Donald Trump's Third Term? 22nd Amendment 'Hole' Could See President Return in 2028

Donald Trump is back at the centre of third-term speculation in the United States after Alan Dershowitz argued in a new book that the president could, at least in theory, return to the White House in 2028 without being elected to the office again. The book, Could President Trump Constitutionally Serve a Third Term?, presents the claim as a legal question rather than a settled fact.

The latest argument did not appear out of thin air. Dershowitz took a closer look after hearing Steve Bannon insist that Trump would serve a third term, framing the book as an answer to that provocation rather than evidence of a concrete 2028 plan. There is a large gap between a constitutional thought experiment and an actionable political strategy.

The 22nd Amendment

The entire case turns on one word in the Constitution. The 22nd Amendment states, 'No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice,' and Dershowitz's reading is that the text bars a third election, but not necessarily every conceivable path back into office.

It is a lawyerly argument, certainly, but not a trivial one. American politics has a habit of becoming consumed by exactly this sort of textual ambiguity.

Dershowitz says there are 'four to five scenarios' in which someone could become president without ever being elected. He argues that the amendment was written in a 'wishy washy' way and claims there is a 'hole' in it large enough to allow a twice-elected president to be selected for the office through another constitutional mechanism.

It is the provocation at the heart of the story. It is not proof that such a manoeuvre would survive political challenge, judicial scrutiny or simple public disbelief.

The book's title signals the line being drawn. Google Books describes it as a non-partisan legal analysis that questions the common assumption that a two-term president is categorically barred from serving again.

The Route Back to Office

Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio could run for president, with Donald Trump Jr. potentially placed on the ticket as vice president. If that ticket won, Trump Jr. could resign and his father could then be nominated as vice president, subject to approval by a Republican-led Congress.

It is a dramatic theory, though also a rather elaborate one. It relies on electoral victory, resignation, congressional support and a political system willing to accommodate an arrangement that would instantly trigger uproar. The neatness of the plan is also its weakness. Once a proposal starts to sound like a chain reaction, every link becomes a point of failure.

Trump could also be installed as Speaker of the House or Secretary of State, placing him second or fourth in the line of presidential succession. Dershowitz's point is that if those ahead of him were to die or become unable to serve, Trump could return to the presidency that way. The logic is constitutionally provocative, though politically it reads less like a campaign blueprint and more like a stress test for the system itself.

Then there is the rhetoric wrapped around the theory. Presidential historian Leon Wagener says Trump wants to remake the global economy and power structure and cast himself as a new George Washington on the world stage.

Dershowitz, according to National Enquirer, insists the book is designed to inform the public and can be used by either side, by those who want a constitutional amendment to shut the door or by those who want Trump to test it.

He also presents it as a teaching exercise, saying he has written it in the way he would teach a seminar, setting out the competing arguments and leaving readers to judge. That may be the most revealing detail of all. However breathless the framing, what sits underneath is still a classroom question with very real political consequences.