Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has claimed that there are plans underway to help President Donald Trump secure a third term in office, despite the U.S. Constitution’s 22nd Amendment limiting presidents to two.
In an interview with The Economist, Bannon boldly declared that Trump would return to the White House in 2028. “He’s gonna get a third term, Trump ’28, Trump is gonna be president ’28, so people just ought to get accommodated with that,” he said.
When The Economist’s editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes asked about the constitutional barrier posed by the 22nd Amendment, Bannon responded, “There are 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.”
Bannon argued that Trump has faced and overcome longer odds in the past, referring to his 2016 and 2024 victories. “The country needs him to be President of the United States. We have to finish what we started,” he said.
He went further, calling Trump “an instrument of divine will” despite acknowledging that the president is “not churchy” or “particularly religious.” Bannon continued, “You can tell this from how he’s pulled this off. We need him for at least one more term, and he’ll get that in ’28.”
Bannon’s comments align with similar rhetoric from within Trump’s circle, including from Trump himself. The president has repeatedly hinted at the possibility of a third term. Earlier this week, he shared a video on Truth Social showing him in office not only through 2032 but indefinitely.
In a March interview with NBC News, Trump claimed that “a lot of people” wanted him to pursue a third term. He said he was “focused on the current [term]” but added that “there are methods that you could do it.”
When asked to elaborate, Trump suggested one option might involve Vice President JD Vance running for president and then transferring power back to him, saying, “That’s one, but there are others, too.” He declined to provide further details.
Constitutional experts have cautioned against dismissing such claims outright. Former Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe wrote on X in March that the 22nd Amendment “doesn’t bar serving a 3d term, only being elected 3 times.” Tribe added that the 12th Amendment, which governs presidential succession, “doesn’t bar running for VP unless ‘ineligible’ to serve as President, but Trump isn’t ineligible.”
While no credible legal path exists for Trump to serve a third term under current law, Bannon’s comments have reignited debate over the durability of America’s constitutional limits and the rhetoric surrounding Trump’s political ambitions.