WASHINGTON – Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) borrowed one of Donald Trump’s favorite nicknames for his critics when asked about the former president’s call to “end” the U.S. Constitution over the weekend.
“Well, the Republican Party is the party of the Constitution,” Romney told reporters Monday on Capitol Hill. “So when he calls for the suspension of the Constitution, he goes from MAGA to RINO.”
Trump often refers to his Republican critics by the nickname “RINO,” which stands for “Republican In Name Only.” Over the years, he has used it as a smear against people like Romney, the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and others in the GOP who dared to speak out against him.
The former president sparked a rerun of the 2020 presidential election on Saturday over recent tweets among the social media platform’s leaders around the 2020 presidential election. The messages discuss content moderation decisions, including the company’s decision to block a New York Post story involving Joe Biden’s son Hunter.
“Massive fraud of this type and magnitude allows the termination of all rules, regulations and articles, even those of the Constitution,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump later he tried to argue who did not say what he said and accused the media of spreading lies.
GOP congressional reactions to Trump’s comments ranged from outright condemnation to warm disagreement to outright attempts to sidestep the question. However, no Republican deputy has categorically ruled out supporting Trump if he runs for president of the Republic of Moldova in 2024.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Trump’s social media post was “not a responsible thing to say.”
“I don’t know why anyone would say such a thing; certainly not a former president. I just think it’s irresponsible,” Cornyn added.
“It’s a fantasy,” added Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.). “I think it’s kind of a Hail Mary to hold out hope when everyone knows there isn’t. We are the party of the Constitution; it will not happen.”
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who is retiring next month to become the president of the University of Florida, said his GOP colleagues “will have to choose whether they’re for the circus clown or the Constitution.”
Some of Trump’s biggest allies on Capitol Hill, including self-proclaimed “constitutional conservatives,” offered little more than polite words of disagreement with the idea of burning the nation’s founding documents.
“There are no exceptions to the Constitution,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told HuffPost. When asked if Trump should apologize or clarify his remarks, Paul simply reiterated his statement.
“The Constitution stands and will last for millennia to come,” added Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), another self-described constitutional conservative.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) chastised reporters for focusing on Trump’s comments instead of other issues like the economy.
“I’m not going to waste my time trying to analyze when he said it and how he said it. We should focus on the issues that matter to us at home,” Marshall said.
Several GOP senators took further criticism of Trump’s comments. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) SAPS that suggesting the end of the Constitution “is not only a betrayal of our oath, it is an affront to our Republic.”
And Sen. Mike Rounds (RS.D.) said in a statement that “whoever wants to rule our country must commit to protecting the Constitution.” But when HuffPost asked if Trump’s comments should disqualify him from running for president, Rounds declined.
“I think about what happened on January 6 [2021] it’s something he’s been disqualified for, but the American voters are going to have to get that message across,” he said.
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