“I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know.” --- Donald Trump, when asked by Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker on whether everyone deserves due process
uphold the Constitution in January, now says he doesn’t know if he has to enforce it. He’s head of the Executive Branch and for those who slept through American government in high school, that branch’s job is to enforce laws. There we had Trump on national TV on “Meet the Press” on Sunday repeatedly saying he didn’t know if he had to uphold the U.S. Constitution.
When MTP moderator Kristen Welker pointed out the Fifth Amendment says everyone is entitled to due process, Trump responded, “I don’t know. It seems --- it might say that, but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials. We have thousands of people that are -- some murderers and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth. I was elected to get them the hell out of here, and the courts are holding me from doing it.”
How do you determine if someone is a murderer or drug dealer? Due process. Trump, of all people should know this. He received due process when he was arrested, finger printed, photographed, allowed to hire attorneys and vigorously defend himself in multiple criminal trials. He received due process when he was convicted of 34 felonies. (Isn’t it ironic that Trump probably has been convicted of more felonies than anyone he’s deported?)
That statement indicates that Trump knows what the law requires. He just doesn’t want to do it. Too bad. I was elected to get them out and the courts are holding me to the law, he’s crying. That’s the courts’ job. That’s the job of judges. It’s also Trump’s job. He thinks that just because his conspiracy theory guzzling, Constitutionally-illiterate voters want him to violate the law, that he can do it.
Wrong.
Suppose a Democratic presidential candidate ran for office telling voters she would get rid of guns if elected. And when she’s elected she signs an Executive Order repealing the 2nd Amendment because that’s what her voters want her to do. Do you know how much legal weight that would carry? The same amount as Donald Trump’s Executive Order earlier this year trying to repeal the 14th Amendment.
I make no apologies for our Constitution making life difficult for a would be authoritarian. You don’t get to ignore the parts of the Constitution you disagree with. And those judges are members of a coequal branch.
co·e·qual [ˌkōˈēkw(ə)l] adjective
equal with one another; having the same rank or importance:
That’s right. Those “radical liberal judges” (including ones that Donald Trump appointed and have ruled against him) are just as powerful as the president. And yes, they (not your lawyers, Drumpf) are there to say what’s Constitutional and what isn’t.
Trump outed himself as the ignoramus that most of us know he is. Judging by his comments and behavior, I don’t believe he’s ever read the United States Constitution and he certainly doesn’t care about what it says.
Trump’s stupidity when it comes to our founding documents was on full display last week when ABC’s Terry Moran asked him what the Declaration of Independence means to him. In what one X user called the “dumbest moment in American history” the supposed 47th President said, “Well, it means exactly what it says, it’s a declaration, it’s a declaration of unity and love and respect, and it means a lot and it’s something very special to our country.” It’s one of those boneheaded Trump sayings that sounds like a kid giving a book report on a book he obviously didn’t read.
The Declaration of Independence declares our independence from the British, including the powerful line “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
It talks about how the government gets its power from the consent of the governed and that the public has the right to abolish a government that doesn’t protect their rights. It also lists many grievances against the king and explains why we’re now independent. It’s a treatise against tyranny.
Our intellectually incurious President is too stupid to know this, and too lazy to actually read the document he has on the wall in the Oval Office. Like Martin Sheen, he just plays a president on TV.
But just because Donald John Trump is one of the stupidest men to ever hold the office of President doesn’t mean he’s not an authoritarian. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t know what he’s doing. All he wants to do is whatever he wants. He’s under the delusion that he has unlimited power, that he’s a King. Anyone trying to uphold and defend the Constitution, you know…the thing Donald Trump swore to do and isn’t….is his enemy.
But here’s the thing…we didn’t vote for a King. We didn’t vote for an Emperor or a Fuhrer. We’re not beholden to Donald Trump. We don’t pledge allegiance to any President. Our allegiance is to the country and to the Constitution, even if Trump and his MAGA cult hasn’t read it and doesn’t believe in it. And one thing we’re good at is dissent. We’re excellent at saying fuck you. And we’re pretty good at kicking the fucking ass of kings and wannabe kings.
So be stupid or play stupid as much as you want. But you’re going to uphold that Constitution. Those coequal judges will insist on it. The majority of Americans who didn’t vote for you are going to insist on it no matter what delusions your sheep may have about due process.
That document on your office wall that you don’t understand and that you like to show off to guests says when the people are confronted with a long train of abuses leading to despotism, “it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
Violate our rights, fail to uphold the Constitution and continue slouching towards autocracy and we will throw off this government. Try us.
