Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution
Some argue that the 22nd Amendment and 12th Amendment bar any two-term president from later serving as vice president as well as from succeeding to the presidency from any point in the presidential line of succession. Others contend that the original intent of the 12th Amendment concerns qualification for "service" (age, residence, and citizenship), while the 22nd Amendment, concerns qualifications for "election", and thus (strictly applying the text) a former two-term president is still eligible to "serve" as vice president (neither amendment restricts the number of times an individual can be elected to the vice presidency), and then succeed to the presidency to serve out the balance of the term (though prohibited from running for election to an additional term).
Donald Trump 2000 presidential campaign
Months later, during an April 1988 appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show", Trump discussed his displeasure with the United States' status as a "debtor nation" and its seeming inability to compete with Japan. Winfrey asked Trump if he would ever run for president. He replied, "Probably not, but I do get tired of seeing the country get ripped off ... I just don't think I have the inclination to do it." Furthermore, he asserted that if he ever did run, he would win the election. He later appeared at the 1988 Republican National Convention. In an interview on the floor, NBC News reporter Chris Wallace asked whether Trump's visit to his first national convention would induce him to "take the plunge" into a presidential campaign. In response, Trump downplayed his prior exploration into presidential politics, though repeated that he would win if he ever ran, and praised then-presumptive Republican presidential nominee George H. W. Bush. During another convention interview on "Larry King Live", Trump dismissed the speculation that he had considered running for president and commented, "I doubt I’ll ever be involved in politics beyond what I do right now." Talk of a potential Trump candidacy grew silent for much of the next decade.
In 1995, industrialist Ross Perot, who had received 18.9 percent of the vote during his Independent 1992 run for president, formed the Reform Party of the United States of America. Although Perot won the party's 1996 nomination and garnered 8.4 percent of the popular vote, rifts had begun forming within the party. Former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm, who unsuccessfully challenged Perot for the 1996 presidential nomination, accused Perot of using the party as a personal vehicle, and broke off with his supporters to form a new party. In 1998, former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was elected Governor of Minnesota as a member of the Reform Party—the party's most significant victory—but Perot and his followers were not receptive to Ventura and his political allies. The Perot faction adamantly, though unsuccessfully, attempted to prevent the election of Ventura supporter Jack Gargan as party chairman in 1999 when Perot backer Russ Verney chose not to stand for re-election for his term ending January 1, 2000. Opting not to run for president himself in 2000, Ventura searched for candidates. Initially, he courted WWF Board Member and former Connecticut governor Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.. He then turned to friend and wrestling aficionado Donald Trump.