Could former President Donald Trump seek a third term?

2024-06-15 22:02:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Donald Trump

In the United States, a president can serve a maximum of eight years in office. This means that whether Joe Biden or Donald Trump wins in November, it would be their last term. However, as Voice of America correspondent Steve Herman reports, former President Trump has thrown the idea of ??a possible third term.

At a campaign event organized by the largest gun lobby in the United States, Donald Trump floated the idea of ??a possible third term, referring to the four terms of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who died in office in 1945.

"Almost 16 years in office, four terms. I don't know, will we have three terms or two terms, what do you say?", he said. In 1947, Congress approved the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which determined that presidents can only have two four-year terms. In 1951 it became law, having been ratified by 36 of the then 48 states.

"The amendment put into law what had long been a political norm: not to run for more than two terms," ??says Praveen Fernandes, vice president of the Center for Constitutional Accountability.

He explains that the two-term tradition began with America's first president, George Washington, who, although repeatedly asked to run for a third term, declined.

With the outbreak of World War II, Franklin Roosevelt broke with this tradition in 1940 and won a fourth term in 1944.

Since the 22nd Amendment was passed, six presidents have served two terms. The most recent was Barack Obama. Actor Robert De Niro, a supporter of President Joe Biden, labels Mr Trump a tyrant who wants to be president for life.

"If he gets into the White House, I can tell you for sure that he will never leave again." You know he's never going away," he says.

"I want to be a dictator just for a day!"

Such statements by Mr. Trump this election cycle come as he faces criminal charges for trying to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election. And that could be a sign of his future intent, says constitutional expert Fernandes.

"Donald Trump's recent comments about a third term — which are certainly unconstitutional — are another reason to worry for someone who doesn't feel constrained by the clear wording of our laws," it says. he.

A bid by former President Trump for a third term would require repeal of the 22nd Amendment with a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress and then ratification by at least 38 of the 50 states. Or 34 states could call a Constituent Assembly and any action they pass would have to be ratified by 38 states.

Only once in American history has a constitutional amendment been repealed.

The 21st Amendment, ratified in 1933, repealed the much-contested 18th Amendment passed in 1919 that banned alcoholic beverages./ Voa