Expert shares three ways Donald Trump could run for third term as president following warning from former advisor

As Donald Trump’s former advisor shares a warning, an expert has revealed the three ways the Republican could run for a third term.

Yeah, under their own laws, that’s simply just not allowed. The US constitution explicitly prohibits anyone from running for a third term as President.

But in a move that doesn’t exactly surprise anyone, Trump says he’s ‘not joking’ about being a change to that.

And after ‘Trump 2028’ merch hit the market, the 78-year-old’s ex-advisor Steve Bannon says the team are considering ‘many different alternatives’ to get him back in office a third time.

He said on the Apocalypse Now? podcast that Trump ‘is going to be eligible, is going to run again and will win again.' According to law professor and author Danny Karon, there are three possible ways Trump could try and do this.

Bannon was once the White House's chief strategist for Trump. (Shannon Finney/Getty Images for Semafor)

Bannon’s warning

The former political strategist said: “There are methods which you could do it.”

Bannon seemed pretty sure that ‘on the afternoon of the 20 January of 2029’, Trump will be in the White House ‘signing executive orders’.

Bannon also discussed his belief in Trump claiming the presidency title despite the constitution during an interview with NewsNation.

"We have many different alternatives to make sure President Trump on the afternoon of January 2029 is the President of the United States, many different alternatives," the former investment banker said.

"And we will roll those out over time."

Method One: The Vance Presidency

Trump commented that this is ‘one’ way he might run for a third term as Karon tells LADbible that while it might be simple, it has its problems.

In this scenario, JD Vance would run for office with Trump down as his vice president nominee, only to then tesign from his role and let the rules on replacing US presidents kick in.

“They're both elected, then Vance resigns and Trump becomes president, and then he chooses JD Vance to become vice [president]. They just flip roles,” the professor explains.

But this would go against the 12^th Amendment which says ‘no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president, shall be eligible to that vice president of the United States.'

Karon says: "So you might be thinking if you can't become president because of the 22nd Amendment, how could he become vice president?

“What's interesting to observe is that the 12th Amendment was written long before the 22nd Amendment's two term limit, and probably in context, refers to the minimum age requirement for eligibility, 35 years old citizenship, naturally born citizen.

"Those were the elements necessary for eligibility back then. So maybe we're not talking about the same thing.

“But then, if you go back to the 22nd Amendment, the 22nd Amendment prohibits Trump from being elected president more than once. Yet, in the scenario he wouldn't be elected President, he would have been elected Vice President.

“So it goes back and forth between the 12th and 22nd Amendments, and who knows how it would turn out with the Supreme Court."

Vance could be the key. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Method Two: Selected, not elected

Following this option, Karon says Trump ‘wouldn’t have been elected’, instead he would have ‘been chosen, been selected, not elected’, which doesn’t go against the 22^nd Amendment.

So he's not elected to anything, not even Vice President, then Vance quits and Trump becomes [the] president who succeeds Vance, but not through election."

As with before, there’d probably be a lot of Supreme Court wrangling over whether this would even be allowed, but the expert warns things could get very messy, saying: "The problem with going to the Supreme Court these days is what kind of teeth does the Supreme Court really have?"

Realistically, Karon says ‘we don’t know how it would go’ and it ‘concerns’ him.

Method Three: You don’t have the votes

You don’t have the votes… Ah ha ha ha. That’s one for the rest of the Hamilton fans amongst us.

A somewhat legal way for a US president to seek a third term would be to directly change the constitution. But that’s no easy feat.

"Trump could seek a change to the US Constitution's ban on the third presidential term," Karon explains. "Remember, it derives from the Constitution, obviously, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution.

“I'm going to read a quote here, because I took this down, ‘an amendment may be proposed either by the Congress with a two thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by constitutional convention called for by two thirds of the State Legislatures.'

"Thing is, Trump, as a matter of politics, doesn't have the votes to repeal the 22nd Amendment either in Congress or from the States, so that, just as a practical matter, is never going to work."