People outraged at Donald Trump’s response when asked if he needs to uphold the constitution
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News
Britt Jones
Featured Image Credit: NBC News
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News
Donald Trump's comments about whether he should be 'upholding the Constitution' as the President of the United States has left a sour taste in some social media users' mouths.
Trump's second term as POTUS hasn't gone without its controversies, such as his 'Liberation Day' tariffs which haven't gone down very well with a few countries - namely China.
And his comments about groceries and fuel prices have also sparked some discussion from social media users, and recently, Trump's response to whether he should be 'upholding' the US Constitution as President has got people up in arms, too.
One of Trump's most divisive policies since coming into office is his mass deportations from the US, with many being sent to a mega prison in El Salvador.
Advert
Though the Supreme Court has temporarily given Trump the green light to use a law from WWII in his aide to deport alleged criminals, they have since requested that the deportees be given the opportunity to challenge their removal.
And in an interview with NBC News, Trump was further asked about whether every person in the US is entitled to due process - something he didn't seem sure about.
When quizzed by 'Meet The Press' moderator, Kristen Welker, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, replied with a solid 'yes', while Trump responded: "I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know."
Welker then pointed out the US Constitution's Fifth Amendment, which says that 'no person' will be 'deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law', however, Trump replied: "I don’t know. It seems — it might say that, but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials.
"We have thousands of people that are — some murderers and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth.
"I was elected to get them the hell out of here, and the courts are holding me from doing it."
Welker said: "But even given those numbers that you’re talking about, don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?"
According to Trump, however, this is something he 'doesn't know', as he continued: “I don’t know. I have to respond by saying again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me. and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said. They have a different interpretation.”
People have since responded to his comments on social media, with one person writing: “Him admitting he doesn't understand the functions of his job is the first honest thing he's said since he got into politics.”
Someone else said: “Donald Trump doesn’t care about the Constitution," while a third commented: "Presidents of the United States are only obligated to uphold the Constitution."
A fourth said it was 'literally his job description'.
Elsewhere in the interview, he also addressed the requests that he serve a third term despite it being against the constitution.
He told NBC News: "I have never had requests so strong as that. But it’s something that, to the best of my knowledge, you’re not allowed to do. I don’t know if that’s constitutional that they’re not allowing you to do it or anything else."
He added that he hopes to 'have four great years and turn it over to somebody, ideally a great Republican, a great Republican to carry it forward'.