U.S. President Donald Trump, serving a non-consecutive second term, jokingly suggested contesting a third term last Thursday —the third time in his three weeks old administration.

“They say I can’t run again; that’s the expression,” Mr Trump said on February 6 during a prayer breakfast at the Washington Hilton. “Then somebody said, ‘I don’t think you can.’ Oh.”

However, his supporters have downplayed the statements, telling the New York Times that Mr Trump only talked about a prospective third term to dominate headlines and rile Democrats and that he truly harboured no intention of running again based on private conversations.

Still, there are worries that Mr Trump could somehow bypass the constitutionally permitted presidential two-terms, given that a Republican Senator had already proposed an amendment to extend the tenure of a sitting president.

Conservative legislator Andy Ogles from Tennessee on January 23 —three days after Mr Trump’s inauguration— proposed amending the constitution to allow Mr Trump to contest a third term

Mr Ogles, who said he had no form of contact with the president before proposing, said America needs leaders like Mr Trump to tackle the rot that assailed the country under Joe Biden’s presidency and that Mr Trump needs sufficient time to “accomplish that goal.”

Mr Trump, according to the Tennessee lawmaker, “has proven himself to be the only figure in modern history capable of reversing our nation’s decay and restoring America to greatness, and he must be given the time necessary to accomplish that goal,”

“To that end, I am proposing an amendment to the Constitution to revise the limitations imposed by the 22nd Amendment on presidential terms,” Mr Ogles added. “This amendment would allow President Trump to serve three terms, ensuring that we can sustain the bold leadership our nation so desperately needs.”

Thursday was not the first time Mr Trump would loudly muse the possibility of a third term.

The first weekend of his second administration in Las Vegas, the U.S. president joked, “It will be the greatest honour of my life to serve not once, but twice or three times or four times.” 

But he quickly retracted it and said he did not mean it.”

“Headlines for the fake news,” Mr Trump said. “No, it will be to serve twice. For the next four years, I will not rest.”