Summary
- Trump ruled out running for vice president in 2028 election.
- Called the VP gambit “too clever” and “not appropriate.”
- Supports VP JD Vance and Secretary Rubio as successors.
The 22nd amendment to the US Constitution states that no one may be tagged to the US administration a third time.
“I’d be allowed to do that,”
Trump said, in an exchange with reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, the latest leg of a five-day trip to Asia which he hopes to cap with an agreement on a trade war truce with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.
But he added:
“I wouldn’t do that. I think it’s too cute. Yeah, I would rule that out because it’s too cute. I think the people wouldn’t like that … It’s not – it wouldn’t be right.”
One way to get past this ban, according to others, would be for Trump to run as vice president while another candidate ran for president but quit, allowing Trump to take over as the number two candidate and win the presidency once more.
Whether this would be legal has been contested by opponents.
When pressed by a reporter whether he was not ruling out a third term, he said: “Am I not ruling it out? I mean you’ll have to tell me.”
He added:
“All I can tell you is that we have a great group of people, which they [the Democrats] don’t.”
Referring to JD Vance and the secretary of state,MarcoRubio, Trump also said they were great people who could run for the office.
“I think if they ever formed a group, it’d be unstoppable,”
he said.
“I really do. I believe that.”
These were Trump's most recent comments on the topic, which he has hinted at in public and with "Trump 2028" caps he distributes at the White House.
Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee and former US vice president who lost to Trump in November of last year, stated in the interview over the weekend that she was not done with politics and made it clear that she was thinking about running for president again, with a 2028 run not being ruled out.
Trump is set to attend the Apec and Asean trade conferences during his longest overseas trip since becoming office in January. He announced a series of trade and vital mineral agreements with four nations in Southeast Asia.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for President Xi and I think we’re going to come away with a deal,”
Trump said before landing in Tokyo.
He also said he would like to meet up again with the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un.
What legal barriers prevent a president from returning via a VP resignation?
The 22nd Correction limits a person from being tagged chairman further than doubly. A chairman who has served two tagged terms can not be tagged again, which blocks the idea of running as vice chairman as a means to circumvent the two- term limit and also ascending to the administration by abdication of the chairman.
The 25th Correction governs presidential disability and race. It allows the vice chairman to become acting chairman if the chairman is unfit to discharge duties temporarily (Section 4) or completely succeeds if the chairman resigns, dies, or is removed (Section 1).
Still, if a chairman resigns after two terms and becomes vice chairman, the vice chairman only assumes the administration if the chairman vacates office. The amendments don't stamp the two term election limit.