US President Donald Trump says he is considering the possibility of a third term in the White House despite prohibition by the constitution.
Speaking in a telephone interview with NBC News on Sunday, Trump said “there are methods which you could do it,” adding that a lot of people want him to contest as the US president for the third term.
The US president said he had told those pushing for his third term in office that it is too early in his current administration.
“A lot of people want me to do it,” Trump said.
“But, I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know; it’s very early in the administration.
“I’m focused on the current… I’m not joking.”
Asked whether he had been presented with plans to allow him to seek a third term, the US president responded, “There are methods which you could do it”.
The US Constitution does not permit anyone to be elected to the office of the president more than twice, based on the 22nd amendment.
The 22nd amendment was proposed in 1947 and adopted in 1951. It was ratified to prevent the President Franklin Roosevelt scenario.
Roosevelt ran for the presidency and won four times (1933-1945). He died in 1945, less than 90 days after his fourth inauguration.
Afterwards, Americans welcomed George Washington’s proposition that any president who served more than two terms would likely morph into a king or dictator.
Washington is the founding father of the United States and the country’s first president.
In January, Andy Ogles, a Republican house member, introduced a bill seeking to allow Trump to run for a third term.
Ogles had claimed that Trump “has proven himself to be the only figure in modern history capable of reversing our nation’s decay and restoring America to greatness”.
Trump is currently serving his second term in office.
