Donald Trump is constitutionally constrained from running for a third presidential term, but that has not stopped his eponymous organization from hawking “Trump 2028” hats and t-shirts.
The $50 hat and matching $28 t-shirt reflect an idea Trump and his acolytes have floated off and on for the past year or two, even though it would violate the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which sets the limit at two terms.
First Amendment rights, however, do allow the Trump Organization to talk about it, and for son Eric Trump to post a photo of himself proudly wearing the baseball cap on social media, followed by a link to the t-shirt. The organization is the Trump family’s company, not his campaign site.
“Rewrite the rules,” reads the description on both items, which is also embroidered below the main logo on the t-shirt.
Trump, who turns 79 in June, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” last month that “there are methods” for seeking a third term in office and that he was “not joking” about going for it. Before that, in December, former White House adviser Steve Bannon threw the idea out before a gathering of young Republicans.
Bannon reiterated the claim last week on “Real Time With Bill Maher,” telling the host, “President Trump is going to run for a third term, and President Trump is going to be elected again,” adding that a “team of people” was looking into how to make that happen.
As Politico noted, Trump has said both that he “wouldn’t be in favor of it at all” and that if Franklin Delano Roosevelt could do it, perhaps he could too, even though FDR, who was elected four times, died in office five years before the 22nd Amendment was ratified in 1951.
Republican lawmakers have downplayed Trump’s third term rhetoric as teasing, telling USA Today they “treat it as humor” and that it is “all tongue in cheek.”
With News Wire Services
