When Republicans took control of Congress in 1947, they remained angry that President Franklin Roosevelt won his fourth term in 1944, and they set out to pass a constitutional amendment that would limit future presidents to two terms. Tennessee Republican John Jennings stood on the floor of the House and said the 22nd Amendment must be carried out to prevent dictators from taking over the country.
“If a person might be president in the number of terms, it could be time for the vault ambitious people to become president,” said Mr. Jennings on February 6, 1947. Such a man, supported by a “copy of Congress” and a compliant Supreme Court, could “sweep and overturn the safeguards of that Constitution.” Without such laws, the president can use the enormous power of the office to tilt the political system and win re-election. Ultimately, the president may be as effective as a king, not subject to the constitutional checks and balances.
In the decades after the country ratified the 1951 22nd Amendment, members of both sides occasionally violated their restrictions, but until recently, they had escaped the restrictions without publicly serving as president. Mr. Jennings’ warning on the House floor now looks prophetic: President Trump is an ambitious man. Congress largely succumbed to his agenda. He kept mentioning the idea of the third semester.
“I doubt I won’t run anymore unless you say, ‘He’s so good, we have to figure out something.’” he said shortly after being re-elected last November. Although the Republicans in the room laughed at the time, he said in March that he was not “joking” and that “there are ways to do it.”
He seemed to step back from the idea and reiterate it over the past weekend. “As far as I know, this is something you don't allow to do that,” Trump told NBC News, but then he claimed again that the decision was his decision. “Well, there are many ways,” he said. His website has continued to sell “Trump 2028” merchandise, which includes baseball caps, $50 and $36 per person, T-shirts that claim to “rewrite the rules.”
Maybe it's this conversation Mainly a tactical attempt to stop being a stigma of a lassie duck. The response of Congressional Republicans was partly through a light disagreement, partly because of treating the idea as a joke. “The constitution is not without changes,” Majority Leader John Thune told reporters in March, adding: “I think you're asking this question all the time, and I think he might be playing with this question and might be with you.”
But Mr. Trump's third fantasy is more dangerous than this reaction suggests and deserves a more powerful challenge. After all, he has a history that uses seemingly eccentric speculation to push his true preferences (such as overturning election results) to mainstream discourse. He tests the boundaries to see what restrictions are actually implemented. Even if he stays away from provocation, he often succeeds in raising doubts about these restrictions. His actions are consistent with the president, and he does want to appoint a third term, if not more, and keeps coming up with the idea in a bid to satisfy Americans.
More broadly, Mr. Trump repeatedly showed disdain for the constitutional check of the president's power. He ignored part of the judge's ruling, deported immigrants without due process, and tried to eliminate the 14th Amendment's right to birth citizenship through executive orders. All of these actions show that he wants to exert strength without restrictions.
The proper response to the rest of the political system, especially the Republican members of Congress, the governor and others, is not to laugh at his meditation. This is to ensure the clarity of the law: Mr. Trump is banned from his third term.
22nd AmendmentTo be specific, no one must be “elected” in the presidential office more than twice, but it does not mean that no presidential service can be no more than twice. This has long led to an academic living room game: Can a term-limited president run for vice president and then hand it over to the Oval Office when his running partner resigns? Mr Trump said it was a way for him to return to the president.
However, another amendment – the twelfth – seems to rule out this possibility. His last sentence declared: “No one is qualified for the President's Office in the Constitution and should be qualified for the Vice President of the United States.” The two amendments jointly stated that Mr. Trump cannot take office for more than his current term.
Republican politicians and conservative legal scholars often talk about the original intentions of the constitutional authors, and in this case, this intention is clear. The 22nd Amendment aims to limit the president to two terms. “Eight years are enough for a good president, and four years are too bad,” said Edward McCowen, a Republican representative in Ohio, during a 1947 House debate.
For decades since 1951, politicians from both sides have occasionally called for the abolition of 22-film amendments, including Harry Truman and Mitch McConnell. But they did not argue that the amendment was not clear or could be simply escaped. They recognize that those who disagree with the law should follow legal procedures to change the law. If Mr. Trump and his aides think they have Congress and states, they are free to start abolishing the campaign. What they shouldn't do is pretend that any part of the Constitution is a suggestion. This is the law.
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