GOP leaders silent on Trump's call for 'termination' of the Constitution

Former President Donald Trump suggested Saturday morning that Twitter's 2020 decision to restrict a story about Hunter Biden's stolen laptop entitles him to either be declared president or get an electoral do-over, claiming a "massive fraud" of this magnitude "allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution."
Republicans who have already broken with their party over its support for Trump were quick to condemn the former president and ask why Republican leaders have stayed silent on what The Washington Post calls "a significant escalation in his attacks on American institutions and democratic norms" that "must be heeded as a sign of how far he is willing to go to regain power."
The Atlantic's Ron Brownstein suggested these Republican have a point.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"This is what kills my party right now," former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, a Republican who is considering a 2024 presidential campaign against Trump, told ABC's This Week.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has not put out a statement and declined the Post's request for comment, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the odds-on favorite to be House speaker next Congress, "was not asked about Trump's remarks in an appearance on Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo but was sympathetic to the underlying assertions at the heart of Trump's attack" on Big Tech, Politico reports.
A handful of lesser-known Republican lawmakers did denounce Trump's comments on constitutional "termination" on the Sunday news programs, but none of them seemed excited about discussing the post and "most still hesitated to say that they would oppose Trump if he becomes the GOP's 2024 presidential nominee," the Post reports.
The White House, for its part, quickly condemned Trump's comment. "You cannot only love America when you win," spokesman Andrew Bates said Saturday. "Attacking the Constitution and all it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Incoming House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told This Week he thought Trump made "a strange statement, but the Republicans are going to have to work out their issues with the former president and decide whether they're going to break from him and return to some semblance of reasonableness or continue to lean into the extremism, not just of Trump, but of Trumpism."
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imagination
Feature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?
Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacy
Feature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
Supreme Court: Will it allow Trump’s tariffs?
Feature Justices fast-track Trump’s appeal to see if his sweeping tariffs are unconstitutional
-
Venezuela: Was Trump’s air strike legal?
Feature A Trump-ordered airstrike targeted a speedboat off the coast of Venezuela, killing all 11 passengers on board
-
3 killed in Trump’s second Venezuelan boat strike
Speed Read Legal experts said Trump had no authority to order extrajudicial executions of noncombatants
-
Is Kash Patel’s fate sealed after Kirk shooting missteps?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The FBI’s bungled response in the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting has director Kash Patel in the hot seat
-
Russian drone tests Romania as Trump spins
Speed Read Trump is ‘resisting congressional plans to impose newer and tougher penalties on Russia’s energy sector’
-
Trump renews push to fire Cook before Fed meeting
Speed Read The push to remove Cook has ‘quickly become the defining battle in Trump’s effort to take control of the Fed’
-
Will Donald Trump’s second state visit be a diplomatic disaster?
Today's Big Question Charlie Kirk shooting, Saturday’s far-right rally and continued Jeffrey Epstein fallout ramps-up risks of already fraught trip
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-war
Talking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’