Trump Encourages Terrifying Calls for Third Term at 100-Day Rally
Donald Trump continues to stoke claims that a third term is possible for him.

âThree!â the crowd roared.
âWell, we actually already served three, if you count. But remember, I like the victories, I like the three victories which we absolutely had. I just donât like the results of the middle term,â Trump said, continuing to ignore the fact that he lost the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden.
Over the last month, Trump has repeatedly said he was ânot jokingâ about pursuing a third term in office. The language first appeared in March during a phone call with NBC Newsâs Kristin Welker, when he said that he was actually very serious about potentially circumventing the Constitution in order to lead the country for another four years after his second term ends.
âNo, no Iâm not joking. Iâm not joking,â the president said at the time, agreeing with Welker that one such plan to keep him in office involved having Vice President JD Vance front the next Republican presidential ticket with Trump as his number twoâroles that they would then switch once back in office.
But the alarming comment reappeared in an April 22 interview with Time magazine, when the president said, âThere are some loopholes that have been discussed that are well knownâ for keeping him in power.
âBut I donât believe in loopholes. I donât believe in using loopholes,â said the convicted felon, who has been accused of running scams and shams and was judged in September 2023 to have committed business fraud.
The non-loophole alternative to remaining in power would have Trump formally run for a third termâand would require a near-impossible amendment to the Constitution that would have to pass with the consent of most of the country.
As outlined in Article 5 of the Constitution, any such alteration requires at least two-thirds of the Senate and the House to agree on the modification, with that change then requiring ratification by a minimum of three-quarters of states in the nation.
A second approach to repealing the term-limiting amendment could be via a constitutional convention, though two-thirds of states would need to support the motion to have one at all, and any proposed changes to an amendment would still require ratification by three-fourths of the states.
Regardless of the enormous uphill climb, the business mogul is already making money off a potential third term and building his brand to remain in office in the process. Red caps reading âTrump 2028â in white lettering are retailing on the online Trump store for $50 a pop. In an interview with Axios, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the merchandise was âjust a hatâ and did not suggest that Trump was thinking of staying in office past his current termâthough she didnât neglect to insinuate the alleged popularity of such an idea, adding that the caps have been âflying off the shelves.â
But Trumpâs bubble defies reality. Recent polling suggests that Trumpâs popularity has nosedived in recent months, in large part due to his whiplash tariff proposals.
The Conference Boardâs consumer confidence index fell by 7.9 points in April, bringing overall consumer confidence to 86, according to a report published Tuesday. Consumer futures were brought to a 13-year low, with outlooks on the economy dropping by 12.5 points to 54.5 points. Thatâs well below the threshold of 80 that âusually signals a recession ahead,â according to the Conference Board.
And an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll published Sunday found that Trumpâs approval rating had plummeted to 39 percentâa 6 percent drop from Februaryâmarking the lowest first-100-day rating of a president since modern polling began roughly 80 years ago.