As we noted in our article on 20 March, Donald Trump is the so-called* “President of the United States” because a real President means it when he swears he would, the the best of his ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, whereas Trump proved he is prepared to do the exact opposite by trying to have himself declared as the victor in the election that ended his first term.

But, as the Common Cause website explains, on 6 January 2021 Trump “blatantly violated his oath of office and fanned the flames of the insurrection”. As Congress met to certify the election of Joe Biden as President, a defeated Donald Trump incited and set loose a vicious, racist, mob on the United States Capitol – a mob he knew to be heavily armed.

Now Trump refuses to say whether he is planning to leave office at end of term. The twenty-second Amendment to the US Constitution limits the number of times a person can be elected to the office of President of the United States to two terms, but Trump apparently thinks he has found a way round it.

And in fact scholars have debated whether the amendment prohibits affected individuals from succeeding to the presidency under any circumstances or whether it applies only to presidential elections.

The key line from the 22nd amendment, forbidding anyone who has been elected president twice from being elected again. reads:

“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.”

If a Trumpian ran for office, his disciple Elon Musk for example, were elected President with Trump as his vice president and then the President stepped down for whatever reason, it is possible that the vice president would take his place since he would not have been elected as President more that twice.

For more detailed discussion of this on 31 March 2025, see this BBC article.