President Donald Trump told a rally crowd in Sioux City, Iowa, on Thursday night that he believes he has “the right to run again” for president, moments after acknowledging that the Constitution appears to bar him from seeking a third term.
Trump was in Iowa to boost Republican candidates in the final stretch before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, including Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for Senate against Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek in a race NBC News rates as a toss-up.
“There’s not a lot of wiggle room”
“I don’t know who’s going to be your next president,” Trump said, according to Newsweek. “And I think the law says, I’m not 100 percent sure, but I think the law says that I’m not allowed to run again.”
He added that he had looked closely at the restriction. “I’ve studied that phrase forever,” the 80-year-old president said. “Unfortunately, it’s quite concise. There’s not a lot of wiggle room.”
Then came the pivot
Moments later, Trump offered a justification for running anyway, built on his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
“They cheated us on the second one, because we won it three times,” Trump said, as reported by NBC News. “I think I have the right to run again because they cheated. They cheated. They rigged the election.”
Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. There is no evidence that fraud changed the outcome of that election.
What the Constitution actually says
The 22nd Amendment is blunt: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” Trump was elected in 2016 and again in 2024, so another run would collide directly with that two-term limit. The amendment contains no exception for a candidate who believes an earlier election was unfair.
Not the first time
Trump has repeatedly flirted with a third term. According to Newsweek, he told reporters in August that he would “love to run, but the law is very strong.” At the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in July, he wore a red “Trump 2028” hat and told the audience, “I won three times. Now, I’m going to do it again.” He has also shared “Trump 2028” imagery on social media, while some allies have floated ways he could stay in power past January 2029.
Some supporters argue he is simply trolling Democrats, the Daily Mail noted. But Thursday’s remarks went further than before by offering a specific reason he thinks the rules shouldn’t apply to him.
A “Man of the Century” award, too
At the same rally, Iowa state Rep. Joe Mitchell, who is running for Congress in Iowa’s 2nd District, joined Trump onstage to present him with a certificate for what Mitchell called a new “Man of the Century Award.” Trump thanked him and accepted it, NBC News reported.
The backdrop: record-low approval
Trump heads into the final days of the midterm campaign with his approval rating deep underwater, including a record-low 32 percent among U.S. adults in a CNN/SSRS poll and 36 percent among likely voters in a New York Times/Siena poll, according to Newsweek. With control of Congress on the line on Nov. 3, his comments put the question of presidential term limits back in the spotlight.