Republican Rep. Andy Ogles from Tennessee has put forth a resolution advocating for an amendment to the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which currently limits presidents to two terms. Ogles believes that such an amendment would allow former President Donald Trump to run for a third term, citing Trump’s capability to “reverse our nation’s decay” as a primary reason for this change. He stated, “We can sustain the bold leadership our nation so desperately needs.”
Ogles proposed that the amendment would read: “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.”
The 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951, was established to ensure that no president could serve more than two terms in response to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s four-term presidency. Amending the Constitution is a challenging process, with only 27 of the over 11,000 proposed amendments ever being ratified since the document was created in 1787.
Despite the improbability of this resolution passing—given that constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority vote in Congress or a call for a constitutional convention by two-thirds of the state legislatures—Ogles’ move demonstrates a segment of the Republican Party’s steadfast loyalty to Trump and his brand of leadership. Notably, Trump had previously made light-hearted remarks about the possibility of serving a third term during a closed-door meeting with House Republicans.
While the path to amending the Constitution is fraught with obstacles, Ogles’ proposal reflects ongoing conversations within the party regarding leadership and the direction they envision for the country. Should this resolution emphasize the discourse around term limits and presidential leadership, it can stimulate further conversations on democratic principles and the future landscape of U.S. politics.