Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, declared in an interview published Thursday that Trump will serve a third term as president in 2028, claiming the president’s inner circle has developed a plan to circumvent the constitutional prohibition against such a move.
“He’s gonna get a third term. Trump is gonna be president in ‘28 and people ought to just get accommodated with that,” Bannon told The Economist’s editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes and deputy editor Ed Carr in a wide-ranging interview released Thursday. “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.”
Constitutional barrier
The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1951, explicitly states: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice”. The amendment was adopted following President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s unprecedented four-term presidency, which ended with his death in office in 1945. To repeal or amend the provision, a two-thirds majority in both chambers of Congress would be required, along with ratification by three-quarters of the 50 states—a threshold considered virtually impossible in the current political environment.
When asked about the constitutional barrier, Bannon suggested there are “many different alternatives” to allow Trump to remain in power beyond the two-term limit, though he declined to provide specifics. Constitutional law experts have dismissed such claims as legally unfounded, with Jeremy Paul, a professor at Northeastern University, stating, “there are no credible legal arguments for him to run for a third term”.
Trump’s own statements
Trump has repeatedly hinted at pursuing a third term throughout 2025, though he has offered mixed signals about how serious the effort might be. In March, Trump told NBC News, “I’m not joking” about seeking a third term, adding that “there are methods which you could do it,” though he did not elaborate. The president, who turned 78 at his January 2025 inauguration, would be 82 years old if he were to assume office for a hypothetical third term following the 2028 election.
In statements to reporters aboard Air Force One in March, Trump claimed, “I have had more people ask me to have a third term, which in a way is a fourth term because the other election, the 2020 election was totally rigged,” referencing his false claims about the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden. The White House gift shop has sold “Trump 2028” baseball caps promoting the idea since early in Trump’s second term.
Bannon’s divine providence claims
In the Thursday interview, Bannon characterized Trump as “a vehicle of divine providence,” telling The Economist that extending Trump’s presidency represents “the will of the American people”. “He’s not perfect. He’s not churchy, not particularly religious, but he’s an instrument of divine will. And you could tell this by how he’s been able to pull this off,” Bannon said. “We need him for at least one more term, right? And he’ll get that in ‘28.”
Bannon, who served as Trump’s chief strategist during the first months of his initial term before being fired, has remained a prominent figure in the MAGA movement through his “War Room” podcast. He previously spent time in federal prison for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House January 6 Committee investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Supreme Court justices reject idea
Two Supreme Court justices—conservative Amy Coney Barrett and senior liberal Sonia Sotomayor—appeared to shut down speculation about a third Trump term during separate public appearances in September. Barrett, whom Trump appointed during his first term, told Fox News that the 22nd Amendment’s language is unambiguous. “That’s what the amendment states, right?” Barrett said when asked if the amendment restricts a president’s time in office.
Democratic response
Rep. Daniel Goldman, a New York Democrat who served as lead counsel during Trump’s first impeachment, called Bannon’s statements “yet another escalation in his clear effort to take over the government and dismantle our democracy”. Goldman urged Congressional Republicans to “go on the record opposing Trump’s ambitions for a third term” if they believe in the Constitution.
Kimberly Wehle, a University of Baltimore law professor and constitutional expert, told Axios: “Why would there be a 22nd Amendment if it’s inoperative? If the whole time it was meant to just set up some kind of game that could be outmaneuvered through tricky lawyering, that to me is not a legitimate or ethical position”.
