How Trump could pull off a third term legally and without lying

April 1, 2025

In late March, 2025, in a conversation with NBC News, President Trump speculated about a third term. But Trump didn’t want to talk about details, and nobody knew how this could work until I figured it out. He could do it legally and without telling one lie. And we don’t need to amend our Constitution.

This is a MAGA opportunity. Not just that MAGA, but also the Make Alot (of money) for Greg Again MAGA. Seriously. Not satire.

Here’s what amendments to our Constitution say about a presidential third term.

First up is the last sentence of the 12th amendment.

“But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.“

And then the first sentence of section 1 of the 22nd amendment.

“No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, 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 once.“

Some in the media pitched scenarios where JD Vance runs in 2028 with Trump as his VP, and then JD hands over the reigns. Yeah, like that would happen. And Trump can’t be elected vice-president anyway because he’s ineligible.

But what if Trump used another mechanism besides an election to gain a third term?

You need a bunch of people to cooperate to pull this off. First, you need a Republican presidential ticket willing to stand down right after the swearing-in ceremony. You need Republicans in the House of Representatives willing to elect Trump as Speaker of the House – next in the line of succession after the vice-president. And you need a MAGA faithful majority across the country.

So then, the MAGA faithful majority votes in their stand-in candidates, because their leader, Trump, asks them to. Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives votes for Trump as Speaker of the House.

The stand-in candidates win, they resign on day one, Speaker Trump ascends as President, the Republicans reelect Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House, and we keep making America great again.

So, who in their right mind would run for President of the United States, with the intention to resign on day one?

Heck, I’ll do it. In exchange for $950 million up front from Elon Musk, I’ll act as the stand-in presidential candidate. I’ll even pay $250 million out of my own pocket for a running mate. I’ve already made a couple offers. After tax, I should net about $500 million, which should support pretty much any lifestyle I can imagine. This is a bargain for Elon because any celebrity would charge at least a couple $billion for this.

So, Elon, how about it? Send me the money right now and let’s get started campaigning. Oh – and you’ll need to pay for the campaign.