Will the president serve a third term?

• U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed his intention to serve a third term in the White House, citing a legal loophole in the 22nd Amendment.

• The 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951, limits U.S. Presidents to two elected terms, a precedent set by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ‘four-term’ Presidency (1933–1945).

• The amendment prohibits anyone from being elected President more than twice, and if someone has served as President for more than two years of another’s term, they can only be elected once.

• For Trump, the maximum U.S. Presidential tenure can be 10 years, including two years as a successor plus two full terms.

• Trump has suggested ways to circumvent the 22nd Amendment, such as running for President with Trump as Vice President (VP) in 2028. However, the 12th Amendment blocks this strategy, stating that no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

• Another theoretical path exists through’succession’, where a twice-elected President could ascend to the Oval Office via the line of succession.

• Unlike the U.S. Presidential framework, India’s Parliamentary system imposes no term limits on its Prime Minister, as tenure depends on retaining the Lok Sabha’s confidence. • Despite the legal loophole, some leaders thrive without rewriting the rules, such as Angela Merkel in Germany and Prime Ministers in Canada and Britain, who can lead indefinitely, sustained by ‘party confidence’