Can Trump ask for a third term if he wins in November?

In a campaign event organised by the largest weapons lobby in the United States, Donald Trump suggested a third possible mandate, referring to four mandates of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who died in office in 1945.

About 16 years in office, four mandates. I don't know, will we have three mandates or two warrants, as you say?

In 1947 Congress adopted the 22nd Constitutional Amendment, which stipulated that presidents may have only two four-year terms. In 1951 he returned to law after being ratified by 36 of the 48 then states.

“Amendment restored to the law what had long been a political rate -- not to run for more than two terms of”, says Praveen Fernandes, vice president of the Centre for Constitutional Responsibilities.

He explains that the tradition of two mandates started with the first president of America, George Washington, who, although repeatedly asked to run for a third term, refused. As World War II began, Franklin Roosevelt broke the tradition in 1940 and won a fourth term in 1944.

Since the 22nd Amendment was adopted, six presidents have served two mandates. The latest was Barack Obama. Actor Robert De Niro, a supporter of President Joe Biden, labels Mr. Trump as a tyrant who wants to be president forever. If he enters the White House, I can tell you for sure he will never leave again. You know he'll never leave”, he says.

I want to be dictator for one day! Such statements by Mr. Trump in this election cycle come as he faces criminal charges for efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 elections. And that could be a sign of his next goal, says the constitutional expert, Fernandes. The “Comments Donald Trump recently made regarding a third mandate that certainly conflicts with the Constitution are another reason to worry about someone who does not feel limited by the clear formula of our laws”, he says.

An effort by former President Trump for a third term would require the abolition of the 22nd, with two-thirds of the vote in both Congress chambers and then ratification by at least 38 of the 50 states. Or 34 states can call for a constitutional constitution, and any action they adopt will have to be ratified by 38 states. Only once in American history has a constitutional amendment been abolished.

The 21st amendment, ratified in 1933, annulled the 18th Amendment adopted in 1919 that banned alcoholic beverages and had caused much disappointment. /Vosa