特朗普称他争取连任第三任总统“不是开玩笑”
【中美创新时2025 年 3 月 31 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）总统唐纳德·特朗普周日表示，“我并不是在开玩笑”要争取连任第三任期，这清楚地表明他正在考虑如何突破宪法障碍，以便在 2029 年初第二任期结束后继续领导国家。美联社记者克里斯·梅杰里安对此作了下述报道。
特朗普在自己的私人俱乐部海湖庄园接受 NBC 新闻电话采访时表示：“有办法可以做到这一点。”
他还表示“现在考虑这个问题还为时过早。”
1951 年，在富兰克林·罗斯福总统连续四次当选后，宪法增加了第 22 条修正案，其中规定“任何人不得当选总统超过两次”。
任何试图继续执政的行为在法律上都是可疑的，目前还不清楚特朗普会多么认真地追求这个想法。尽管如此，这些言论还是非常反映出特朗普想要继续掌权的强烈愿望。四年前，特朗普试图推翻输给民主党人乔·拜登的选举结果，这违背了民主传统。
波士顿东北大学宪法学教授杰里米·保罗表示，“没有可信的法律依据支持他竞选第三任期。”
NBC 的克里斯汀·韦尔克 (Kristen Welker) 询问特朗普，实现第三任期的一个潜在途径是否是让副总统 JD 万斯 (JD Vance) 竞选最高职位并“然后将接力棒交给你”。
“嗯，这是其中之一，”特朗普回答道。“但还有其他的。还有其他的。”
“你能告诉我另一个吗？”维尔克问道。
“没有，”特朗普回答道。
万斯的办公室没有立即回应美联社的评论请求。
圣母大学选举法教授德里克·穆勒指出，1804 年批准的第十二修正案规定，“宪法上不符合总统职位资格的人不得担任美国副总统。”
穆勒表示，这表明，如果特朗普因为《第22修正案》而不再有资格竞选总统，那么他也没有资格竞选副总统。
穆勒说：“我不认为有什么‘奇怪的伎俩’可以绕过总统任期限制。”
此外，追求第三任期需要联邦和州官员的特别默许，更不用说法院和选民本身了。
他暗示，特朗普谈论第三任期是出于政治原因，以“尽可能地展示实力”。
他说：“唐纳德·特朗普这样的‘跛脚鸭’总统有充分的动机让人们觉得他不是‘跛脚鸭’。”
特朗普在第二任期结束时将年满 82 岁，有人问他是否还想继续担任“全国最艰难的职位”。
“嗯，我喜欢工作，”总统说。
他暗示，由于他的受欢迎程度，美国人会支持他连任第三任。他谎称自己是“过去 100 年来民调支持率最高的共和党人”。
盖洛普的数据显示，在 2001 年 9 月 11 日恐怖袭击事件发生后，乔治·W·布什总统的支持率达到了 90%。而他的父亲乔治·H·W·布什总统在 1991 年海湾战争后的支持率仅为 89%。
尽管特朗普声称“在多项民意调查中，包括真实的民意调查中”，他的支持率都达到了 70% 的高位，但在他第二任期内，盖洛普民意调查的数据最高仅为 47%。
特朗普以前也曾考虑过延长任期，通常是向友好的观众开玩笑。
“我可以再次参选吗？”他在一月份的众议院共和党务虚会上说道。
国会领导层的代表——众议院议长、路易斯安那州共和党人迈克·约翰逊、众议院民主党领袖、纽约州议员哈基姆·杰弗里斯、参议院多数党领袖、共和党人约翰·图恩和参议院民主党领袖、纽约州议员查克·舒默——没有立即回应美联社的置评请求。
美联社记者加里·菲尔兹在华盛顿对本文亦有贡献。
题图：2025 年 3 月 28 日星期五，特朗普总统乘坐空军一号抵达佛罗里达州西棕榈滩棕榈滩国际机场。Manuel Balce Ceneta/美联社
附原英文报道：
Trump says he’s ‘not joking’ about trying to serve a third term as president
By CHRIS MEGERIAN The Associated Press,Updated March 30, 2025, 5:13 p.m.
President Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, March 28, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press
President Donald Trump said Sunday that “I’m not joking” about trying to serve a third term, the clearest indication he is considering ways to breach a constitutional barrier against continuing to lead the country after his second term ends at the beginning of 2029.
“There are methods which you could do it,” Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News from Mar-a-Lago, his private club.
He also said “it is far too early to think about it.”
The 22nd Amendment, added to the Constitution in 1951 after President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected four times in a row, says “no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
Any attempt to remain in office would be legally suspect and it is unclear how seriously Trump might pursue the idea. The comments nonetheless were an extraordinary reflection of the desire to maintain power by a president who had violated democratic traditions four years ago when he tried to overturn the election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Jeremy Paul, a constitutional law professor at Boston’s Northeastern University, said “there are no credible legal arguments for him to run for a third term.”
NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Trump if one potential avenue to a third term was having Vice President JD Vance run for the top job and “then pass the baton to you.”
“Well, that’s one,” Trump responded. “But there are others too. There are others.”
“Can you tell me another?” Welker asked.
“No,” Trump replied.
Vance’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Derek Muller, a professor of election law at Notre Dame, noted that the 12th Amendment, which was ratified in 1804, says “no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.”
Muller said that indicates that if Trump is not eligible to run for president again because of the 22nd Amendment, he is not eligible to run for vice president, either.
“I don’t think there’s any ‘one weird trick’ to getting around presidential term limits,” Muller said.
In addition, pursuing a third term would require extraordinary acquiescence by federal and state officials, not to mention the courts and voters themselves.
He suggested that Trump is talking about a third term for political reasons to “show as much strength as possible.”
“A lame-duck president like Donald Trump has every incentive in the world to make it seem like he’s not a lame duck,” he said.
Trump, who would be 82 at the end of his second term, was asked whether he would want to keep serving in “the toughest job in the country” at that point.
“Well, I like working,” the president said.
He suggested that Americans would go along with a third term because of his popularity. He falsely claimed to have “the highest poll numbers of any Republican for the last 100 years.”
Gallup data shows President George W. Bush reaching a 90% approval rating after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. His father, President George H.W. Bush, hit 89% following the Gulf War in 1991.
Trump has maxed out at 47% in Gallup data during his second term, despite claiming to be “in the high 70s in many polls, in the real polls.”
Trump has mused before about serving longer than two terms before, generally with jokes to friendly audiences.
“Am I allowed to run again?” he said during a House Republican retreat in January.
Representatives for the congressional leadership — House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York — did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the AP.
Associated Press writer Gary Fields contributed from Washington.
