Can Trump run for another term in 2028?

WASHINGTON - Donald Trump, the nation’s 45th president, has now secured his place in history as the 47th president after Tuesday’s election.

With this win, Trump is now only the second former president in U.S. history who has been reelected for a nonconsecutive term. 

He joins Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th president, in this distinction. Cleveland reclaimed the White House in 1892, after losing his first reelection bid to Republican challenger Benjamin Harris, whom he later beat in their rematch.

It’s widely known that U.S. presidents are limited to two terms, but that law has historically been applicable to presidents who have served consecutive terms. 

So is Trump eligible to run again in the next presidential election?

Under the 22nd Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was ratified in 1951, Trump is barred from seeking the presidency for a third time in 2028.

The text states, "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice."

But back in May, during a speech before the National Rifle Association, he teased that he might become a third-term president if he won the 2024 election, an action that would require the extremely challenging feat of repealing the 22nd Amendment.

Experts say a proposed amendment must be passed by a two-thirds majority of both the House and the Senate.

It would then need to be ratified by the legislatures of 38 states, or three-fourths of U.S. states.

Another avenue to repeal an amendment would be to go through a Constitutional Convention, which would have to be called by two-thirds of the state legislatures. 

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Despite Trump's suggestion of running for a possible third term, he has also said in interviews that he would not challenge the 22nd Amendment.  

In a Time magazine interview published in April, he was asked whether he would retire a second term in the White House. 

"Well, I would, and I don't really have a choice, but I would," the former president told the publication.

Even if Trump were to renege on that position, there would also be the issue of age.

After marking his 78th birthday back in June, he’s already set to make history as the oldest U.S. president sworn into office on Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.

Trump would be 82 years old at the start of an improbable third term in 2028.