Ted Cruz: “Of course” Trump was wrong to call for terminating Constitution

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U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz denounced former President Donald Trump for suggesting a “termination” of the Constitution so as to overturn the 2020 election, whereas additionally framing the remark as an oversensationalized distraction. The Texas Republican supplied his remarks three days after Trump’s preliminary remark and after prodding from reporters.

“Oh listen, of course what he said was wrong,” Cruz told Nexstar on Tuesday. “But I also think the media is engaged in a feeding frenzy. I’ve never seen reporters so excited as to run up to every Republican and say, ‘Please, please, please attack Donald Trump.’”

Cruz, a self-identified constitutionalist who prides himself on having memorized the Constitution as a youth, made the remark after Trump known as in a Truth Social put up Saturday for “the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution” so as to rehash the 2020 election.

Trump’s put up was a significant escalation in his false declare that there was an orchestrated scheme to steal the election from him for now-President Joe Biden. Although Trump has repeatedly claimed he by no means misplaced the election, Saturday’s put up was the primary time he overtly known as for overturning the nation’s authorized spine. Trump, the one president to ever be impeached twice and who left workplace on the heels of a lethal mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol, hoping to overturn the 2020 election outcomes, announced Nov. 15 that he’s working for the White House once more.

Several different Senate Republicans shortly repudiated the previous president’s put up, together with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who known as Trump’s remarks “irresponsible.” Cornyn added the Truth Social put up may harm Trump’s chances of turning into the Republican presidential nominee in 2024.

Before his Tuesday interview, Cruz had largely demurred on immediately addressing Trump when requested concerning the Truth Social posts, as an alternative emphasizing the authority of the Constitution. In an announcement responding to whether or not he believes the Constitution must be terminated, he bluntly stated “of course not.”

“The constitution is enduring and it will endure for millennia,” Cruz stated in the course of the Tuesday interview with Nexstar. “I think the constitution has defended our liberties and it created this nation, it created the structure of our government. It protects our fundamental rights. And that’s going to continue long beyond any of us being in office.”

During Trump’s presidency, Cruz wasn’t shy in his disdain for reporters asking Republican senators concerning the Trump tweet du jour, saying the president’s usually stream-of-consciousness posts have been simply noise round main coverage selections. Cruz usually says he put his private reservations in opposition to Trump apart so as to advance a standard coverage agenda, regardless of Trump’s vicious private assaults in opposition to the Texas senator in the course of the 2016 major.

Cruz echoed the sentiment Tuesday, urgent for reporters to focus as an alternative on border safety, inflation and vitality costs. But Trump’s critics on each side of the aisle careworn that the previous president’s remarks have been a harmful step up of his disregard for democratic norms and have been nothing to sneeze at.

“Let me just say, anyone seeking the presidency who thinks that the Constitution could somehow be suspended or not followed, it seems to me would have a very hard time being sworn in as president of the United States,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN.

Cruz hasn’t but dominated out one other presidential run in 2024, regardless of Trump’s announcement final month that he would attempt once more to win again the White House. Cruz says he’s centered on reelection to the Senate in 2024 however is conserving his choices open.