Pam Bondi, Trump loyalist and top law enforcement official, expresses skepticism about recent third-term talk<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pam Bondi<\/a>, the US attorney general, has expressed skepticism about the idea of Donald Trump<\/a> serving a third term<\/a> in the White House, saying that when her boss\u2019s current presidency ends on 20 January 2029, he is probably \u201cgoing to be finished\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bondi\u2019s comments come just a week after Trump gave his most blunt indication yet that he was seriously considering trying for a third term to follow up ones that began in 2017 and this past January \u2013 despite the clear prohibition against doing so enshrined in the US constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an interview broadcast on 30 March, the US president told NBC News<\/a> that \u201cI\u2019m not joking\u201d about the idea of a third term, adding: \u201cI like working.\u201d Asked how he could get around what appears to be a watertight two-term cap for any individual president, he said: \u201cThere are methods which you could do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bondi\u2019s take on the controversy carries weight because she is the top law enforcement official in the US and also a Trump loyalist whose devotion to the president is unquestioned. She told Fox News Sunday that in her opinion the president was a \u201cvery smart man, and we, I wish we could have him for 20 years as our president\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She then added: \u201cBut I think he\u2019s going to be finished, probably, after this term. We\u2019d have to look at the constitution, and it would be a heavy lift.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two-term limit was set into stone in 1951 with the ratification by the states of the 22nd amendment<\/a>. It says that \u201cno person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The restriction was introduced in the wake of Franklin Roosevelt\u2019s unprecedented record of serving three full presidential terms during the second world war. He won a fourth term but died in 1945 just one year into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bondi\u2019s comment that it would be a \u201cheavy lift\u201d for Trump to overcome the two-term rule was a reference to what it would take to change the US constitution and revoke the 22nd amendment. Any reform to the text of the constitution requires a two-thirds vote from both chambers of Congress, combined with ratification by three-quarters of the 50 states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In today\u2019s highly polarized political world, such a scenario is beyond imagination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Constitutional change aside, Trump\u2019s cryptic remarks about other \u201cmethods\u201d have prompted speculation<\/a> about his intentions. One tactic that has attracted some attention would be for the vice-president, JD Vance, to run as Republican presidential candidate in 2028, with Trump as his running mate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, the theory goes, should the Vance-Trump ticket win the presidential election, Vance could step down on day one of the new term and Trump would then automatically become president for the third time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The strategy has an appealing simplicity. There is a major snag, however.<\/p>\n\n\n\n