US election 2024
“Four years and beyond”: Donald Trump talks about a longer presidency
If he is re-elected, will he stick with just one term? Former President Donald Trump is flirting with significantly more – and would thereby violate the US Constitution.
© Carolyn Kaster / DPA
It’s just two words from Donald Trump and yet they make you sit up and take notice. At a rally before the start of the Iowa caucuses, he hinted at a longer term.
Donald Trump loves playing with fire and provocation. The ex-president recently stated that he could imagine being at one To become a dictator again – if only for a day. Before the Iowa caucuses begin on Monday, Trump is once again in conflict with the US Constitution. At a recent rally, Trump declared to cheers from his supporters that he had “a good chance of being in charge for four years and beyond.” The words “further” cause a stir because the US Constitution prevents Trump from being president for more than another four years. The 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in February 1951, stipulates that a President of the United States may not serve the country for more than two terms. Since Trump was already in office from 2016 to 2020, he would only be eligible for another term in office.
With his statement, Trump is taking up old fantasies of omnipotence from his presidency – and increasing fears of a second term in office. During his first term in office, the 77-year-old flirted with a longer period in the highest US office. In March 2018, CNN reported on a meeting between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago, during which Trump was said to have highly praised Xi’s lifetime presidency. “He’s now president for life. That’s excellent, maybe we should try that too,” Trump is said to have said.
Donald Trump flirted with further terms in office as early as 2018
The following year, the then president publicly talked about significantly extending his term in office. On the very day that then-special counsel Robert Mueller published his investigative report into Trump’s campaign team’s ties to the Russian government and possible influence on the 2016 election, Trump didn’t take long to add fuel to the fire. At a veterans event, the president was awarded a trophy for his support. “She’ll find a permanent place in the Oval Office, at least for the next six years. Are you okay with that?” Trump said, adding after some laughter: “I was going to joke and say for the next 10 or 14 years, but “That would cause unrest again. That’s why I say six years.”
It’s Donald Trump’s game: Provoke with statements and wait for the reactions and then react exactly to them. The debate about the “dictator” statement from the beginning of December could now be followed by another about the extension of his possible second term in office and the associated suspension of the US Constitution.
Sources: CNN, Washington Post