Top Republicans shrug off Trump's third-term musings
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President Trump speaks to reporters on Air Force One while on a return trip to Washington, D.C., on March 30. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Top Republicans in Congress are dismissing out of hand President Trump's suggestion that he is "not joking" about running for a third term.
Why it matters: While they didn't push back forcefully, Republicans are at least clear-eyed about the severe Constitutional and political hurdles the president would face.
- "A lot of people want me to do it," Trump told NBC News' Kristen Welker in a phone call Sunday, claiming that "there are methods which you could do it."
- Asked by the news outlet about having Vice President JD Vance run, pick Trump as his running mate and then resign, Trump reportedly responded: "That's one, but there are others too."
What they're saying: House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) when asked about the idea of a Vance-Trump ticket, exclaimed, "I've never heard of anything like that before."
- "I find it too fanciful to really discuss seriously," he added, expressing skepticism that Trump could get the necessary votes in Congress or the states to amend the Constitution.
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), asked if he believes Trump could run for a third term, replied, "Not without a change to the Constitution."
Between the lines: The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution states that "no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice."
- Trump running as vice president has been floated by some Republicans as a way to circumvent that language.
- Legal scholars told Axios' Avery Lotz, however, that the 12th Amendment's prohibition on "constitutionally ineligible" individuals serving as president could at least lead to lawsuits if he were elected a third time.
Zoom in: Republicans also suggested they aren't taking Trump nearly as seriously as he seems to be taking himself.
- "You guys keep asking the question," Thune told reporters. "I think he's probably having some fun with it, probably messing with you."
- House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) compared Trump's third-term comments to his proposals to annex Greenland and the Panama Canal: "There's a lot of things the president talks about. ... It gets people talking."
- But Scalise told reporters, "There's no proposal to change the Constitution right now."
What to watch: Trump's remarks could galvanize a sustained effort by his right-wing loyalists in Congress to fight for such a vote anyway — similar to the dynamic around impeaching federal judges.
- Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) introduced a constitutional amendment to allow any president who has served two non-consecutive terms to seek a third.
- That would allow Trump to run again, but not former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush or Barack Obama.
— Axios' Stef W. Kight contributed reporting.
