Did Trump come up with “Trump Rule 2017” that laid out plans for term limits

1. What the sources actually document about Trump and term limits

Multiple contemporary reports and public statements show that Trump endorsed congressional term limits as a campaign promise, with his campaign articulating a specific proposal—six years for House members and 12 years for senators—which was presented as part of his “drain the swamp” messaging in 2016 and discussed early in his administration in 2017 ^{[1] [3] [2]}. News outlets, policy trackers and organizations tracking the term-limits movement all record Trump’s public backing of that idea, and academic and advocacy materials have cited his proposal as part of the broader movement to amend the Constitution to impose term limits on Congress ^{[6] [7] [8]}.

2. No evidence supports a distinct “Trump Rule 2017” document

A careful read of the provided material turned up no reference to any formal memorandum, executive order, rule, or titled text labeled “Trump Rule 2017” that laid out plans for term limits; the available sources instead refer to campaign statements, press releases, and policy proposals ^{[1] [3]}. Where counsel about changing presidential term rules appears in the record, it comes from later actors—most notably Representative Andy Ogles’ 2025 proposal to amend the 22nd Amendment to allow a third term for Trump—which is a separate congressional initiative and not evidence of a 2017 “rule” authored by Trump ^{[4] [5]}.

3. Distinguishing congressional term-limit proposals from presidential-term changes

Trump’s documented proposals targeted congressional term limits, not a rewrite of presidential term limits under the 22nd Amendment; the 22nd Amendment itself remains the controlling constitutional text limiting presidents to two elected terms ^{[1] [9]}. Proposals to alter presidential term limits—such as Ogles’ 2025 idea to change the 22nd Amendment—are initiative-driven by members of Congress and activists and are legally and politically separate from the congressional term-limit proposals Trump advocated ^{[4] [5]}.

4. Political and legal context that complicates the picture

Any constitutional amendment to impose term limits on Congress would require a two-thirds vote in both chambers and ratification by three-fourths of the states, a steep procedural bar that commentators and analysts flagged when assessing Trump’s promise ^[7]. Critics warned that term limits could weaken congressional oversight and therefore benefit a powerful executive, a critique leveled in analysis of Trump’s proposals and the various amendment resolutions introduced in Congress ^[7]. Independent fact-checkers later judged Trump’s promise to push through a constitutional amendment as unfulfilled, underscoring the political difficulty of translating campaign rhetoric into constitutional change ^[10].

5. Competing narratives and who benefits from which framing

Supporters of Trump’s term-limit pitch framed it as anti-corruption, aligning with long-standing term-limits advocacy groups eager to work with sympathetic presidents ^{[8] [6]}, while opponents framed it as potentially leveraging a weaker, less experienced Congress in service of executive power ^[7]. Where more recent proposals seek to alter presidential limits, those are politically charged efforts by allies who would personally benefit—an angle analysts highlighted when discussing Representative Ogles’ 2025 amendment push ^{[4] [5]}.

There is no source evidence in the provided reporting that Donald Trump authored or promulgated a document called “Trump Rule 2017” that laid out plans for term limits; the factual record shows campaign proposals for congressional term limits and later, separate congressional maneuvers on presidential-term questions, but not a discrete 2017 rule text attributable to Trump ^{[1] [3] [4]}.