Washington, D.C. – Over the weekend, former President Trump demanded “termination” of the U.S. Constitution in order to redo an election he lost, which would simultaneously overturn two of our most basic principles – the law of the land and the will of American voters. This comes less than a week after Trump sent a video to a fundraiser for an organization that supports the families of insurrectionists facing charges for the violent attack on January 6th, which Trump incited in order to overturn the result of the same election.
“By failing to condemn the vile statement from Donald Trump over the weekend, MAGA Republicans implicitly agree with him,” said Defend Democracy Project Communications Director Nicole Haley. “Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans will do anything they can in order to increase their own political power, including tearing up the Constitution. They want to take power away from Americans and anyone who disagrees with their dark and divisive view of the country.”
The Bulwark (Opinion): Trump Stands in the Middle of Fifth Avenue and Shoots the Constitution. “Trump writing that we should cancel the Constitution ranks right up alongside John Tyler’s support of the Confederacy as among the most shameful acts of a former president in our nation’s history. Trump was not just saying the quiet part of his entire political career out loud. He was screaming it straight into our eardrums. His disordered mind can only be thinking one thing: By racing far past the edge of the known political universe, he wins the gold medal in the extremism that the MAGA base craves. No rival can compete. He figures that’s how to guarantee his nomination and eventually the presidency, with its immunity from indictment.” [The Bulwark (Opinion), 12/4/22]
Politico: Cheney Calls Trump ‘Enemy Of The Constitution’ After He Proposes Terminating It. “Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) called former President Donald Trump an ‘enemy of the Constitution’ on Sunday, after he suggested considering ‘termination’ of the Constitution on Saturday — one of few overt condemnations in the GOP of Trump’s words. ‘No honest person can now deny that Trump is an enemy of the Constitution,’ Cheney tweeted on Sunday. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who has served with Cheney on the select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol, said the former president ‘hates the Constitution.’ ‘Not a single conservative can legitimately support him, and not a single supporter can be called a conservative,’ Kinzinger said. ‘This is insane.’ Kinzinger, like Cheney, is a frequent Trump critic who’s leaving Congress in January. Other Republicans on Sunday were also critical of the idea of the Constitution being set aside, but they declined to say whether they’d vote for Trump again after the statement. ‘It is certainly not consistent with the oath that we all take,’ said Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio). ‘I vehemently disagree with the statement that Trump has made.’ But Turner, speaking to host Margaret Brennan on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation,’ declined to say Trump’s remarks were ‘disqualifying’ when it came to his presidential candidacy. […] Both Joyce and Rep.-elect Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said they didn’t think voters wanted to look ‘backward,’ following Republicans’ unexpectedly narrow House majority victory last month. ‘I certainly don’t endorse that language,’ Lawler said of Trump’s constitutional ‘termination’ on CNN’s ‘State of the Union.’ He urged Trump to look toward the future as Trump seeks the presidency again.” [Politico, 12/4/22]
ABC: Trump’s Call To Suspend Constitution Not A 2024 Deal-Breaker, Leading House Republican Says: Republican Ohio Rep. Dave Joyce said Sunday that he didn’t want to be drawn into commenting on Donald Trump’s recent call to suspend the Constitution over baseless claims of 2020 election fraud. Joyce, the chair of the Republican Governance Group, a centrist group in the House, was asked by ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos to respond to Trump’s post on Saturday on his Truth Social platform. The former president wrongly asserted that the “massive fraud” — which did not occur — “allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” Joyce initially declined to respond, saying he didn’t know what Trump said on social media and that the public wasn’t “interested in looking backwards.” But Stephanopoulos pressed further, and Joyce ultimately said that Trump’s comment should be taken “in context” but that it wouldn’t prevent him from supporting Trump if he ends up winning the nomination. “It’s early. I think there’s going to be a lot of people in the primary … [but] I will support whoever the Republican nominee is,” Joyce said while noting he didn’t think Trump would manage to win the 2024 Republican presidential nomination because there are “a lot of other good quality candidates out there.” “That’s a remarkable statement,” Stephanopoulos said. “You just said you’d support a candidate who’s come out for suspending the Constitution.” “Well, you know, he says a lot of things,” Joyce said, adding, “I can’t be really chasing every one of these crazy statements that come from any of these candidates.” [ABC, 12/4/22]
New York Times: Trump’s Call for ‘Termination’ of Constitution Draws Rebukes: An extraordinary antidemocratic statement from former President Donald J. Trump, suggesting the “termination” of the Constitution to overturn the 2020 election, drew a degree of bipartisan condemnation over the weekend, with a flood from Democrats and a trickle from Republicans. But it did not appear to do any more than similar past actions in prompting Republican officials to rule out supporting Mr. Trump in 2024. Inaccurately describing the contents of a just-released report about Twitter’s moderation decisions during the 2020 campaign, Mr. Trump again demanded that the 2020 election be overturned or rerun, for the first time explicitly calling to set aside the supreme law of the land. “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” he wrote in a post on Saturday on his social network, Truth Social. The explicit suggestion of suspending the Constitution was astonishing even by the standards of Mr. Trump, who has spent the past two years spreading lies about the 2020 election, which he lost, and promoting various illegal mechanisms for overturning it. [New York Times, 12/4/22]
The Hill: Top House Intel Republican Condemns Trump’s Calls To Suspend Constitution Over 2020 Election: Rep. Mike Turner (Ohio), the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, on Sunday condemned former President Trump’s suggestion to suspend the Constitution over unfounded claims of mass electoral fraud in the 2020 presidential election. During an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” moderator Margaret Brennan asked Turner if he condemned Trump’s post on Saturday calling for “the termination of all rules,” including those in the Constitution, over his election claims. “Absolutely,” Turner responded. “And I believe, answering your question, that people certainly are going to take into consideration a statement like this as they evaluate a candidate.” Trump formally entered the 2024 presidential race last month, and the post marks the latest instance of some in the GOP criticizing the former president since his announcement. “I, first of all, vehemently disagree with with [sic] the statement that Trump has made,” Turner said on CBS. “Trump has made 1,000 statements in which I disagree.” Others in the party, such as Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio), however, declined to condemn Trump’s suggestion during an appearance on the Sunday talk show circuit. The former president has also faced condemnation in recent days over dining with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, and white supremacist Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago last month. [The Hill, 12/4/22]
Washington Post (Opinion): Trump’s Call For Suspending The Constitution Is Too Dangerous To Ignore. “I am moved, now, to write about Trump’s latest post, on his Truth Social network, because it is at least equally dangerous and even more insidious. […] This is insurrectionism by social media. Nothing — and certainly not imaginary “Fraud,” capitalized or not — “allows for the termination” of constitutional guarantees. Trump is laying the groundwork for a coup. We can dismiss the post as just the latest Trumpian bluster, something he will never be capable of implementing. Yet the mere willingness to entertain and encourage extra-constitutional action is alarming coming from a man who is seeking to return to office. Which is why Trump’s words must be highlighted — and called out. I’m past expecting Republican leaders to speak out. We know that, for most, their spines have collapsed and their courage reduced to a shrunken kernel. Trump “says a lot of things, but that doesn’t mean that it’s ever going to happen,” was the most that Rep. David Joyce (Ohio), chair of the Republican Governance Group, could choke out in response to questions by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. The White House was right to rebuke Trump. “Attacking the Constitution and all it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation and should be universally condemned,” spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement. If anything, the words should have been issued in the name of the president himself.” [The Washington Post (Opinion), 12/4/22]
NBC News: Top Republicans Stay Silent On Trump’s Call To Terminate The Constitution. “Top Republicans have stayed silent as the White House strongly criticized former President Donald Trump for suggesting that the Constitution be terminated in his ongoing efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election… As of Sunday morning, Republican leaders, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as well as the Republican National Committee had not publicly commented on Trump’s post. NBC News reached out to spokespeople for McConnell, McCarthy and the RNC for comment Saturday but did not receive any response… Marc Short, former Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, lamented that Trump’s remarks have become a “consistent trend,” pointing out that the former president had demanded that Pence put the Constitution aside to overturn the election results after he lost reelection to Joe Biden.” [NBC, 12/4/22]
Los Angeles Times: Trump Rebuked For His Call To Suspend Constitution Over Election He Lost. “Former President Trump faced rebuke Sunday from officials in both parties after calling for the “termination” of parts of the Constitution over his lie that the 2020 election was stolen. Trump, who announced last month that he is running again for president, made the claim over the weekend on his Truth Social media platform. […] Trump, who is the first U.S. president to be impeached twice and whose term ended with his supporters violently storming the Capitol in a deadly bid to halt the peaceful transition of power on Jan. 6, 2021, faces escalating criminal investigations, including several that could lead to indictments. They include the probe into classified documents seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago, and ongoing state and federal inquiries related to efforts to remain in office despite his 2020 election defeat. Asked about Trump’s comments Sunday, Rep. Michael R. Turner of Ohio, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said he ‘vehemently’ disagrees and ‘absolutely’ condemns the remarks, saying they should be a factor as Republicans decide who should lead their party in 2024. ‘There is a political process that has to go forward before anybody is a front-runner or anybody is even the candidate for the party,’ he said. ‘I believe that people certainly are going to take into consideration a statement like this as they evaluate a candidate.’ Rep.-elect Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) also objected to the remarks, saying it was time to stop focusing on the ‘grievances of prior elections.’ ‘The Constitution is set for a reason, to protect the rights of every American,” Lawler said. “I think the former president would be well-advised to focus on the future, if he is going to run for president again.’” [Los Angeles Times, 12/4/22]
