NEWS ANALYSIS
(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “We are in a post constitutional moment in our country. Our constitutional institutions, understandings, and practices have all been transformed, over decades, away from the words on the paper into a new arrangement—a new regime if you will—that pays only lip service to the old Constitution.” - Russell Vought, president, Center for Renewing America; former director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Trump administration.
Donald Trump has been sworn in twice as President of the United States; once on January 20, 2017, and again on January 20, 2025. Both times he swore a solemn oath, mandated by Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution to the best of his “…Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States".
A solemn oath is a formal, binding, and serious affirmation that confirms truthfulness, duty, and a pledge of service. In this case, public service, not personal enrichment. It is a deeply personal commitment, frequently invoking a higher power or authority to guarantee the sincerity of the oath-taker.
To be consistent with the concept of “separation of powers”, where the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the government operate independent of each other, the framers of the constitution included the oath of office into Article II. Their intent was to force the executive to swear an allegiance to the constitution, before God and commit (solemnly swear) to the binding promise of public service to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution".
How could Donald Trump, an American president, swear an oath to defend a constitution that he and/or his closest advisors believes is no longer relevant or applicable? Was he lying when he took the oath? It is important to remember, not only has Donald Trump sworn this oath, every member of his cabinet has also sworn a similar oath. The contradictions are blinding and maddening.
Some might ask, “how can you attribute the words of Russell Vought to Donald Trump?” That answer is simple. Vought has been Trump’s director of OMB twice. As the co-author of Project 2025, ProPublica labeled Vought, “the Shadow President” … “the man who has drawn the road map for Trump’s second term. Vought has consolidated power to an extent that insiders say they feel like “he is the commander in chief.” To my knowledge, I have not heard Trump challenge or disavow anything that Vought has said.
Through their unconstitutional rhetoric and actions, Trump and his sycophants are trying to push the country towards a “Post-Constitutional America” and into a, autocracy, kleptocracy, or dictatorship.
Trump’s advisor Steven Bannon told the country in 2019 that the administration’s mission is the ‘deconstruction of the administrative state”. Vought rails against a "ruling elite" or "regime" composed of federal bureaucrats, and political figures that has hijacked American democracy, acting as a "deep state" that promotes "woke" policies and subverts constitutional order. However, when one looks into the Trump administration’s policies, they are transitioning power away from the federal government and into the hands of the oligarchal “ruling elite”. Corporate interest, control and greed are imposing themselves upon the American people every day.
When Vought says, “We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. We want, when they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work. Because they are increasingly viewed as the villains.” He is saying very clearly that he wants to do away constitutional powers that allow other branches of government to serve as a “check and balance” on the executive branch. This not an ideology of “radical constitutionalism” as he calls it, it’s laying the foundation for the return of the monarch, the authoritarian, the dictator.
Prior to Trump murdering fisherman in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean, the administration, through Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, fired the top Judge Advocates General (JAGs) for the Army, Navy, and Air Force. By doing away with all the top attorneys in the military, there’s no one left to tell him that killing civilians without due process is illegal.
Trump has been very clear for years; he wants to do away with the constitutionally protected right of “birthright citizenship”. He issued Executive Order 14160 on January 20, 2025, titled "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship”. Executive Order 14160 directs federal agencies to deny passports and birth certificates to children born in the U.S. if neither parent is a citizen or lawful permanent resident. There’s one problem with this order; it’s called the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. It reads as follows: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside". You don’t need a law degree to figure this one out. If you can read, this one is pretty simple. Without the 14th Amendment, there are no Irish Americans, Italian Americans or African Americans, since the only peoples with roots in the U.S. are native Americans.
Trump wants to expand the role of the Federal government in the election process. Earlier in February Trump said, “We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many—15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.” The Constitution already addresses the election process. It’s called Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the US Constitution: “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof…” Courts have repeatedly ruled that President Trump’s 2025 Executive Order 14248 overstepped his authority by attempting to impose voting rules not authorized by Congress. Judge Kollar-Kotelly declared that both Sections 2(d) and 3(d) of Executive Order 14248 are “inconsistent with the constitutional separation of powers and cannot lawfully be implemented.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the Trump administration is working hard to “make sure we have the right people voting” heading into the 2026 midterms. Who are “the right people”? Again, there’s an obstacle in the way. The 15th Amendment prohibits the federal government and states from denying a citizen the right to vote. It reads as follows: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Again, if you can read, this one is pretty simple.
During a November 2024 interview with Tucker Carlson, Vought said, “We're trying to build a shadow office of Legal Counsel so that when a future president says, what legal authorities do I need to shut down the riots? We want to be able to shut down the riots and not have the legal community or the defense community to come in and say, that's an inappropriate use of what you're trying to do.” Since the beginning of 2026 and most recently in response to the protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807. This act allows the president to deploy the U.S. military domestically to suppress civil unrest. The First Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits Congress from making laws “…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances".
Even given these examples, it is important to understand that Trump is not the causation of this threat to the constitution, he is the culmination of the threat. Russell Vought was professing these threats to our civil rights and civil liberties before Trump came to power. Trump had nothing to do with the flood of corporate money polluting the American electoral process. That was Lewis Powell with “The Powell memo” in 1971 resulting in the 2010 Citizens United case. Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas came to the bench in 1991, Samuel A. Alito, Jr. in 2006, and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020. They were all a part of the misguided 6-3 vote holding that U.S. presidents have absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions taken within their core constitutional powers and at least presumptive immunity for all official acts. Basically, that ruling places the American president above the law.
Contrary to the very incendiary and dangerous rhetoric of this administration, it is still "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
We Are Not in A “Post-Constitutional America” even though Trump and his minions are trying to create one.
Dr. Wilmer Leon is a nationally broadcast radio talk-show host. Author of Politics Another Perspective. Host of Inside the Issues w/ Dr. Wilmer Leon on SiriusXM Satellite radio channel 126. Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. www.twitter.com/drwleon and Dr. Leon’s Prescription at Facebook.com.
