Donald Trump says it’s ‘too bad’ he can’t run for a third term but refuses to rule out another White House bid

US President Donald Trump says, “it’s too bad” he’s not allowed to run for a third term, conceding the constitutional reality even as he expressed interest in continuing to serve.

“If you read it, it’s pretty clear,” Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Japan to South Korea.

“I’m not allowed to run. It’s too bad.”

The president’s comments, which continue his on-again, off-again musings about a third term, came a day after House Speaker Mike Johnson said it would be impossible for Mr Trump to stay in the White House.

“I don’t see a path for that,” he told reporters at the US Capitol on Tuesday.

Mr Johnson, the Republican leader who has built his career by drawing closer to Mr Trump, said he had discussed the issue with the president.

The speaker described how the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment does not allow for a third presidential term and changing that, with a new amendment, would be a cumbersome, decade-long process, winning over states and votes in Congress.

Mr Trump’s description of the prohibition on third terms was somewhat less definitive.

“Based on what I read, I guess I’m not allowed to run,” he said on Wednesday.

“So we’ll see what happens.”

Mr Trump has repeatedly raised the idea of trying to stay in power. Hats saying “Trump 2028” are passed out as souvenir keepsakes to lawmakers and others visiting the White House, and Mr Trump’s former 2016 campaign manager-turned-podcaster Stephen Bannon has revived the idea of a third Trump term.

Mr Trump told reporters on Monday on Air Force One on his trip to Japan that “I would love to do it.”

He went on to say that his Republican Party has great options for the next presidential election — in Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was travelling with him, and Vice President JD Vance, who visited with senators at the Capitol on Tuesday.

Pressed if he was ruling out a third-term bid, Mr Trump demurred.

Asked about a strategy where he could run as vice president, which would be allowed under the laws, and then work himself in the presidency, he dismissed the idea as “too cute.”

“You’d be allowed to do that, but I wouldn’t do that,” he said.

The chit chat comes as Mr Trump shows just how far he can push the presidency — including sending National Guard troops to cities over the objections of several state governors and accepting untold millions in private donations to pay the military and fund the new White House ballroom.

Mr Johnson, the Louisiana Republican who rose swiftly to become House speaker with Mr Trump’s blessing, dismissed worries about a potential third term as “trolling the Democrats.”