'Not joking': Why Donald Trump is repeatedly talking about a third term

US President Donald Trump has openly mused about serving a third term, brushing off the 22nd Amendment’s clear prohibition and declaring recently, “I’m not joking.” In an NBC interview, he even hinted at unspecified “methods” that could allow him to stay in power beyond 2029.
While Trump has often used provocations to troll critics or dominate headlines, this time feels different. He sounds serious — and that has legal scholars, political strategists, and democracy advocates paying attention.
Why it matters

This isn’t just about ego or political theatre. Trump’s repeated third-term teases fit a pattern seen in countries where leaders dismantle democratic norms to hold on to power. From Russia to China to Turkey, term limits have become mere suggestions — and Trump, who’s already bent many American norms, appears intrigued by that model.
He’s long admired authoritarian leaders, from Vladimir Putin to China’s Xi Jinping to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. All have one thing in common: they’ve either abolished term limits or rule with no real political competition.
As Trump himself once said of Xi, “He’s now president for life… maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday.”

The big picture

Trump’s fascination with authoritarian strongmen isn’t new. But in the context of a second term where he’s already consolidating power, weakening institutional resistance, and facing no internal GOP challenge, his third-term talk hits differently.
Putin sidestepped term limits by becoming prime minister before returning to the presidency and later rewrote the rules entirely.
Xi amended China’s constitution in 2018 to remove the two-term limit, clearing the way to rule indefinitely.
Erdogan in Turkey used constitutional changes and a new presidential system to entrench power.
Orbán in Hungary has manipulated courts and elections to turn a democracy into a one-party state in all but name.
Trump isn’t hiding his admiration. He calls them “tough” and “smart” and frequently contrasts their power with what he claims are the shackles of American democracy.

What they’re saying

“There are methods by which you could do it, as you know,” Trump told NBC. He did not elaborate. “I’m not joking.”
“Don’t underestimate Donald Trump’s willingness not only to socialize the unthinkable in American politics but actually to act on it,” said Susan Glasser, New Yorker journalist and author on Putin.
“It reads like somebody who doesn’t want to be treated like a lame duck,” said Derek Muller, Notre Dame law professor.
Even some Republicans are publicly brushing off the idea. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Trump was “probably having some fun with it.” Others, like Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), are taking steps — proposing a constitutional amendment to allow non-consecutive three-term presidencies, tailored specifically to Trump.

Look, you guys continue to ask the president this question about a third term, and then he answers honestly and candidly with a smile, and then everybody here melts down about his answer. “It’s not really something we’re thinking about. He has four years. There’s a lot of work to do. We’ve done a lot, nearly for 100 days. And the American people love what this president is doing.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary

Floating the impossible, freezing the field
It’s a pattern Trump has refined over years in public life. Say the outrageous. Let the media chase it. Watch his rivals squirm. The more he repeats the idea of a third term, the more it does exactly what he wants: it keeps Republican challengers at bay, distracts from scandals, and re-centers himself in the political universe.
“It reads like somebody who doesn’t want to be treated like a lame duck,” Derek Muller, a constitutional law professor at Notre Dame, told the NYT. And he’s right. For Trump, “lame duck” is a fate worse than losing. It means losing the spotlight, the leverage, the illusion of inevitability.
By teasing the idea of sticking around past 2029, Trump discourages potential successors from gaining momentum. Noem, DeSantis, Vance—why take the risk of running a national campaign when Trump might simply decide he’s not done?
As per a NYT report, this strategy was laid bare when Trump’s musings coincided with a news cycle dominated by an embarrassing leak: top Trump advisers had accidentally included a journalist in a private Signal chat discussing a military operation. The media was primed to dig into the implications. Instead, the oxygen shifted to a new circus: What if Trump runs again?
What seemed laughable in 2016 is now a live national conversation. If Trump can convince millions of Americans that the Constitution is flexible, that the presidency is his birthright, and that elections are optional — then the third term may not need to be legal. It just needs to be normalized.
“You won’t have to vote anymore,” Trump once said at a rally. “It will be fixed.” That line — half-laugh, half-threat — may say more about his third-term ambitions than any formal plan ever could.
The authoritarian playbook

The impulse to cling to power is not unique to Trump. What’s more concerning is how familiar his behavior has become, a CNN report said.
Susan Glasser, a New Yorker writer and Putin biographer, called it “socializing the unthinkable”—pushing past norms until the impossible starts to feel plausible. This is how authoritarianism creeps in: not with coups, but with drift.
Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, once seen as a European reformer, turned his democracy into a one-party state through a mix of legal manipulation, court-packing, and media intimidation. Trump has praised Orbán too.
The American system has guardrails. But guardrails don’t matter if they’re not enforced—and Trump has spent much of his time in office weakening those very institutions that could stop him. He’s attacked the judiciary, threatened universities, punished law firms that oppose him, and floated executive orders to federalize election oversight.

The destruction of the civil service is already under way, pressure on the press and universities has begun, and thoughts of changing the Constitution are in the air… America is spinning quickly in the direction of Hungarian populism, Hungarian politics, and Hungarian justice. But that means Hungarian stagnation, Hungarian corruption, and Hungarian poverty lie in our future too.

Anne Applebaum in Atlantic in an article titled ‘America’s Future Is Hungary’

The legal reality

The Constitution’s 22nd Amendment is unambiguous: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
As per a WSJ report, Trump’s allies have floated workarounds: running as VP and then taking over, serving as Speaker and ascending through resignations — but constitutional scholars say none of those hold up.
The 12th Amendment blocks anyone ineligible for the presidency from being vice president.
A constitutional amendment to allow a third term would require two-thirds support in Congress and ratification by 38 states — mathematically out of reach in today’s polarized climate.
Still, Trump doesn’t have to succeed legally to win politically. As he’s shown repeatedly, the spectacle is often the point.

What’s next
Trump will likely continue teasing a third term, both to rally his base and to maintain his dominance over a distracted political class. His allies, like Steve Bannon, hint they’re “working on” legal avenues — despite the overwhelming constitutional roadblocks.
“A man like this comes along once every century,” Bannon told NewsNation. “We’re working on it… a couple of alternatives.”
Whether serious or symbolic, the implications are real for American democracy.
(With inputs from agencies)