(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Former White House chief strategist and media mogul Steve Bannon joked Sunday that President-elect Donald Trump could seek a third term in 2028, despite the constitutional limitations.
Speaking at the New York Young Republican Club’s 112th annual gala, Bannon suggested that the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment may not apply to Trump because his terms were non-consecutive.
“Donald John Trump is going to raise his hand on the King James Bible and take the oath of office, his third victory and his second term,” Bannon declared. He referenced comments from legal scholar Mike Davis, who said: “The Viceroy Mike Davis, tells me since [the Constitution] doesn’t say consecutive. I don’t know, maybe we do it again in ‘28?”
Bannon then asked, “Are you guys down for that? Trump ‘28?” eliciting a loud but mixed reaction from the Republican crowd.
Davis, who described himself as Trump’s “viceroy” for the District of Columbia and is the founder of the Article III Project, responded on X to inquiries from reporters.
He specifically wrote, “Dear Reporters: Here is my response to the many of you reaching out to me for comment: ‘Steve Bannon is obviously trolling. Only Obama gets a third term, with his puppet Biden.’”
Davis’s comment jested about the notion that former President Barack Obama served as a “puppet master” of the Biden-Harris administration. Obama’s influence was highlighted when he led Biden’s ouster from the 2024 Democratic primary race.
Bannon’s comments appeared to be lighthearted as the 22nd Amendment of the United Constitution states: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
This amendment was ratified in 1951 after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a Democrat, served an unprecedented four terms before dying in office in 1945.
Trump himself has dismissed the notion of a potential third term as nothing more than a joke, stating: “FDR 16 years — almost 16 years — he was four terms. I don’t know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?”
In 2020, Trump even shared a meme featuring a TIME Magazine cover with signs that read “Trump 2024,” “Trump 2028” and so on, humorously suggesting an indefinite political future.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2019
