Importance Score: 52 / 100 🔵
Donald Trump’s plan to secure a third presidential term may have just been exposed on BBC panel show Have I Got News For You – and it’s straight out of Vladimir Putin’s playbook, according to panellists Ian Hislop and Paul Merton. Pointless host Alexander Armstrong was presenting the programme on Friday (April 4), when Paul pointed out Trump’s potential underhanded strategy.
He said on the show this week: “One of the plans is to have JD Vance run for president. He wins, and he makes Trump his vice president. Then JD Vance resigns as president and Donald Trump takes over [for a third term].” Ian replied: “Which is exactly the method used by Putin to stay in – not that I’m saying he copies, admires and loves him!”
Ian added: “He doesn’t seem to think it’s a problem that you’re not allowed to [run for a third term]. I know that hasn’t bothered him in any other sphere of life.”
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The last president to serve more than two terms in office was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940, defeating Republican nominee Wendell Willkie to win a third stint in office. He went on to secure a fourth term, which was interrupted by his death on April 12th, 1945.
The US Constitution appears to rule out anyone having a third term, with the 22nd amendment stating: “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.”
But Trump could seek approval to change the constitution, which would require a two-thirds approval from the Senate and the House of Representatives. He’d also need approval from three-quarters of state-level governments in the US.
A loophole could be electing Vance, who would then step down – as the constitution doesn’t rule out “succession”, only election. The two-term limit was codified into law in 1951, but had been customary since George Washington refused a third term in 1796, with only Roosevelt taking more than two terms.