WASHINGTON, D.C. — “Trump 2028” hats and T-shirts are now being sold on President Trump’s merchandise website, The Trump Store.
The hats are being sold for $50 and the T-shirts, which also feature the phrase “Rewrite the Rules” are being sold for $36.
Trump has made numerous comments about running for a third term.
Historically, however, the election of a president more than twice is prohibited under the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution, which states, “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 has told NBC in an interview that there “are methods which you could do it,” and that he’s “not joking.”
Most constitutional scholars agree the Constitution is clear in its intent to prohibit third-term presidents, but admit there are some loopholes with the language that could be exploited since the 22nd Amendment says a president can’t be “elected” more than twice — not that they can’t hold office more than twice.
One of the methods that’s been floated would be having Trump run for vice president and then having the president step down. The 12th amendment would seemingly prevent this, stating that “No person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.” However, experts say a lawyer could argue there’s only three presidential eligibility requirements outlined in the Constitution: you have to be a natural born citizen, at least 35 years old, and a U.S. resident for at least 14 years.
Another avenue would be to amend the Constitution and abolish the two-term limit.
Experts say this would be a longshot though, requiring either a two-thirds vote from Congress or two-thirds of the states to agree to a constitutional convention. If that were to happen, the amendment would need approval from three-quarters of the states to be ratified.
