Trump is pushing the prospect of suspending portions — or maybe all of — the Constitution in the wake of claimed issues with the 2020 election, and he’s simultaneously promoting either declaring himself the rightful winner of that year’s presidential race or holding a new election.
Although it’s obviously objectively ridiculous, what happens if the guy saying this stuff successfully nabs the Republican presidential nomination for 2024? Republicans are sticking mostly by him — and those who don’t have been repeatedly driven out. Sure, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is what could be termed a rising star in the field and could pose what fundraising, polling data, and recent election results suggest could be the most formidable primary challenge to Donald — but Trump might win. In the general election, what if officials in key locales decide differently than they did in 2020 if Trump loses? Several times, local officials have refused to certify election results in the wake of the 2020 presidential race. After Cochise County board members in Arizona delayed their local certification of this year’s results, a judge ordered the swift completion of the move — but what if they still refused?
Trump connected his calls for somehow undoing the 2020 outcome in part to outrage over Twitter temporarily restricting the spread of reporting about private files originating with Hunter Biden, a son of the current president. “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?” Donald posted on Truth Social Saturday. “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!” Does he think there’s some kind of legal foundation for undoing the Constitution? Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) has previously spoken about the ridiculousness of claiming there to be a legal foundation for subverting the Constitution in the document itself, and obviously there is no reality to Trump’s contentions about some kind of apocalyptic interference conspiracy.
Trump this morning calls to be reinstated as president and declared the winner of 2020, or to have a new election immediately. pic.twitter.com/lNLe05yshc
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) December 3, 2022
Image: Gage Skidmore/ Creative Commons
