Steve Bannon is pushing Donald Trump to consider a third presidential term in 2028.
The controversial political strategist suggested the two-term limit on U.S. presidents doesn’t count in Trump’s case because his terms in office were not consecutive.
“I don’t know, maybe we do it again in ’28,” Bannon told the New York Young Republican Club Sunday. “Are you guys up for that,” he added to a loud burst of applause. “Trump ’28, come on, man!”
Trump has repeatedly floated the idea that he could run a fourth time, even though the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1951, clearly states that “no person shall be elected to the office of President more than twice.”
While the president-elect has shown a willingness to bend the Constitution, it would require two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate just to put forward an amendment—way more than the narrow majorities held by the Republicans—or two-thirds of the states can demand a constitutional convention to seek changes.
Bannon appeared unconcerned by any legal barriers, referring at the annual Young Republicans Club gala to Trump’s baseless claim that he won the 2020 election. “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,” he said.
He went on to raise the specter of a run in 2028, quoting Trump loyalist and self-styled “viceroy” Mike Davis as saying a third term was possible “since it doesn’t say consecutive.”
The 22nd Amendment was ushered in by Congress after President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to four terms from 1933 to 1945. “Four terms, or sixteen years, is the most dangerous threat to our freedom ever proposed,” former New York Mayor Thomas E. Dewey said in 1944.
In a farewell interview with CNN on Sunday, outgoing former presidential candidate Mitt Romney predicted that Trump’s Vice President-elect JD Vance will run for the top job in four years.
Romney called Vance “smart, well-spoken, part of the MAGA movement.”
“MAGA is the Republican Party, and Donald Trump is the Republican Party today and if you were to ask me who the nominee will be in 2028, it’ll be JD Vance,” he added.