• Steve Bannon told The Economist there’s a “plan” for Trump to serve as president in 2028, calling him an “instrument of divine will.”
• The 22nd Amendment explicitly prohibits anyone from being elected president more than twice, making a third term unconstitutional.
• Legal scholars and constitutional experts call any loophole theories “implausible” and say Trump would “have to openly break the law.”

WASHINGTON (TDR) — Steve Bannon, one of President Donald Trump’s most influential allies, declared in a striking interview that there’s already a plan in place for Trump to remain in the White House beyond 2028—despite clear constitutional prohibitions against a third presidential term.

Divine Providence and Political Reality

Speaking to The Economist editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes and deputy editor Ed Carr, Bannon described Trump’s potential third term as an inevitability that Americans should simply accept. The former White House chief strategist, who served during the first seven months of Trump’s initial presidency, framed the proposition in religious terms.

“He’s gonna get a third term. Trump is gonna be president in ’28, and people just ought to get accommodated with that,” Bannon said. He described Trump as “a vehicle of divine providence” and “an instrument” whose mission requires completion.

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When pressed by Beddoes about the 22nd Amendment, which explicitly states “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice,” Bannon remained undeterred. “There’s many different alternatives. At the appropriate time, we’ll lay out what the plan is, but there’s a plan and President Trump will be the president in ’28,” he insisted.

“The country needs him to be President of the United States. We have to finish what we started. We need him for at least one more term,” Bannon said.

Constitutional Roadblocks

Legal scholars overwhelmingly reject the notion that Trump could legitimately serve a third term without fundamentally violating the Constitution. David Schultz, a constitutional law professor at Hamline University, was blunt in his assessment: “Trump may not want to rule out a third term but the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution does.”

The amendment was ratified in 1951 after President Franklin D. Roosevelt broke the two-term tradition established by George Washington and won four consecutive elections. Republicans and Democrats alike agreed that codifying presidential term limits was essential to preventing what they called “elective monarchy.”

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Jeremy Paul, a Northeastern University law professor, said any attempt to circumvent the amendment would require Trump to “openly break the law.” He called arguments about potential loopholes “ludicrous.”

Several theories have circulated about how Trump might attempt to return to power. The most prominent involves Trump running as vice president on a ticket headed by Vice President JD Vance, with Vance then resigning after inauguration to allow Trump to assume the presidency through succession rather than election.

Loopholes That Likely Don’t Exist

Michael Rosin, a constitutional scholar, dismissed this theory outright, explaining that with the 22nd Amendment in place, Trump “cannot be elected President again and therefore he cannot be elected Vice President.” The 12th Amendment reinforces this, stating that “no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligible to that of vice-president.”

Ilya Somin, a George Mason University law professor, said “the best interpretation” of the constitutional language “is that Trump is ineligible to become president for a third term.”

The only legitimate path would be amending the Constitution—a nearly impossible feat requiring two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate, plus ratification by three-quarters of state legislatures. Stephen Sachs, a Harvard Law professor, called this “impossibly difficult,” noting that Republicans currently hold only 218 House seats, 53 Senate seats, and 28 state legislatures—far short of the supermajorities required.

Tennessee Republican Rep. Andy Ogles introduced a resolution in January proposing a constitutional amendment tailored specifically for Trump, allowing presidents to serve three terms if the first two weren’t consecutive. The proposal has attracted “a great deal more attention than is warranted by its chances of passage,” Sachs said flatly.

Not the First Time

This isn’t the first time Bannon or Trump have floated the idea. In March, Trump told NBC News he was “not joking” about potentially seeking a third term, claiming there were “methods” to make it happen. Bannon echoed similar sentiments in a NewsNation interview earlier this month, saying “there are many different alternatives” to ensure Trump appears on the 2028 ballot.

Trump has also been selling “Trump 2028” merchandise and posting memes about running for president in future elections. An Economist/YouGov poll found that 70 percent of Americans don’t want Trump to pursue a third term, yet 52 percent expect him to try anyway.

Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus of constitutional law at Harvard University, suggested the Supreme Court—despite its conservative majority and three Trump appointees—would unanimously strike down any third-term attempt. “The court is extremely pro-Trump, but it’s not insane,” Tribe said. “This Court would vote nine to nothing that the 22nd Amendment is what it says and means what it was intended to mean.”

However, Aziz Huq, a constitutional scholar at the University of Chicago Law School, expressed concern about a different scenario: Trump simply ignoring the Constitution entirely. “I think the question is, ‘who stands behind the law? Are the relevant actors going to enforce the law?'” Huq said, pointing to instances where the Trump administration has already appeared to defy court orders.

Beddoes, who conducted the Bannon interview, said afterward on X that she found the conversation “fascinating and alarming in almost equal measure.”

Should Americans take seriously the repeated suggestions from Trump and his allies about a third term, or are these just political provocations? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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