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Trump and the third term: first he denies it, then he insinuates doubt: ‘But I don’t know if it’s unconstitutional’

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After hinting several times at a third term, the president rules out the hypothesis but still leaves loopholes, raising doubts about compliance with the Constitution and still using a total ambiguity in the use of words that particularly characterises this second term of his

Donald Trump says he wants ‘clarity’. But, as is often the case with the president of the United States, he confuses rather than clarifies. When asked directly about a third term – forbidden by the US Constitution – he replies: ‘I will be a president for eight years, a two-term president. I always thought that was very important’. A sentence that, instead of closing the question, relaunches it: eight years of presidency, yes, but with a first term already completed and a second one just beginning, why fuel the topic?

In the interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, Trump states that a third term ‘is not allowed’ and immediately afterwards adds: ‘I don’t know if it’s constitutional to prohibit it. The reference is to the 22nd Amendment, which has limited presidential terms to two for over seventy years. But the president nevertheless insinuates a doubt, a shadow, a remote possibility to circulate. As he has done in the past, when he said he wanted to stay ‘even beyond 2028’, with a smile too serious to be just a joke.

The idea of a perpetual Trump in the White House, although legally impractical, has also been circulating in official merchandising for some time: ‘Trump 2028’ T-shirts and caps are selling for dozens of dollars on the campaign-related shop. He says he pays no attention to it: ‘There are a lot of people selling that hat, but it’s not something I pay attention to’. Yet it is a message that remains, visible and monetised.

As for the future, Trump claims he wants to ‘hand over the baton’ after this second term. In essence, Trump continues to play with words and institutional boundaries. He says he will respect the Constitution, but insinuates that it may not be entirely clear. He rules out a third term, but lets the hypothesis live on in the debate and slogans to sell. Clarity? Only apparent.

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