Tennessee Republican proposes amendment to allow Trump to serve third term

Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would allow President Trump to serve a third term in the White House so that the country “can sustain the bold leadership our nation so desperately needs.”

Ogles proposed an amendment on Thursday that says, "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than three times, nor be elected to any additional term after being elected to two consecutive terms, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice."

Like other U.S. presidents, Trump is barred from running for a third White House term by the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution.

"President Trump’s decisive leadership stands in stark contrast to the chaos, suffering, and economic decline Americans have endured over the past four years,” Ogles said in a Thursday statement. “He has proven himself to be the only figure in modern history capable of reversing our nation’s decay and restoring America to greatness, and he must be given the time necessary to accomplish that goal.”

Trump floated the prospect of running for a third term in a joke to House GOP lawmakers during a meeting in Washington before the conference had internal leadership elections.

“I suspect I won’t be running again, unless you do something,” Trump said a week after winning the 2024 presidential election, The Hill reported. “Unless you say, ‘He’s so good, we have to just figure it out.’”

Following the meeting, House Republicans told reporters that the remarks were not serious and that they laughed when they heard them.

“That was a joke. It was clearly a joke,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said at the time. “I leaned over to somebody beside me, [Arizona Rep.] Andy Biggs, and I said, that’ll be the headlines tomorrow, ‘Trump trying to thwart the Constitution,’ which — there’s nothing further from the truth.”

Trump has previously told news outlets that he would not pursue a third term if he wins the 2024 White House election.

“I wouldn’t be in favor of a challenge. Not for me. I wouldn’t be in favor of it at all. I intend to serve four years and do a great job. And I want to bring our country back. I want to put it back on the right track,” Trump told Time magazine in April last year.

On Thursday, Ogles, a House Freedom Caucus member, praised a series of executive orders Trump signed since being sworn in on Monday, including those related to the handling of the southern border, energy production and withdrawing from the World Health Organization.

“In just a few short days, President Trump has already taken action to undo the catastrophic policies of the Biden Administration and put the United States back on the path to strength and prosperity,” Ogles said Thursday.

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