American Presidents are plainly meant to be term-limited. The Twenty-Second Amendment, ratified in 1951, spells it out: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
Donald Trump has sometimes sung a different tune, though. In March, he told NBC News that “there are methods” by which he could continue serving past the end of his term, and that he was “not joking.” Riffing on this, the Trump Organization’s website began selling “Trump 2028” paraphernalia. More recently, the former Trump aide Steve Bannon told The Economist that Trump is going to stay in office, and that “there is a plan” for Trump to sidestep term limits, which would be revealed “at the appropriate time.”
Whether Trump is serious (as opposed to just trolling the opposition and staving off lame-duck talk), the uncertainty he has created presents an opportunity to shut down this possibility once and for all. The issue here is not about Trump per se—or Barack Obama, for that matter—but rather about shoring up presidential term limits as a meaningful provision of the U.S. Constitution.
From the December 2025 issue: President for life
These questions are legal ones, but the best solutions are political. If an actual case ever arises, courts may struggle to resolve the matter without causing massive political unr
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