Trump Has Been Assaulting the Constitution From the Beginning
This isn't new—this isn't his first time. Plus another same-sex marriage case goes before SCOTUS.
1. It Was Always There
One of the weird dynamics of the past seven years would be that Donald Trump would say or do something totalitarian, people like me would freak out, and then Conservatism Inc. would stroll in and say some version of:
He didn’t mean it like that. He’s being serious, not literal. There is an obscure, alternate interpretation in which this idea is completely within democratic norms. Trump is fine. There’s nothing exotic going on here. You have Trump Derangement Syndrome. Why are you trying to make this look like authoritarianism?
Some examples:
The time he instructed his supporters to commit assault and promised he’d pay their legal fees if they were charged with crimes.
The time he said he’d use the U.S. military to murder the families of our adversaries.
The time he said he’d force U.S. soldiers to obey his illegal orders to commit war crimes.
The time he said two Supreme Court justices should recuse themselves from any case he’s a party to.
The time he called for a religious ban on Muslim immigrants.
His constant attacks on the basic legitimacy of the judicial branch.
His deployment of the National Guard against peaceful protestors in Lafayette Square.
His insistence that the vice president had the sole power to decide the winner of a presidential election.
This is a partial list. Point is: Trump’s explicit call to set aside the Constitution this weekend was not some new development. It’s not like the guy had been chugging along, just another normie politician, and suddenly he went off the rails.
No.
It has been clear—from the beginning—that Donald Trump has no respect for the rule of law as a concept or the Constitution as a legal document.
A serious question: If you sat Trump down at a desk and offered him $1 billion dollars, could he do any of the following?
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