The highlight of the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual meeting on Saturday was a speech by former president Donald Trump, which came late but was ripe with sound bites. One takeaway: he proposed the idea of a third term, which he directly spoke against during an interview with Time magazine back in April.
During his afternoon speech in Dallas, Trump — whose criminal hush-money trial in New York is expected to come to a close as soon as Tuesday — likened himself to 32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had a four term presidency.
“You know, FDR 16 years — almost 16 years — he was four terms. I don’t know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?” he teased the crowd of gun rights supporters.
“Three!” shouted some convention attendees, Politico reported.
Trump mentioned extending his stay in the White House while campaigning in 2020. However, his flip-flop has added fuel to the Biden campaign’s narrative that the former president is a threat to democracy and institutional norms.
Trump's most recent remarks about extending his presidency to a third term, which isn’t allowed in the Constitution, clash with what he said in his Time magazine interview. He claimed he would be against challenging the 22nd Amendment that came into place after FDR’s four-term presidency.
“I wouldn’t be in favor of it at all. I intend to serve four years and do a great job. And I want to bring our country back. I want to put it back on the right track. Our country is going down. We’re a failing nation right now. We’re a nation in turmoil,” he said during the interview.
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