The Founders didn't prepare for a president who refuses to step down, historians say

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

President Trump continued Friday to deny the results of the election, pressuring state officials in Michigan and Georgia to overturn the will of voters, and increasing fears that he might refuse to cede power to President-elect Joe Biden.

But those looking to the nation’s Founders, or the Constitution they framed, for answers to such a crisis will come up empty-handed. There is nothing in the Constitution about what to do if a president refuses to step down when his term expires, according to three historians and a constitutional law professor.

Trump uses power of presidency to try to overturn the election and stay in office
“No, the framers did not envisage a president refusing to step down or discuss what should be done in such a situation,” Princeton historian Sean Wilentz said. “There’s obviously nothing in the Constitution about it.”

-snip-

Some losing presidential candidates have had better claims than Trump to seek legal remedies, Engel said, such as Andrew Jackson in 1824, Richard Nixon in 1960 and Al Gore in 2000, “but none of those people ever gave any hint that they were not going to respect the legitimate authority of whoever ended up winning the process.”

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The Biden campaign has said that should Trump refuse to leave on Jan. 20, “the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.” But that’s simply “common sense,” Wilentz said, not a documented process described in the Constitution or any other law.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-founders-didnt-prepare-for-a-president-who-refuses-to-step-down-historians-say/ar-BB1behLJ?li=BBnb7Kz

[CrispyQ]

1. There's a ton they didn't consider & we better address it or next time we won't be so lucky.

Here's an excellent rant by Jason Johnson about the frailty of the Constitution.


Jason Johnson: We’re lucky that the ‘autocrat in the Oval Office was too incompetent to pull off this coup’

This was on Deadline White House this past week & when he finished, Nichole was speechless. Link goes to MSNBC.

[judesedit]

2. So we can find any path to get him out of there that we want

[wryter2000]

3. If we had a functioning Republican party

We could impeach him and remove him from office.

Or, as someone here said, wait until he goes out to play golf and change the locks.

[EarlG]

4. Isn't this cut and dried?

Article Two, Clause One: "He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years"

"Refusing to step down" isn't a thing. His term expires after four years, and he didn't win re-election. So he can refuse to leave the White House, and he can continue to call himself the President, but according to the Constitution he won't actually be the President.

[OverBurn]

6. At that point, he's technically a trespasser, drag his ass out like Biden said. What a site to see!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

9. I'd pay to watch that

[PoliticAverse]

5. MSN's click-bait article of the day. Don't take the bait. Trump ceases to be President

"at noon on the 20th day of January". There is no need to "step down" or "concede".

[Turbineguy]

7. The Founders

never envisioned a populace that would choose a Donald Trump for president. They probably thought that we would have gone the way of Troy or Carthage by then.

[CaptainTruth]

8. I'm so tired of these crap clickbait headlines.

Trump lost the election, his term ends at noon on January 20, 2021, PERIOD.

At that point he becomes a private citizen, with no governing authority, & if he refuses to leave the White House he will be removed as a trespasser.

That has been explained at least a thousand times & yet the media still write these "what if" articles because the fear & uncertainty gets clicks.

[The Genealogist]

10. The constitution says nothing about a president "stepping down."

No need to flail arms about not stepping down or failure to make concession speeches. The president's term simply ends. When the term is over, the presidency is over. The population of this country is stressed to the max right now, and crap like this only causes more undue stress.