No answer from Rhode Island Republicans
KENNY STANCIL For Common Dreams
Repeating
his thoroughly disproven lie that the 2020 election was stolen, former
President Donald Trump called Saturday for discarding the U.S. Constitution to
overturn his loss.
In
response, pro-democracy advocates argued that Trump's comments, other recent
actions, and the refusal of GOP lawmakers to denounce them are reflective of
the Republican Party's growing support for right-wing authoritarianism.
In
a viral post on his so-called Truth Social platform, Trump wrote:
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? 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!
As CNN reported, "Trump's post came after
the release of internal Twitter emails showing
deliberation in 2020 over a New York Post story about material
found on Hunter Biden's laptop."
"Employees on Twitter's legal, policy, and communications teams debated—and at times disagreed—over whether to restrict the article under the company's hacked materials policy," the news outlet noted. "The debate took place weeks before the 2020 election, when Joe Biden, Hunter Biden's father, was running against then-President Trump."
The
administration of President Joe Biden, who defeated Trump by more than seven
million votes and 74 Electoral College votes, quickly responded. In a statement
rebuking Trump, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said:
The American Constitution is a sacrosanct document that for over 200 years has guaranteed that freedom and the rule of law prevail in our great country. The Constitution brings the American people together—regardless of party—and elected leaders swear to uphold it.
It's the ultimate monument to all of the
Americans who have given their lives to defeat self-serving despots that abused
their power and trampled on fundamental rights. 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.
By
contrast, Republican Rep. Dave Joyce (Ohio) told ABC's "This Week"
anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday that Trump's post conveying his support
for overthrowing the Constitution is not a deal-breaker. The twice-impeached
president officially launched his 2024 campaign last month.
"I
will support whoever the Republican nominee is," said Joyce, chair of the
influential Republican Governance Group.
When
Stephanopoulos expressed disbelief that he would "support a candidate
who's come out for suspending the Constitution," Joyce said: "He says
a lot of things... I can't be really chasing every one of these crazy
statements that come out about from any of these candidates at the
moment."
Pushing
back again, Stephanopoulos asked, "You can't come out against someone
who's for suspending the Constitution?"
Joyce
responded: "He says a lot of things... but that doesn't mean that it's
ever going to happen. So you got to [separate] fact from fantasy—and fantasy is
that we're going to suspend the Constitution and go backward."
Joyce's
remarks are symptomatic of Republican lawmakers' refusal to censure Trump, who
remains the de facto leader of the party even after his backing of election
deniers weakened the GOP's midterm performance and despite his increasingly
open penchant for autocracy and bigotry.
"Last
week the leader of the Republican Party had dinner with a Nazi leader and a man
who called Adolf Hitler 'great,'" Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell (N.J.)
tweeted Sunday, referring to Trump's recent meeting with white nationalist and
Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and antisemitic rapper Kanye West.
"Yesterday
Trump called for throwing out the Constitution and making himself
dictator," Pascrell added. "Republicans' full embrace of fascism is
the story."
Just
days ago, Trump reiterated his support for
the far-right insurrectionists who participated in the deadly January 6, 2021, attack on the
U.S. Capitol, saying in a video played during a fundraiser that "people
have been treated unconstitutionally in my opinion and very, very unfairly, and
we're going to get to the bottom of it."
Trump claimed earlier this year that he was "financially supporting" some January 6 defendants and said that if reelected, he would "look very, very favorably" at full pardons for those being prosecuted.
More than 950 people have been charged so far,
including two leaders of the far-right Oath Keepers militia who were convicted last week of seditious
conspiracy. In the immediate aftermath of Trump's failed coup, 147
congressional Republicans voted to reverse Biden's victory.
In
an essay published Saturday, U.S. historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote that Trump's social media post
"seems to reflect desperation from the former president as his political
star fades and the many legal suits proceeding against him get closer and
closer to their end dates."
"But
the real story here is not Trump's panic about his fading relevance and his
legal exposure," the Boston College professor argued. "It's that
Trump remains the presumptive presidential nominee for the Republican Party in
2024. The leader of the Republican Party has just called for the overthrow of
our fundamental law and the installation of a dictator."
"Republicans,
so far, are silent on Trump's profound attack on the Constitution, the basis of
our democratic government," she added. "That is the story, and it is
Earth-shattering.
