Throwing Out the Constitution
When the Civil War ended in 1865, the 76-year-old Constitution needed an upgrading and those leading the country did indeed dramatically transform it with the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, known collectively as the Reconstruction Era amendments. The 13th (1865) abolished slavery, while the 15th (1870) gave voting rights to newly freed Black men.
However, it was the 14th Amendment, first drafted in 1866 and ratified in 1868, that would prove the most far-reaching and that today sits all too squarely between Donald Trump and his white nationalist and authoritarian dreams. While much attention has been rightfully focused on its “insurrection” clause (Section 3) and whether, thanks to it, Trump should be allowed to hold office, given his role in the January 6th attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, his actions are also at odds with other key provisions of that amendment.
Trump’s Constitutional Indiscretions
It hardly needs to be said that Donald Trump is no constitutional scholar. At this point, though, there can be little doubt that his instincts are distinctly focused on some version of autocratic rule and white male privilege. No surprise then that, in his adult life, including as president, he’s staked out positions and advocated policies that distinctly conflict with the letter of, and the tone of, the 14th Amendment.
Mind you, he’s brazenly violated other parts of the Constitution as well, including the “emoluments” clause of Article 1, Section 6, and the “appropriations” clause of Article 1, Section 9. The foreign emolument section states that, without congressional assent, neither the president nor other office holders can “accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” Yet, as the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee documented, “Trump’s businesses received at least $7.8 million in payments from foreign governments and government-backed entities from 20 countries,” in itself adding up to a set of gifts (or do I mean grifts?) of historic proportions. Moreover, that figure is undoubtedly a significant underestimate of what he actually received. According to reporting by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Trump’s businesses took in more than $160 million from international sources during his presidency.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/throwing-out-the-constitution/ar-BB1ihxBW?ocid=nl_article_link
