Donald Trump says he never swore oath "to support the Constitution"

HLMenckenFan@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 527 points –
Donald Trump says he never swore oath "to support the Constitution"
newsweek.com
72

The party of "patriotism" everyone. This is their guy... the same guy whose defense for trying to overthrow the government and install himself as dictator is "I never said I swore an oath to uphold the constitution"

Not just that, but the ones for whom the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution are the beginning, middle, and end of their entire personal identity. They have a section of the Constitution tatooed on their fucking bodies, and they still support a man who would just as soon use the damned thing as toilet paper.

If Trump can argue the technicality that he never specifically said "support", we can argue ths technicality that the 2nd doesn't specifically say "guns".

It says the right to "bear arms." So if I want to graft a pair of cybernetically enhanced black bear arms to my body, I should have the right to do so! (As part of a well organized Bear Arm Militia, of course.)

"So really it's just the right to have bare arms, sleeveless shirts are A-OK!"

Anyone who makes one thing^TM^ their entire raison d'etre is always a little... let's go with off for politeness. But the 2^nd^ Amendment ones are just walking red flags.

The Second Amendment is so awkwardly worded. You can tell it was initially drafted, then the middle part of the sentence (third line on that guy's back) added in later.

The us right wing is entirely the "there must be outgroups to bind and in groups to protect" mindset. Everything else is after the fact justification.

The presidential oath of office that Trump was required to recite during the swearing in ceremony:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

It dOeSn'T sAy "sUpPoRt"!!1! ChEcKmAtE lIbS!!

(I feel dirty now)

The 2nd amendment says nothing about guns/firearms. It was written as arms. It specifically talks about a militia and being able to keep things. It also says that we have the right to obtain the arms of bears (bear arms). There is literally no precedent to allow anyone have a gun.

It’s pretty explicit in what they wanted.

/s

This is why trying to argue based on literal words, and not intent, is dumb.

Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution defines the powers of Congress, including:

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

According to the words of the Constitution, Congress can't appropriate any money to the Air Force.

"Raise your little armies everyone! First your left arm and then your right arm and then your bear arm! Now wave your armies!"

But didn't you see he had his fingers crossed? That means he doesn't have to do it!

They're trying to play semantic games and claim that supporting is not the same thing is preserving, protecting, and defending. It's a laughably bad argument and hopefully it gets struck down pretty much immediately.

He only quarter to do it

Hmm, I've usually heard it pronounced half to, but I guess the 'correct' spelling is have to.

What would "half to" even mean?

What does have to mean? Have is possessing something, have to doesn't make sense either.

It means that it is required. Obligatory.

It's a modal verb. And I think it comes from the secondary meaning of have as "to undergo or experience" rather than to possess. Or maybe not.

in any case:

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/have-to

In my dialect, you're correct about one thing. It's pronounced nearly the same way as half. But that would make no sense.

Would 'I have something to do' (I posess an option of a thing to do) would be the same as 'I have to do something'? (I need to do a thing) I thought those were different words.

"Preserve, protect, and defend, but not support. Checkmate liberals!!!"

  • Some Random Attorney Trump Dug Up From the Bottom Of The Barrel

What a piece of shit. How can anyone support this trash?

Because they too are pieces of shit.

Or dumb. Or not paying attention. Or some combination of the above.

Seriously, is there a difference? If someone drives a car into a wall, are they less stupid if they just weren't paying attention?

Yes, possibly. Smart people can do dumb things.

I suppose, in the end, it actually depends on how you define smart and dumb..

Stupid is as stupid does.

This is the simple phrase that separates intelligence and wisdom. Forrest Gump was not a smart man. He was a wise man.

Imagine being brainwashed bombarded on a daily basis with messages of how leftist will take over your country and how Trump will save them

"The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots." - H. L. Mencken

wait, so does that mean he was never actually president?

Worse than that, he wants the job again, and he's on his way to being the Republican nominee.

He's going to win and he's going to finish the job of dismantling the United States of America. He's quite open about it.

Apparently the oath that military folks take actually has the word "support" in it, but the one the president takes says "preserve, protect and defend."

Aren't they specific types of support?

The military one is:

I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

So that one specifically says "support."

The 14th amendment says:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

He's trying to argue that since the presidential oath doesn't use that word, and that word is specifically used in the 14th amendment, it didn't apply to him.

They are different according to them. They're trying to find loopholes.

1 more...

His supporters should be really mad about this. Generally they are the ones that invoke the Constitution anytime their lifestyle is inconvenienced.

When are we going to collectively decide to excise the cancer that is Christian Conservatism in the U.S.?

Hopefully soon. Republicans have been losing big because of abortion, and they're incapable of controlling the narrative because the lunatics are running the asylum.

Generational change was happening slowly, and then the Republican conspiracy theories with COVID accelerated it as elderly red voters died who could otherwise lived. Abortion being overturned has lit a fire in young people to actually get to the polls too. Going all in on Trump has also irreparably tainted the party for upper middle class who'd otherwise vote for him.

I don't know if the history books will say it was 2020, 2022, 2024, or 2028, but I'm very hopeful that sometime this decade will be when American conservativism is rendered unviable. We just need one more big push.

All of these morons have happened before and all of these morons will happen again.

When “Donald Trump says….”

What follows is absolute bullshit.

Very rarely, Trump is right accidentally. For example, recently he said that the true threat to America is coming from within. He meant the left, but he was accidentally right. The real threat is coming from within the US. To see it, though, Trump just needs to look in a mirror or look at the people attending his rallies.

His personality disorders renders him incapable of supporting the Constitution.

He probably had his fingers crossed and his ears stuffed with gold cheese puffs

In the picture of him swearing an oath to support the constitution, he has a hand on the bible and another raised, so he must have been crossing his toes. That totally counts...in kindergarten.

When the case is super weak, look for toe crossing in the next court filing.

Ever think about how if Bill Clinton had called the mother of a recently KIA marine without knowing his name we would still be hearing about it?

I haven't heard about that since the month it happened.

I can't wait for the mental gymnastics MAGA people will do when they get asked about this.