President Donald Trump is “probably messing” with members of the media when he entertains the notion of a third term in the White House, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said on Monday.
The top lawmaker played down the idea after Trump told NBC News journalist Kristen Welker he was “not joking” about a third term — even though he added that “it is far too early to think about it.”
According to a report published by POLITICO, Thune said to reporters: “I think that you guys keep asking the question and I think he’s probably having some fun with it and probably messing with you.”
Thune also said Trump could not serve a third term “without a change in the Constitution” — as stipulated by the 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951 after President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to four terms.
Over the years, Trump has mused repeatedly about a third term. In January, Rep. Anthony Ogles (R-TN) actually introduced a House joint resolution to amend the Constitution to allow that to happen.
“If the man who created the disastrous ‘New Deal’ gets more than two terms, then the man who created the ‘Art of The Deal’ should get the same,” Ogles said on X with a “TrumpThirdTerm” hashtag.
Amending the Constitution needs a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate — or a convention triggered by two-thirds of state legislatures — followed by approval from 38 of 50 state legislatures or conventions.
Trump told Welker there were “methods” to make a third term happen. One hypothetical he acknowledged was Vice President JD Vance running at the top of the ticket and then passing the “baton” to him.
But pressed to follow up on whether he was serious about a third term, Trump told reporters on Air Force One, “I’m not looking at that, but I’ll tell you, I have had more people ask me to have a third term.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said reporters keep asking Trump about it and “then he answers honestly and candidly with a smile and then everybody here melts down about his answer.”
