Today, December 3, 2022, a man seeking the nomination of the Republican party for president of the United States in 2024 advocated on social media for the suspension of the constitution and the installation of a dictator. The post went viral, but what was the reaction to this unprecedented and earthshattering development in the press? Would you believe, crickets?
And did the GOP respond with outrage to this development and decry this candidate? Are you kidding? Crickets, again.
The news cycle is not reporting the most outlandish story in our history. No, we’re supposed to be worried about other things.
The former president demanded today that we set aside the Constitution, ignore all other laws, and immediately reinstate him to the presidency, but we are supposed to be focused on Twitter suppressing Hunter nudes two years ago.
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) December 3, 2022
It seems to be a minority opinion, how outrageous Trump’s comments were today. And by the by, he has “re-truthed” them. He is doubling down. One of the few people seeing this issue with clarity is political historian Heather Cox Richardson.
Today, one of former president Trump’s messages on the struggling right-wing social media platform Truth Social went viral.
In the message, Trump again insisted that the 2020 presidential election had been characterized by “MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION,” and suggested the country should “throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or…have a NEW ELECTION.”
Then he added: “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!”
In other words, Trump is calling for the overthrow of the Constitution that established this nation. He advocates the establishment of a dictator.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the story. Do you see blaring headlines on all the networks, Presidential Hopeful Advocates Suspending Constitution, Being Installed As Dictator? No, and you won’t.
Part of the reason is because Crazy Grandpa is the quintessential boy who cried wolf. This is all we hear from him and after seven years of non stop blather, pretty soon you don’t hear him at all. All the insults and nicknames and innuendo just blend together into one big loud vulgar blur.
But we can’t just blow this off. This is important. Desperate people do desperate things. Trump is bouncing off the walls. Why now? The pressure is building. Trump can’t stand the heat but he can’t find the door out of the kitchen, either.
Just a thumbnail sketch of all the people after Trump.
Trump’s ludicrous executive privilege gambit got shot down by Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the Washington, D.C., District Court recently. Ergo, Pat Cipollone and his deputy counsel, Patrick Philbin, gave additional testimony to a federal grand jury. So did Stephen Miller. Ouch. Trump likes to recite the poem, “You knew I was a snake when you let me in.” Let’s hope he remembered that when Miller testified November 29.
Then there’s the DOJ and Mar-a-Lago pas de deux. That’s still going on. On December 1 the 11th Circuit judges ruled that Aileen Cannon had no authority to appoint a Special Master for Trump.
This subplot, in particular, is thickening. Trump initially only returned 184 documents. Then, after being subpoenaed to do so, he returned another 38, seventeen of which were Top Secret. These were supposedly all the documents and one of Trump’s attorneys so declared. Now she’s in hot water legally, because the FBI learned that there were more documents. A lot more.
On August 8, FBI agents retrieved about “13,000 documents and a number of other items, totaling more than 22,000 pages of material…. [F]ifteen of the thirty-three seized boxes, containers, or groups of papers contained documents with classification markings, including three such documents found in desks” in Trump’s office. Agents found more than 100 documents marked confidential, secret, or top secret.
Oh, mama, what a gaffe. To say you’ve given everything back and then 13,000 documents are still there? Aye aye aye.
And this is what freaked Trump out in particular. He panicked. He announced his candidacy, shortly before the midterms, believing that he would be taking a victory lap and celebrating GOP control of the House and Senate. The red tsunami, you recall.
That was a massively stupid move. There was no red tsunami and all he did was force Merrick Garland’s hand. Garland appointed Jack Smith as Special Counsel. Smith is the kind of guy who even works on holidays, as we saw from his Thanksgiving letter, which beautifully undercut Trump’s lawyers’ arguments, in one paragraph, no less.
This is enough litigation to choke ten horses, but it doesn’t stop there. Oh, no. It gets worse.
Don’t forget Fani Willis’ investigation in Georgia. That alone could be what finally topples Trump once and for all. Mark Meadows has just been ordered to testify. That is no small thing. Meadows could very well be the linchpin to all this. Meadows is not going to go to jail for Donald Trump.
Plus, there’s all that business in New York. The magical words “tax fraud” were uttered the other day.
Plus, now the House Ways and Means Committee has possession of Trump’s tax returns. They may or may not make them public. Bear in mind, the Senate Finance Committee now remains in Democratic hands and that pot may even sweeten a bit more after Tuesday’s runoff election in Georgia, which could tilt the balance of power a bit to the left.
And don’t think Trumpty’s not worried about that. And how, if Herschel Walker loses, it’s going to all be blamed on him, and rightfully so.
On these facts, with that kind of legal heat coming his way, of course Trump wants to flush the constitution and democracy down the toilet, are you kidding? Anything to save himself.
So we understand how Trump got to his level of panic. It makes complete sense. But do not forget to look with a clear eye at how remarkable Trump’s social media post about eradicating the constitution really is. There is something wrong if this is being ignored or soft pedaled.
But the real story here is not Trump’s panic about his fading relevance and his legal exposure; 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. [emphasis mine]
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement: “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.”
But Republicans, so far, are silent on Trump’s profound attack on the Constitution, the basis of our democratic government.
That is the story, and it is earth shattering.
That is indeed the story. This is a major story. It may not be on a par with the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor, but in all truth, it shouldn’t be too far behind. The story is not being covered for the outrage that it is.
Let’s see what the next news cycle brings and if that changes. And if it does not? Then something is indeed rotten in the state of Denmark. This cannot be whitewashed or minimized. The titular head of the Republican party just called to abolish our way of life. And then he doubled down on it and called for it again, twice in the same day.
If there is a more important story out there than the head of one of the two political parties wanting to eliminate democracy, I would like to know what that story is.
Dear Mainstream Media: WAKE UP!!!
Dear David: How certain are you that you’re not the one sleeping?
This is my new battle cry. The way politics is covered in this country HAS to change. The old ways don’t work anymore. Trump broke the mold and if we don’t rise to the occasion and report things in a larger, more truthful context — like this political historian I quoted herein — then we are screwed.
Read this story I wrote recently. It is near and dear to my heart and didn’t get a lot of views, but we HAVE to start looking at how the press covers politics. I see this as screamingly urgent.
As George Washington put it, “Law without force is impotent.” So it is with Trump’s nonsensical demands to suspend all rules. There are no headlines because he no longer has any power or a way back to it. The next threat will be something else again.
I see your point. The man is an idiot. But we still cannot ignore the fact that he is the presumptive 2024 candidate for the GOP and he’s advocating the abolition of democracy. That is not a small thing, in my view. The GOP needs to do something. We cannot just keep accepting Trump smashing the Overton window again and again and again.
But I do agree with your point, because he is a powerless buffoon, he’s being ignored essentially. I still don’t think that’s the way to handle this. I think the threat to democracy needs to be called out.
It was talked about some on MSNBC, but they talked about several other Trump related things, too. The first thing I thought when I saw this story was that this won’t look good for him when he goes to trial. He is disgusting and vile as are all Republicans. I saw this country elect a Republican for President three times while in the Navy. That made five Republicans out of the last six Presidents. I got out at my EAOS though it hurt me financially. I was not going to die or serve as a slave for a country of fascist. When I got back to the real world I was going to leave this country if Clinton had not been elected. Maybe I should have anyway.
It’s tragic that we have such differences in the two parties. When there was the 12-year reign of the Rethugs, Reagan then Bush Sr., I got a bit behind on paying taxes. I called the IRS (in the Bush administration) and the guy bragged to me about the power of the IRS. He said that they had the power to take any check I wrote to anybody and use it to pay taxes. He said that they could take my rent check if they wanted to. Bottom line, I was forced into a draconian repayment system that crushed me every month and then when Clinton was elected, the intimidation stopped and I was able to negotiate something doable. And we’re talking a few thousand dollars here, like five. That’s it. But under a Republican administration I was threatened and intimidated. When Clinton took over, everything worked fine. If I hadn’t been a lifelong Democrat already, that would have made me one.
I’ve always believed that when republicans are in power, they do everything to make your life harder, never better. Especially if you make less than 100,000 a year.
This is the very reason why Adolf Hitler rose to absolute power: inaction.
That is my point precisely. Maybe I’ll go edit the piece and include that thought. Thank you.
Things like this are why I pay little attention to main-stream media outlets…They only care about money! The more eyeballs they can get to look at them, the more advertising rubles they can suck in!! Very few media outlets care about truth, or informing their watchers. It matters little that this is just another of Traitor Tot’s attempts to stay out of prison (or out from in front of a firing squad!)
It is long past time for Traitor Tot to be arrested, put on trial for ALL of his crimes against our country and humanity, convicted, and executed!!!
I would think they would get plenty of eyeballs reporting this story honestly. We cannot and I mean can not, have anybody running for any office who advocates the destruction of our way of life. Suggesting that the constitution be thrown out is beyond the pale. This is it. This is the Rubicon. The GOP has to stop this now and it’s not liberal handwringing. The man advocated the abolition of democracy. He can’t be on the GOP ticket.
CNN had picked it up this morning and is one of their three banner headlines.
I really think the press is starting to ignore Trump’s every sniveling utterance which I welcome, but several have dropped the ball on this one.
Note….
CNN has dropped the story as one of their three banner headlines.
So I guess an editorial decision was made to sleep on this one? I’ll have to go over there and look for it.
There’s a process in desensitization therapy where folks are gradually exposed to whatever their phobia is so the fear lessens and the comfort level increases. We’ve all been exposed to this fascist in a multitude of ways over years. Sure, money runs the industry and is concentrated in the hands of those in the highest income bracket. They want to do whatever makes them the most money. To hell with Democracy. The other issue is the complacency that creeps in when adversity is on the other side of the world. We’ve forgotten that freedom of any kind is a rare and special experience. Legally it is defined by the rules made by those in power. Its backed by the threat of force in every culture i know of. One person in power? They do whatever they want. Starve 30 million of your citizens? Been done. Brainwash the entire country to worship a family dynasty? Hello north Korea. Kill all the female infants? The horrible list is endless. Point is we have had a special way of life worth fighting for. Sure I know many of our collective failures. But, when you travel around, you realize why every despot on earth would like us to go away. Trump will keep flailing and throwing punches in the air. The solution lies in honoring the phrase: equal treatment under the law. Educate voters with the truth. Confront fascism at every turn. Vote. Vote while we still can. Call your representatives. And as Jimmy Valvano said: don’t give up. Don’t ever give up. Rest in peace coach.
Well said. Thank you for coming here to share.
I thought when Trump was elected things would settle down. I assumed he would be a horrible President. I had no idea what was coming. I have gotten used to the fact that Donald Trump always has had scandals stupidity ignorance. Each scandal is worse than the last. The republican party als amazes me. Normal seeming adult Republican Congress persons know that the election wasn’t stolen and will say so in private but in public pretend that the election was stolen from Trump. incredible!
The larger context is that the right actually wants to subvert the Constitution, but in more subtle ways. Look at what DeSantis and the GOP legislators are doing in Florida. The cries of “censorship” in the Hunter Biden-laptop-Twitter story are really about the right’s goal of forcing social media platforms to allow all manner of defamatory and dangerous disinformation, so that it will reach a larger audience outside the RW bubble.
And, of course, rulings by the current SCOTUS will give a patina of “legitimacy” to all sorts of outrageous laws and practices.
So, threats to democracy and the Constitution will endure long after Trump becomes irrelevant.
Hey, it’s second chance day today. He retracted his statement then he turned around and double down on it. Cut loose with several tweets. Hey Elon, you gotta love it. Telling all about how we should just make him president and be done with it. It was sketchy over the weekend but he rammed it to a home run today. There’s gotta be some sorta law about this.