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US Election
President Donald Trump looks on while meeting with President of France Emmanuel Macron in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC on Monday, February 24, 2025.
The 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution is crystal clear: No person can be elected to the presidency more than twice. Ratified in 1951, it was a response to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four-term tenure. Before FDR, the two-term limit was an unwritten rule respected as a tradition since George Washington.
The amendment doesn’t leave room for loopholes. It even prohibits a vice president who finishes out more than two years of a president’s term from being elected a third time. Grover Cleveland, the only other president besides Trump to serve two non-consecutive terms, was also barred from a third reelection.
So, could Donald Trump run for a third term? Legally, and probably, no. Not under the current rules. But we live in interesting times, and Trump and his advisers have repeatedly hinted that he could stick around for a three-peat – most recently last Thursday at a Black History Month celebration and later that same day at the Conservative Political Active Conference.
The (extremely unlikely) paths to a third term:
Repeal the 22nd Amendment. This would require two-thirds of Congress to approve removing an amendment and three-fourths of US states to ratify it. Translation: It’s politically impossible. There’s zero chance enough lawmakers — or states — would sign off on such a move. But a Republican lawmaker has still introduced a House resolution to amend the Constitution to allow President Donald Trump and future presidents to seek a third term.
Martial Law. While leaders in other countries have suspended elections during periods of martial law, in the US, the Constitution and the 22nd Amendment would remain in effect. There is nothing written in the Constitution that allows for it to be suspended during periods of national emergency. That said, when times are crazy, crazy things can happen that could weaken public and institutional pushback to a president expanding his powers during times of chaos.
Vice president loophole? Could Trump run as vice president, then ascend to the presidency if his running mate resigns? Legal scholars have debated this, but the consensus is no — since the 12th Amendment bars anyone ineligible for the presidency to serve as VP.
Ignore the law. The most extreme scenario: Trump – or any leader – could simply refuse to leave office and dare the system to stop him. Then it would come down to Congress, the courts, and the public to force him out. We saw Trump flirt with this idea after the 2020 election, which culminated in the Jan. 6 insurrection in 2021. But that’s the stuff of banana republics, not stable democracies.
Bottom line. The 22nd Amendment exists for a reason: to prevent the kind of power grabs that have destabilized other countries and destroyed democracies. As of now, it doesn’t appear that a third Trump term could happen — at least, not without a massive, unprecedented, shift in US law and politics. But things are rapidly evolving in US politics, so we will be keeping our eyes on how things develop.
What is the European reaction to what President Trump is trying to achieve in terms of peace?
Well, confusion. A lot of people, and there are quite a number of European leaders here, today, don't really understand what President Trump is up to. He wants peace, that's fine. But peace can be, well, that could be the complete capitulation of Ukraine, that is the Putin definition of peace. Or it can be the victory of Ukraine, that's another definition of peace. So exactly how President Trump intends to pursue this? And without Europe, obviously, neither Putin nor Trump wants Europe around the table.
But how do you do it without Ukraine on the table? Because a lot of the things that are going to be necessary to agree with are things that have to be agreed with Ukraine, with President Zelensky. So a lot of question marks. The desire for peace is clearly here, no question about that. This war has to come to end. But the peace has to be just, it has to be stable. It has to be something that is not just a pause for Russia to recalibrate and restart the war.
So a lot of things to discuss between the European leaders and between the European leaders and President Zelensky, is happening in Kyiv here today. But also eventually, across the Atlantic, President Macron is in Washington today, Prime Minister Starmer is heading into Washington on Thursday.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 18, 2025.
The Trump administration is moving to expand presidential authority over key independent regulatory agencies that were set up to be guarded from the executive’s influence.
On Tuesday, Donald Trump issued an order titled “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies,” requiring independent agencies to submit any proposed regulations to the White House to ensure they align with the president’s priorities.
What does the order say? It gives the Office of Management and Budget – which has been working in lockstep with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency – the authority to make funding decisions and to “establish performance standards” for employees. It also instructs the agencies to create a leadership position for a “White House Liaison.”
The order applies to 19 agencies, and notably affects:
- The Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees markets.
- The Federal Trade Commission, which enforces antitrust laws and protects consumers from deceptive business practices.
- The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the media, internet, and all other forms of communication.
- The Federal Election Commission, which oversees elections and political campaigns.
- The Federal Reserve. While the order does not apply to the monetary policy decisions of the Federal Reserve, it does bring its regulation of financial institutions under the purview of the president.
Pros: Proponents of the executive order argue that putting the commander in chief in charge makes agencies more democratically accountable because voters can hold the president responsible for their decisions at the ballot box. Trump is also keen to control the regulatory state, which he believes hindered his first time in office.
Cons: These agencies were established by Congress to operate independently from the White House for a reason. They protect democratic principles like freedom of the press, preventing their potential weaponization through selective auditing or manipulation of election and campaign finance laws, and shielding markets and financial institutions from short-term, politically motivated regulations that could cause long-term harm.
The courts just caught another case. Since these agencies were established by Congress to be independent of the president, the order will inevitably trigger legal challenges, likely to reach the Supreme Court since they concern questions of checks and balances and executive authority. Once there, Trump will test the long-fringe unitary executive legal theory, which argues that the president has the sole authority over the executive branch.Finnish President Alexander Stubb smiles during an event with a blurred "World Economic Forum" background. The text art reads: "GZERO World with Ian Bremmer—the podcast."
Listen: On the GZERO World Podcast, Finnish President Alexander Stubb joins Ian Bremmer in Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders, business executives, and diplomats gathered for the annual World Economic Forum. Just days after President Trump was sworn in for a second term, the mood in Davos was that of cold pragmatism. As Trump made clear in his speech to the Forum, Europe can no longer rely on the kind of copacetic relationship with the United States it had enjoyed since World War II or even during his first term.
So, what does that mean for Europe—and the war in Ukraine? Finland’s President Alexander Stubb and Ian Bremmer discuss.
Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.
Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden and co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, shares his perspective on European politics from Davos, Switzerland.
What’s been going on here?
It’s been Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump. It’s been very much dominated by assessments, curiosity, concern about the transition in the US. A lot of businessmen are fairly, sort of, upbeat. They think there’s sort of a deregulation and lower taxes, that’s good. Economists are more worried. Debts and deficits, that’s not good. And those dealing with geopolitics, like myself, are deeply concerned.
Is he going to go to war with Denmark over Greenland? What’s going to happen with the Panama Canal? Is their Middle East policy that is credible? And what is he really up to when it comes to dealing with Mr. Putin on Ukraine? There are lots of questions, lots of concerns. But, upbeat assessment, in spite of that.
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has such an influential role in Donald Trump’s new administration that he’s been called the “shadow president.” Will his outsize presence in the Trump White House help usher in a new era of US tech policy or lead to geopolitical chaos? On GZERO World, Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson joins Ian Bremmer to discuss technology and the incoming Trump administration. Musk’s role in everything from space travel to AI development to social media will have a huge impact on America’s technology and economic future. The ‘Elon-ification’ of Twitter/X has also given Musk a platform to influence politics abroad, which could complicate America’s relationship with geopolitical allies who want him to stop interfering but don’t want to jeopardize their relationship with the new US President. Though Thompson believes Trump’s technology policy will ultimately be better because of Musk’s influence, he also says Elon could create a lot of instability and inefficient regulations.
“Elon cares deeply about some of the most important issues, like climate change and space exploration, so you get a lot of benefits,” Thompson says, “On the other hand, you get the chaos that comes with him and might end up with really inefficient regulations because they’re all skewed towards Musk companies.”
Watch full episode: Big Tech under Trump 2.0
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Washington , DC - January 20: President-elect Donald Trump arrives ahead of the 60th inaugural ceremony on January 20, 2025, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. Trump becomes the 47th president of the United States in a rare indoor inauguration ceremony. The parade was also moved inside Capitol One Arena due to weather.
“Nothing will stand in our way. The future is ours and our golden age has just begun.”
With those words, President Donald J. Trump concluded his 2025 inaugural address, promising an American renaissance. Invoking the doctrine of American exceptionalism, he declared that “We are going to win like never before” and pledged to be a unifier and peacemaker who would nonetheless put America First.
A shift in tone. The speech was a stark contrast to Trump’s inaugural address of 2017, where he painted a gloomy picture of “American carnage”: a nation riddled with crime, poverty, and economic decline. This time, while he heavily criticized the previous administration for its decisions, Trump adopted a more optimistic and forward-looking tone, emphasizing unity and national restoration – and even territorial expansion. Trump invoked the concept of Manifest Destiny, promising to plant the American flag on Mars, as well as rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” and retake the Panama Canal.
Border Security and Immigration. Trump will declare a national emergency at America’s southern border (which earned him one of several standing ovations), reinstate his “Remain in Mexico” policy, and designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. He also pledged to use the Enemy Aliens act of 1798 to deploy military power to eliminate foreign gangs in American cities.
Health and Wealth. Trump promised to “end the chronic disease epidemic” but gave no further specifics. On the prosperity front, he promised to restore America’s strength in manufacturing and that his cabinet would “marshal powers to defeat inflation and bring down costs and prices”, which he said were caused by government overspending and high energy prices.
Drill baby drill. To that end, Trump promised to overturn President Joe Biden’s Green New Deal and expand the exploitation of oil and gas resources, which he dubbed the “liquid gold beneath our feet” that America should export. He spoke of tariffs, but without specifics, promising to create an External Revenue Service to collect all tariffs duties and revenues, as well as a department of government efficiency to cut spending.
Woke wars. Trump promised to sign an executive order to “stop all government censorship”, “bring back free speech to America” and create a society that is “colour blind and merit based.” He declared that the United States has only two genders, male and female.
The military. Trump promised to restore back pay to servicemen who had lost their jobs for refusing the federal COVID vaccine mandate. He pledged to remove “radical theories” from the military and leave it “free to focus on its sole mission – defeating America’s enemies.”