An MSNBC panel went to code red after Donald Trump said that he’s ‘serious’ about running for a third term.
Trump, 78, said he was ‘not joking’ about serving another White House term and told NBC News on Sunday that ‘there are methods’ that could allow him to stay in office.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has confirmed the president is serious about his intentions since he dropped the bombshell.
On MSNBC’s Alex Witt Reports, analyst David Jolly was apoplectic about Trump attempting to be the first president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt to serve more than two terms.
When asked if he really believes Trump would break with tradition and run again, the ex-Republican was deadly serious.
‘I believe them. I think the biggest mistake of the last eight years is we somehow fail to give credibility to Donald Trump’s whims and his impulses, but we know it’s true. And January 6th was a perfect example,’ Jolly said.
‘If he says that he’s not ruling it out, he’s not ruling out, then we should consider it a constitutional threat,’ the former Florida Congressman added.
Susan Del Percio, a GOP political analyst, said that Trump’s statement was a tactic to distract from the infamous administration group chat leak.
An MSNBC panel went to code red after Donald Trump said that he’s ‘serious’ about running for a third term
The president has since suggested he’d be willing to run for a fourth term and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has confirmed she’s serious about the president’s intentions since he dropped the bombshell on Meet the Press Sunday
‘He’s been pushing the envelope on testing the Constitution, so I expect that he’ll continue to do that, maybe by seeking out a third term. But more importantly, short term, we’re not talking about Signal and that scandal if we are talking about Trump’s third term.’
David Calloway, a Democrat strategist, agreed that the Democrats would do well to take the president seriously.
‘And the mainstream media and all of us on the left kind of blow it off as silly or improbable or unconstitutional,’ he said.
‘That doesn’t matter to these folks. And I think you should take a third term or an effort at a third term as a legitimate campaign promise at this point,’ Calloway added.
He was then asked by reporters on Air Force One about staying on for a third term and claimed that another term would, in effect, be ‘sort of a fourth term’ because he believes he was the true victor of the 2020 election.
‘The 2020 election was totally rigged, so it’s actually sort of a fourth term in a certain way. I just don’t want the credit for the second because Biden was so bad,’ Trump said last night on the flight from Florida to DC.
Trump touted his successes on immigration and border control, and said ‘people are amazed’. He added: ‘I think we’ve had the best almost 100 Days of any president’.
He said he visited ‘some very important people’ earlier in the day and that they told him they have ‘never seen a turnaround of a country as fast as this’. Trump also claimed that the US is now ‘respected as a country again’.
On MSNBC’s Alex Witt Reports, analyst David Jolly (pictured right) was apoplectic about Trump attempting to be the first president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt to serve more than two terms
David Calloway, a Democrat strategist, agreed that the Democrats would do well to take the president seriously
A reporter doubled down on the question, citing how the US Constitution limits a president to only serving two terms, but Trump interrupted: ‘I don’t even want to talk about it.
‘I’m just telling you that I’ve had more people say “please run again.” I said, “We have a long way to go before we even think about that”,’ he added.
The 22nd Amendment limits presidents to two terms, but there are possible scenarios in which Trump could remain in the White House beyond that due.
A glaring loophole in the amendment paves the ‘simple’ path for Trump to serve a third term – and potentially a fourth until January 2037 when he would be aged 90 – DailyMail.com exclusively revealed on Saturday.
The text of the full 22nd Amendment says the following:
‘No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.’
The Amendment was ratified in 1951 and was a direct response to Franklin Delano Roosevelt having been elected four times – on the third and fourth occasions during war time.
He was the only president to do so since the convention of only two terms was established by George Washington.
Almost a year ago, Trump said he wasn’t in favor of amending the Constitution to allow himself to run for a third term
The loophole in the 22nd Amendment is set out in a 1999 Minnesota Law Review article co-authored by Professor Bruce Peabody and titled ‘The Twice and Future President’.
It outlines how the Amendment has been subject to ‘widespread misunderstanding,’ and concludes that the idea any twice-elected president is ‘constitutionally prohibited’ from serving again is ‘decidedly incorrect.’
According to the paper: ‘We contend that the Twenty-Second Amendment proscribes only the reelection of an already twice-elected President.’
The key phrase in the Amendment is – ‘No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice…’
It is argued that means a twice-elected president would not be barred from later reassuming the office due to the resignation, or death, of another president.
Trump could therefore run for Vice President, with Vance as an openly recognised nominal figure at the top of the ticket. Once he is sworn in Vance could then resign, allowing his Vice President – Trump – to step into the office.
The same procedure could be used in multiple elections.
To win a fourth term Trump would simply have to resign the presidency before the 2032 election and become the running mate of a nominal presidential candidate, be that Vance or someone else.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt addresses reporters outside the White House on Monday after appearing on Fox News. During both she pushed that reporters needed to calm down about Trump floating a third term
Opponents could challenge such a move in the courts, arguing it breaches the 22nd Amendment. But Professor Peabody told DailyMail.com it would be ‘pretty hard’ for the Supreme Court to undo.
That would be especially so given the conservative makeup of the current court and its bent toward a textualist interpretation of the Constitution.
Any decision would be likely to be based on the definition of the word ‘election’ rather than what the authors of the 22nd Amendment intended.
Also, if the plan was not clandestine but instead revealed openly to the electorate before the vote, it would be difficult to argue it was not democracy in action.
Trump on said Sunday that ‘I’m not joking’ about trying to serve a third term, the clearest indication he is considering ways to continue to lead the country after his second term ends at the beginning of 2029.
‘There are methods which you could do it,’ Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News from Mar-a-Lago, his private club.
NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Trump if one potential avenue to a third term was having Vice President JD Vance run for the top job and ‘then pass the baton to you’.
‘Well, that’s one,’ Trump responded. ‘But there are others too. There are others.’
One potential avenue to a third Trump term is having Vice President JD Vance (pictured with his family as he is sworn in as Vice President in January this year) run for the top job. Once he is sworn in Vance could then resign, allowing his Vice President – Trump – to step into the office
‘Can you tell me another?’ Welker asked.
‘No,’ Trump replied.
Any attempt to remain in office would be legally suspect and it is unclear how seriously Trump might pursue the idea.
Trump, who would be 82 at the end of his second term, was asked whether he would want to keep serving in ‘the toughest job in the country’ at that point.
‘Well, I like working,’ the president said.
Trump has suggested that Americans would go along with a third term because of his popularity. He falsely claimed to have ‘the highest poll numbers of any Republican for the last 100 years.’
Gallup data shows President George W. Bush reaching a 90 per cent approval rating after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. His father, President George H.W. Bush, hit 89 per cent following the Gulf War in 1991.
Trump has maxed out at 47 per cent in Gallup data during his second term, despite claiming to be ‘in the high 70s in many polls, in the real polls.’
Trump has mused before about serving longer than two terms, generally with jokes to friendly audiences.
‘Am I allowed to run again?’ he said during a House Republican retreat in January.