President Trump cannot run for a third term as president, barring changes to the Constitution. But that has not stopped him from openly flirting with the idea.

除非对宪法进行修改，否则特朗普总统不能竞选第三个总统任期。但这并没有阻止他公然对这一想法表现出兴趣。

He has floated it publicly and privately, and on Sunday, he said he was “not joking” about it. In an interview with NBC News, he insisted there were “methods” to circumvent the two-term limit set out by the 22nd Amendment.

他在公开和私下场合都提出来过相关想法，而且在周日，他表示自己“不是开玩笑的”。在接受NBC新闻采访时，他坚称有“办法”绕过美国宪法第二十二条修正案所规定的两届任期限制。

Mr. Trump has not specified those methods, and there are no apparent signs that he is actually laying groundwork for a third term. But his musings — whether based in reality or not — serve a distinct political purpose.

特朗普没有具体说明是什么办法，而且也没有明显迹象表明他确实正在为第三个任期做准备工作。但他的这些想法——无论是否基于现实——都有着明确的政治目的。

They redirect attention from other controversies, such as the leaked Signal message chain in which his top advisers inadvertently included a journalist in a group-chat discussion of an upcoming military operation. And they freeze the field of potential successors who may steal the spotlight from a lame duck — a status dreaded by American presidents, who see their relevance diminish steadily over time.

这些想法将人们的注意力从其他争议上转移开，比如泄露的Signal聊天记录。在一场关于即将开展的军事行动的群聊讨论中，他的高级顾问们不小心把一名记者拉进了群里。同时这也能终结有关潜在继任者的讨论，毕竟这样的人选会抢走一个“跛脚鸭”总统的风头。“跛脚鸭”是美国总统深恶痛绝的状态，在他们看来，那意味着他们将逐渐变得无关紧要。

“It reads like somebody who doesn’t want to be treated like a lame duck and is throwing it out there right now,” said Derek T. Muller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame and a scholar in election law. “It’s really hard to be a lame duck president or to be treated that way, and people are talking to you like your term’s already over.”

“这看起来像是一个不想被当作‘跛脚鸭’总统对待的人现在抛出了这个话题，”圣母大学法学教授、选举法学者德里克·米勒说，“成为‘跛脚鸭’或者被当作‘跛脚鸭’是很难受的，人们和你说话时就好像你的任期已经结束了一样。”

In January, Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee, a Republican, proposed a long shot amendment to the Constitution to make Mr. Trump eligible for a third term.

今年1月，田纳西州的共和党众议员安迪·奥格尔斯提出了一项几乎不可能通过的宪法修正案，以使特朗普有资格竞选第三个任期。

But on Capitol Hill on Monday, top Republicans rejected the idea of changing the Constitution and suggested the president was joking. Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the Senate majority leader, said Mr. Trump was “probably having some fun with it,” and Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the House majority leader, said the comments were aimed to “get people talking.” White House officials suggested the same, noting Mr. Trump did not bring up the topic unprompted but only responded to questions asked by reporters.

但在周一的国会山，共和党高层人士否决了修改宪法的想法，并暗示总统是在开玩笑。南达科他州的参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩参议员表示，特朗普“可能只是拿这个逗个乐”，路易斯安那州的众议院多数党领袖史蒂夫·斯卡利斯说，特朗普的那些言论目的是“制造话题”。白宫官员也表达了同样的看法，他们指出这个话题不是特朗普主动提出的，他只是在回答记者的提问。

“Look, you guys continue to ask the president this question about a third term, and then he answers honestly and candidly with a smile, and then everybody here melts down about his answer,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters Monday.

“你看，你们这些人一直问总统关于第三个任期的问题，然后他带着微笑坦诚地回答了，结果这里的每个人都对他的回答做出过度反应，”白宫新闻秘书卡罗琳·利维特周一对记者说。

She added: “It’s not really something we’re thinking about. He has four years. There’s a lot of work to do. We’ve done a lot, nearly for 100 days. And the American people love what this president is doing.”

她还说：“这算不上我们正在考虑的事情。他有四年任期要履行。有很多工作要做。我们已经做了很多事情，到现在差不多快100天了。而且美国人民喜欢这位总统正在做的事情。”

Dave Carney, a Republican strategist who ran Preserve America, a pro-Trump super PAC, said Mr. Trump’s strategy may be to keep people guessing.

共和党策略师戴夫·卡尼曾管理支持特朗普的超级政治行动委员会“保护美国”，他说特朗普的策略可能是要显得捉摸不定。

“It keeps people uncomfortable,” he said. “The people on the left are going to go crazy, and it’s going to put other people on notice that Trump’s going to be around longer than we think. Trump excels by keeping people off kilter and uncomfortable.”

“这会让人们感到不安，”他说，“左翼人士会抓狂，而且这会让其他人注意到，特朗普会比我们想象的在政治舞台上停留更长时间。特朗普擅长让人们失去平衡，感到不安。”

“He hasn’t broken a law. He hasn’t said he’s going to,” Mr. Carney added. “He said there are a lot of different options out there. His ability to infuriate his opponents is one of his greatest strengths while the Democrats are in disarray.”

“他没有违法。他也没说过他会违法，”卡尼补充道，“他说有很多不同的选择。他激怒对手的能力是他最大的优势之一，而民主党现在乱作一团。”

Mr. Trump has made clear that he has no interest in sharing the spotlight. Just a few months into his second term, he has declared a broad mandate to reshape the federal government and demonstrated an expansive view of executive power. And he has chafed against any efforts to rein him in.

特朗普已经明确表示，他不想与他人分享风头。在他的第二个任期开始仅仅几个月后，他就宣布了一项全面的计划，要重塑联邦政府，并对行政权表现出了一种开放性的态度。而且他对任何试图约束他的努力都感到恼火。

Republicans on Capitol Hill have fallen in line with his agenda, ceding much of their power to him. And when federal judges have halted his administration, Mr. Trump has lashed out, suggesting they should be impeached. Democrats worry Mr. Trump’s comments about judges and a third term are hurtling the country toward a constitutional crisis.

国会山的共和党人已经唯他马首是瞻，将他们的很大一部分权力让渡给了他。当联邦法官叫停他的政府的一些行动时，特朗普会发出猛烈抨击，表示应该弹劾这些法官。民主党人担心特朗普关于法官和第三任期的言论正使国家朝着一场宪法危机急速发展。

“I’m very concerned that he is going to seek to exert maximum power until he’s checked,” Representative Ro Khanna of California, a Democrat, said in an interview Monday.

“我非常担心，只要不加以制约，他会试图最大限度地行使权力，”加利福尼亚州的民主党众议员卢·康纳在周一的一次采访中说。

For now, Mr. Trump maintains that he is focused on his second term.

目前，特朗普坚称他专注于自己的第二个任期。

“I don’t even want to talk about it,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday night. “I’m just telling you I have had more people saying, ‘Please run again.’ We have a long way to go before we even think about that but I’ve had a lot of people.”

“我甚至都不想谈论这个，”周日晚上，他在“空军一号”上对记者说，“我只是告诉你们，有很多人跟我说，‘请再竞选一次吧。’在我们考虑这件事之前还有很长的路要走，但确实有很多人这么跟我说。”

On Monday, a Fox News reporter, seemingly trying to bait Mr. Trump, asked him a hypothetical question: If he were allowed to run for a third term, would the Democrats try to run former President Barack Obama against him? (Mr. Obama already served two terms and has shown zero interest in running for elected office again.)

周一，一名福克斯新闻的记者似乎想给特朗普下套，向他提出了一个假设性的问题：如果允许他竞选第三个任期，民主党人会不会让前总统奥巴马与他竞争呢？（奥巴马已经担任过两届总统，而且对再次竞选公职毫无兴趣。）

“I would love that,” Mr. Trump said. “That would be a good one.”

“我很乐意看到那种情况，”特朗普说，“会很有意思。”