Trump says the law bars a third term, then says he has ‘the right to run again’

Donald Trump has read the 22nd Amendment closely, and he would like to speak to its manager.

Thursday night in Sioux City, he started out almost humble: “I don’t know who’s going to be your next president. And I think the law says, I’m not 100 percent sure, but I think the law says that I’m not allowed to run again.” He said he has “studied that phrase forever. Unfortunately, it’s quite concise. There’s not a lot of wiggle room.” Then he recited it from memory: “under no circumstances and for any reason will you even consider thinking about running for president.” The real text is shorter: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” Forever, it seems, wasn’t long enough to read it.

Then he found the wiggle room anyway. “They cheated us on the second one because we won it three times. So I think I have the right to run again. I think I have the right to run again because they cheated.” He has won two presidential elections, 2016 and 2024. He lost 2020 to Joe Biden, and no evidence was ever produced that fraud flipped 2020. The amendment counts wins, and he says he has three.

About 36 minutes earlier in the same speech, he gave the crowd his schedule: “we only have a little more than two years left. Can you believe it? But I’m going to have a lot of power when I leave.” So: a concise law, two years left, a lot of power afterward, and a right to run again. Pick any two.