MAGA allies plot path for Trump to buck the Constitution and stay in power for a third term
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Longtime Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon touted a legal theory that could allow Donald Trump to defy the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution and try to remain in office even after the completion of his second term. Bannon, who was spotted at Mar-a-Lago with Trump early this month, promoted the idea in a speed at the New York Young Republicans Club.
![[Trump told House Republicans 'I suspect I won’t be running again, unless you do something']](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/16/15/93197925-14197937-image-a-2_1734362767125.jpg)
'Donald John Trump is going to raise his hand on the King James Bible and take the oath of office – his third victory and his second term,' Bannon told the crowd at a weekend gala. Then he floated a legal theory that argues that the 22nd Amendment – ratified in 1951 after Franklin Roosevelt was elected to his fourth term and – would not prohibit such a move so long as the terms weren't 'consecutive.'.
![[Bannon cited conservative Republican lawyer Mike Davis, a former Senate aide, as touting a loophole in the 22nd Amendment that could allow Trump to serve a third term since his first and second terms are not 'consecutive']](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/16/15/93197923-14197937-image-a-3_1734362782098.jpg)
'And the viceroy Mike Davis tells me, since it doesn't actually say "consecutive," that, I don't know, maybe we do it again in '28? Are you guys down for that? Trump '28? Come on man!'. Bannon's idea drew a roar of approval from the crowd who gathered for the event.
His comment that it was Trump's 'third victory' also suggests that he won in 2020, although he lost to Joe Biden by about 7 million votes. It was among the most elaborate descriptions of a third-term scenario by a Trump insider – although it is far from the only time it has come up. Bannon served as chief White House strategist in Trump's first term. He made jokes at the event about his recent release from federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena.
