Former President Donald J. Trump broke headlines again on December 3 with a new thought, once again regarding the 2020 election. After getting banned from Twitter in 2021, he turned to a new platform, “Truth Social,” owned by Trump himself.
His statement on “Truth Social” was as follows: “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” This statement was in response to a report from a former Twitter employee, addressing an old scandal from 2020. An article released by the New York Times addressing Trump’s outburst had a lot to say. “The explicit suggestion of suspending the Constitution was astonishing even by the standards of Mr. Trump, who has spent the past two years spreading lies about the 2020 election, which he lost, and promoting various illegal mechanisms for overturning it,” said successful NYT reporter Maggie Astor.
Trump has since received intense backlash from other popular politicians. Victor Shi, a columnist for Resolute Square and Joseph Biden’s youngest delegate, called him out on Twitter: “Trump is an enemy of the U.S. Constitution.[…] -every Republican who doesn’t fully condemn Trump is also an enemy of the U.S. Constitution. Full stop.”
“A Former president [Trump] has called for termination of the US Constitution. There is no middle ground. You support America’s constitutional republic or you support Donald Trump,” said Joe Scarborough, a former (republican) U.S. Representative. Some even went as far to say since Trump has made clear his disregard for the Constitution, “He [Trump] can never be trusted to obey the Constitution’s Oath to preserve and protect it,” said Laurence Tribe, a successful lawyer and long-time Harvard professor. Tribe makes a good point. How can someone who disagrees with the founding principles of our country successfully be in control of our country?
However, there are some who side with Trump. Twitter user Baroness von M (American flag emoji) said, “Trump’s wording was bad, but beyond that, the gist of it makes sense. This is a wounded man who was robbed of being rightfully elected. Not only was he robbed, the American voters were robbed.” Some go so far as to claim the media is lying, tweeting, “President Trump never said he wanted to terminate the constitution,” which seems to be a common strategy of his followers. “The media lie’s continue!! ABC spun this statement this morning saying President Trump wants to throw out the constitution! What a bunch of lying badtards,” said one twitter user, linking his statement below, in fact saying he wants to terminate the constitution. Kimberly Klacik, a popular radio talk show host tweeted, “President Trump never said he wanted to terminate the constitution, why are members of the media so dishonest?” Paul Gosar, a republican state representative from Arizona spoke out in support of Trump’s idea. Gosar said, “I support and agree with the former President. Unprecedented fraud requires unprecedented cure.” He has since deleted this tweet. Kari Lake, a Trump-endorsed candidate for governor in Arizona, also came out in support of the termination.
An alarming thread throughout the defenders’ claims is that they all address him as President Trump, still denying election results almost three years later. Many hours of research and recounts have gone into debunking widespread fraud in 2020’s election, proving the win of the Biden-Harris team.
As the 2024 election draws near, 2020’s presidential results need to be accepted for what they are: Neither fraudulent nor debatable. U.S. elections are a big deal, and not to be taken lightly. Saying “not my president” is silly at this point. When was the last time an election of this magnitude was so heavily and aggressively disputed? Many citizens have been very unhappy with past elections, especially 2016’s result, but had to accept it, so why can’t Trump followers do the same?
As social media presence continues to rise and candidates get more and more open about their feelings and opinions, it’s more important than ever to check news sources. Following reliable news sources on social media is a good way to integrate news into daily life, and learn more about the world. Relying on a sole news source or a biased news source can lead to widespread misinformation. Finding non-profit or non-partisan news sources is a good way to insure a non-biased report.