Trump Forgets the Presidential Oath

Asked on NBC whether DJT believes that he needs to uphold the Constitution, he said “I don’t know.” Continuing, he said, “I have brilliant lawyers that work for me…[to] follow what the Supreme Court said.”

The presidential oath of office is set out in in haec verba in Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution:

“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.” [Maybe DJT got the habit of excessive capitalization from the founding fathers.]

The president is the only one who takes this oath. The vice-president and every federal employee takes another and different oath as prescribed by the Congress.

I became familiar with the presidential oath as the producer of the 1993 and 1997 inaugurals on behalf of the Presidential Inaugural Committee. In fact, a famous journalist accused me and Harry Thomason, the co-chair of the 1993 inaugural, of trying to change the constitutional oath by changing the order of words to “defend, preserve and protect” to achieve some theatrical improvement (since we were both out of Hollywood.)

That distinguished lady is no longer with us but Harry and I are still around. We denied it but it became folkloric, Hollywood on the Potomac so to speak.

Coming on the heels of the AI depiction of DJT as the Pope, complete with mitre, approved by DJT, thus insulting Roman Catholics after the death of Pope Francis and the imminent conclave to select his successor, DJT seems to be on a dummy spree unusual even for him.

The context of DJT’s failure to remember his oath of office on NBC is the constitution’s applicability to all persons in the United States, whether citizens or not. That’s something he will not concede while migrants are denied due process and shipped off to foreign dudgeons even as Secretary Noem is photographed with hubba-hubba hair and outfit while standing in front of imprisoned men crowding at the prison bars behind her.

There are a lot of bad people wrongly in the United States who should be deported. But who knows if the ones jailed in those foreign dungeons are they?

Our country can and should do better in the preservation, protection and defense of the Constitution.