Steve Bannon, a long-time ally of Donald Trump, mentioned to Bill Maher that he has a team actively working on finding a legal way for Trump to potentially run for and secure a third term in the 2028 presidential election.
The notion of Trump serving a third term gained some consideration after the president himself discussed the possibility during a recent phone conversation with Kristen Welker, the host of NBC’s Meet the Press.
Maher’s interview with Bannon occurred shortly after the HBO comedian recounted a meeting with the president, describing it as “gracious and measured,” despite his history of being sharply critical of Trump.
However, it was not exactly as nice and clear cut with Bannon, who made Maher visibly uncomfortable when he spoke in detail about the plot for Trump to retain the White House in 2028.
‘President Trump is going to run for a third term and President Trump is going to be elected again. On the afternoon of January 20th, 2029, he’s going to be president of the United States,’ Bannon declared.
Maher responded by taking out a copy of the Constitution and reading the 22nd Amendment: ‘No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.’
Bannon, unmoved, pointed it out that he had initially brought up the idea of running for a third term and not Trump, though he has since spoken about it.
‘It seemed like there was no wriggle room there. It said only two times,’ Maher added.
Bannon then claimed he has a ‘team of people’ working on how to get around it, noting how often liberals had gone to court to challenge Trump’s own Constitutional rights.
He has faced ‘120 lawsuits on what President Trump is doing for his Article II rights,’ Bannon claimed.
Maher asked: ‘How can a team do something about that? I don’t care if the team is twelve trillion people, the words are still the words.’
He admitted ‘we’ve got long odds on this’ but said that there’s been long odds on Trump’s entire political run until this point and it hasn’t stopped him.
‘We’re gonna come out a third time. On the afternoon of the 20th of January, 2029, he’s gonna be president of the United States.’
Maher continued to be confused about going around the Constitution when Bannon took it and held it up.
‘The interpretation of this [the U.S. Constitution] is open for interpretation,’ he said.
Maher then took it back and re-read the entire amendment, before eventually agreeing to disagree with Bannon.
Just three days into Trump’s second term, Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican, sent out a proposal to amend the 22nd Amendment to open the door for a Trump third term.
Ogles’ Constitutional amendment would allow for Trump to run for a third term – but prohibit Obama from doing so, because the Democrat had already served two consecutive terms.
The other former two-term living presidents, Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton, also wouldn’t be eligible if this amendment was passed.
‘No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than three times, nor be elected to any additional term after being elected to two consecutive term,’ the text of the Ogles’ Amendment read.
There’s an incredibly high bar to pass a Constitutional amendment – as two-thirds of both the House and Senate would need to sign on – as well as three-fourths of the state legislatures.
With the current nearly 50/50 split in the country of Republicans and Democrats it’s extremely unlikely an amendment of this kind would pass – especially one that only aims to allow Trump to serve thrice.
Yet, when pressed by Kristen Welker on NBC, Trump seemed interested to see where it could go.
‘A lot of people want me to do it,’ the 78-year-old president said.
A chant of ‘four more years’ broke out at the White House last week during the president’s Greek Independence Day event.
‘But, I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration,’ he continued. ‘I’m focused on the current.’
When asked why he’d want another term, the president responded, ‘I like working.’
‘I’m not joking,’ he continued. ‘But I’m not – it is far too early to think about it.’
He was then asked if he’d been presented with plans on how to serve a third term.
‘There are methods which you could do it,’ he said.
He was asked about those comments on board Air Force One Sunday as he traveled back to Washington, D.C.
‘I don’t want to talk about a third term now because no matter how you look at it, you’ve got a long time to go,’ Trump said.
