took office on January 20 for his second, non-consecutive White House term, has made allusions to seeking a third one but addressed it directly in a telephone interview with NBC News.
Trump also said that he has not looked into the potential legal avenues of running for a third presidency, saying he has nearly four years left of his term and is focused on doing a “fantastic job.”
“No, I’m not joking. I’m not joking,” Trump said, but “it is far too early to think about it.”
“There are methods which you could do it, as you know,” he said, declining to elaborate on specific methods.
What bars Trump and Obama from running for third time?
The 22nd Amendment limiting a president to two terms in office was passed in 1947 by two-thirds of the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the Senate. It was ratified by three-quarters of the 50 US state legislatures in 1951.
The text states: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
It also bars a president who has served more than two years “of a term to which some other person was elected President” from being elected again more than once.
America’s first president, George Washington, set a precedent by stepping down after serving two terms in office but the two-term presidential limit was only formally codified more than 150 years later.
Only one US president — Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt — has served more than two terms in the White House.
Roosevelt was elected president four times — in 1932, 1936, 1940 and 1944. His fourth term ended prematurely with his April 12, 1945 death at age 63.
The 22nd Amendment was passed shortly after Roosevelt’s death.