Published: October 20, 2025
If someone repeatedly makes the same concerning joke, at what point should it be taken seriously? Maybe the stark, red “Trump 2028” hats – sitting on the president’s Oval Office desk during his September 29th meeting with Democrat Minority Leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries – are a sign that a change to presidential term limits may not be a “joke.” President Trump, just over eight months into his second term, has made a variety of vague comments about a third term run. CBS News details this string of suggestions, from 2020 quips about an entitlement to a third (and possibly fourth) term to the more recent claims: at the end of March, Trump said he was “not joking” about another term, but on May 2nd, stated he’d be “a two-term president.” Consistent across all his flirting with this idea, two additional claims keep following: he believes there is strong popular support for additional Trump terms, and “there are methods” to give him the opportunity.
Presidential term limits have a lengthy history and strong legislative protection: this was a topic of debate during the last three months of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and the two-term limit was a respected tradition followed until Franklin D. Roosevelt’s unprecedented four-term run from 1933 to 1945. Roosevelt’s presidency, marked by a consolidation of executive power into what some historians call an “imperial presidency,” inspired the ratification of the 22nd Amendment: firmly establishing a two-term limit for the elected executive. Proponents worried that this new consolidation could threaten the system of checks and balances in government or fuel a “cult of personality,” as described by the 2019 Congressional Research Service report on the topic. This amendment has been challenged in congress hundreds of times since its ratification in 1951, with limited support and no success. Movements to amend or repeal these limits have usually been centered on popular, second-term presidents, but that popular support was shaken by controversy in each case: Eisenhower’s health, Nixon’s Watergate, Reagan’s Iran-Contra deal, and Clinton’s affair. These movements never had meaningful public support from sitting or former presidents, until now.
The current movement does not have the overwhelming popular support the president believes it does: an April survey from YouGov suggests that while 56% of American adults think he will attempt to run for a third term, only 20% believe he “definitely or probably” should be allowed to. While popular support and congressional cooperation have historically prevented attempts to change or repeal the 22nd Amendment, other “methods” may exist for circumventing these limits. One week after Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee introduced a measure to amend the 22nd Amendment’s term limits (which has since stalled in the House Committee on the Judiciary), Politico reported on four possible “methods” for the president to remain in power. The first strategy is to amend or repeal the amendment itself, possible if he could secure a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate – which seems unlikely in light of the current government shutdown due to the narrow majority in Congress. The remaining strategies are not as easily dismissed, however. Second is the “succession loophole,” where legal scholars suggest an elected president could pass the office to the previous president, as long as they stood in the line of succession (as could happen on a Vance-Trump ticket in 2028). The third and fourth strategies – running and relying on the Supreme Court not to intervene, or simply not ceding power to a democratic election – seem most concerning, with the Supreme Court and other systems of accountability moving to support the Trump administration’s bold moves against civil rights and the separation of powers. Considering three of the nine justices were appointed by Trump, as well as recent decisions supporting the administration’s actions, this is worth considering when deciding how much of a “joke” a third term could be.
It is also worth looking at the world leaders the president expresses admiration for when deciding how serious he is about pursuing another term. Frequently praising “dictators and strongmen,” suggesting he wouldn’t be a dictator “except for day one” of his second term, and then suggesting Americans would “rather have a dictator” in August, President Trump’s affinity for less-than-democratic systems is hard to ignore. Two of his close allies, as well, have established a precedent for removing presidential term limits. President Erdoğan of Turkey used his influence on the Supreme Electoral Council to solidify his rule and ignore the constitutional term limit, and President Putin of Russia laid the groundwork for his removal of term limits back in 2008 – eventually solving the “2024 problem” of a 2024 limit and removing the cap in 2020. Paul Edward Fisher, writing for UCL News, highlighted in January that Trump (a vocal admirer of Putin’s political image) may take inspiration from these events to solve his own “2028 problem.”
President Trump’s political career is notable for his use of innuendo, memes, and “trolling,” using rhetorical dog-whistles and making vague – but concerning – suggestions about policy. The smokescreen of “edgy jokes” serves as a strategy to disarm criticism and worry, all while communicating to those in-the-know what his platform is: his “enemies” should be afraid, and his allies should feel emboldened. As his second term continues to fulfil the violent and legally dubious promises made over the last nine years, dismissed as comedy or needling, the concerns expressed in both the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the 2019 Congressional Research Service report feel more important than ever. Project 2025‘s further consolidation of power following “Unitary Executive Theory” mirrors the wartime consolidation of power under FDR’s administration, using the justification of “foreign invasion” and “economic war” to erode checks and balances. These debates’ warnings about a “cult of personality,” an “imperial president,” and a danger to the constitutional model of democracy feel warranted in this case. The joke might not be “it would be funny if Trump won a third term” – instead, it says “people are scared of a third Trump term, and he might actually try to get one.”
