President-elect Donald Trump got laughs from Republicans in Congress on Wednesday when he joked around about serving more than two terms.
According to Politico congressional reporter Olivia Beavers, Trump jokingly told the GOP conference, "I suspect I won't be running again unless you say, 'He's so good we've got to figure something else out.'"
Trump is the second U.S. president to win reelection to serve a second, nonconsecutive term in the White House. The only other president to do so was Grover Cleveland, the 22nd U.S. president. He served from 1885 to 1889 and then leap-frogged to serve again as 25th president from 1893 to 1897.
Some may be wondering whether, since Trump won’t be serving his two terms consecutively, he could actually run again in 2028.
Can Trump run for president in 2028?
No. Trump is legally barred from running for a third term by the U.S. Constitution. The 22nd Amendment prohibits any president from serving more than two terms in the White House. This also applies to terms served nonconsecutively, as in Trump’s case.
The amendment states: "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once."
When was the term limit put in place?
The 22nd Amendment wasn't adopted into the U.S. Constitution until 1951 — meaning that during the time Grover Cleveland was president, he technically could have served more than his two nonconsecutive terms. The rule imposing term limits was ratified after Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to the White House an unprecedented four times: in 1932, 1936, 1940 and 1944.
Until that point, U.S. presidents honored a long tradition dating back to George Washington of a self-imposed two-term limit.
Could Trump change the 22nd Amendment?
Changing a constitutional amendment is a lengthy and involved process. It would require a two-thirds vote from both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Then it would need to be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures.
"In modern times, amendments have traditionally specified a time frame in which this must be accomplished, usually a period of several years," according to the White House website.