Republicans have by and large refrained from criticizing former President Donald Trump after he called for the suspension of the U.S. Constitution over the weekend, arguing that the results of the election he lost two years ago should be thrown out.
"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?" Trump wrote in a post published Saturday on his social network, Truth Social.
Trump continued: "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!"
Trump’s post seemingly came in response to Twitter’s release of internal company emails that showed how employees at the social network worked to temporarily suppress a New York Post story about Hunter Biden‘s laptop. Though the emails were billed as a “bombshell” by new Twitter owner Elon Musk, most of the information published was previously known.
The emails themselves showed that Twitter employees initially suppressed the story due to worries that the information in the Post came via a Russian hacking operation. The independent journalist whom Twitter selected to publish the emails — Matt Taibbi — wrote in his Twitter thread, "there is no evidence — that I've seen — of any government involvement in the laptop story."
Though the story was initially suppressed on Twitter, it made the rounds elsewhere, with details from Hunter's laptop now widely reported on by outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC and CNN.
And while Trump argued that suppression of the story on Twitter was "a massive fraud" that led to him losing the election, he himself was president in October 2020, at the time of the story being suppressed by the social network.
Hunter, the 52-year-old son of President Joe Biden, has never run for public office nor had any involvement with his father’s presidential campaign.
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The White House swiftly condemned Trump’s words, saying an attack on the Constitution “is anathema to the soul of our nation and should be universally condemned.”
Some Republicans have criticized Trump for his comments on suspending the Constitution in order to allow himself to belatedly win a presidential election. But party leadership — including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy — has largely remained silent.
As the New York Times reports, McCarthy’s silence comes just weeks after he publicly declared that Republicans would “read every single word of the Constitution aloud from the floor of the House” once the party takes control of the chamber in January.
Others in the GOP have said they disagree with the president on “terminating” the Constitution, but have stopped short of saying it would impact their decision to support Trump in 2024, when he is again running for president.
The controversy is the latest in a long string of instances in which Trump has seen only subtle pushback from members of his party.
Several Republicans publicly criticized Trump for a recent private dinner he had with Kanye West and white supremacist Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, but did not say it would dissuade them from voting for him again.
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