Former President Donald Trump argued for the “termination” of the U.S. Constitution after wondering whether to simply throw out the 2020 election results and declare him the winner this weekend.
“So, with the revelation of MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC, & the Democrat Party, do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION?” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media platform Saturday morning, republishing again later that day.
“A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections,” he continued.
Trump’s call for the U.S. Constitution’s termination comes following the release of information promoted by billionaire Twitter owner Elon Musk, which the former President and his followers have alleged demonstrates the social media platform, before Musk purchased it, had been working with the Biden Campaign in 2020 to suppress some information about the 46th president’s son, Hunter Biden.
Friday’s release of information by former Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi, presented in a lengthy Twitter thread, in fact showed the company had apparently made the decision to not promote a New York Post story about the younger Biden and a trove of information said to be from a laptop he once owned, and had done so without the Biden campaign, Trump’s FBI, or any relevant politician asking them to do so.
“UNPRECEDENTED FRAUD REQUIRES UNPRECEDENTED CURE,” the former President nevertheless maintained on his social media platform.
The White House, through a spokesperson, condemned Trump’s rhetoric.
“Attacking the Constitution and all it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation, and should be universally condemned. You cannot only love America when you win,” White House Deputy Press Secretary and Senior Communications Advisor For Strategic Response Andrew Bates said.
Candidate Trump, then president in 2020, also worked with Twitter to remove negative content posted about the former president, according to Taibbi.
“For instance, in 2020, requests from both the Trump White House and the Biden campaign were received and honored,” Taibbi tweeted.
According to one Trump expert, if continuing to call for the a redo of 2020 is Trump’s plan to win 2024, it is a bad one.
“This episode shows the problem with a Trump 2024 candidacy to this point: there’s no new product or new selling proposition. It’s just continual complaining about the 2020 election: a contest that Trump lost and from which most of the public has moved on,” Kenneth Cosgrove, a political scientist at Suffolk University, told the Herald Sunday.
Cosgrove said Trump’s call for “termination” of the constitution represents a first in modern American politics.
“I recall no modern President who has suggested abolishing the whole system. This is probably because of the Constitution’s civil religious status but also because abolishing the Constitution would lead to abolishing the Presidency, meaning it would not be a logical thing for anyone interested in having that job would propose,” he said.
Ohio Rep. Mike Turner, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said he “vehemently” disagrees with the former President and “absolutely” condemns the remarks.
“There is a political process that has to go forward before anybody is a frontrunner 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.”
Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, no fan of Trump, said he’s showing his true colors.
“Donald Trump believes we should terminate ‘all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the Constitution’ to overturn the 2020 election. That was his view on 1/6 and remains his view today. No honest person can now deny that Trump is an enemy of the Constitution,” she Tweeted Sunday.
Herald wire service contributed.
